611 Homecoming

Norfolk & Western 611; Vicker, Va.; July 3, 2015

In our last post we explored the former Norfolk & Western mainline east of Roanoke, Va. The line is now operated by Norfolk Southern, but still features some uniquely N&W characteristics. In this post we are going to flash back to July 2015 (just a few months ago) when a very special visitor was on the line. The Virginia Museum of Transportation and Norfolk Southern teamed up to bring N&W J-Class No. 611 back to mainline rails for the summer. The big 4-8-4 ran trips out of Alexandria and Lynchburg in Virginia, but the red letter trips were six that were run over the Fourth of July weekend -- trips that took No. 611 back to its old home rails out of the city it was built in, Roanoke.

Norfolk & Western 611; Christiansburg, Va.; July 5, 2015

By steam locomotive standards, No. 611 is not old. It was constructed by the N&W in Roanoke in 1950, and by 1959 it was retired. In the early 1960s it was donated to the Virginia Museum of Transportation and displayed throughout the 1970s. In 1982 it was restored to take part in the original Norfolk Southern Steam Program, and powered the last trip for the program in 1994 before returning back to VMT. Norfolk Southern started the 21st Century Steam program in 2011, and the Fire Up 611! campaign started in 2014 to raise funds to have 611 join the program. It made its earlier this year.

Norfolk & Western 611; Shawsville, Va.; July 5, 2015

When the Roanoke trips were announced, I knew I had to get down to Virginia for the trips. Each day over the long weekend No. 611 would power two trips -- a morning trip from Roanoke to Lynchburg and return over Blue Ridge Summit and an afternoon trip from Roanoke to Walton over Christiansburg Hill. It was going to be a great weekend. Both lines have a lot of Norfolk & Western era color position light (CPL) signals, especially east of Roanoke. These are being replaced by more modern technology as railroads install Positive Train Control on their routes.

Norfolk & Western 611; Webster, Va.; July 5, 2015

I knew there would be crowds down in Roanoke chasing the trips, just as I was, but I wasn't expecting quite that large of a crowd! On the first day, July 3, the Blue Ridge Parkway bridge over the N&W near Bonsack must have had 100 people on it. Cars lined the roads along the tracks through Webster. We caught the train at Webster, then went ahead to Forest, near Roanoke for a shot. Forest has a nice CPL signal, so after the train went by heading east a few of us started organizing a photo line for the westbound trip, which made for a nice photo.

Norfolk & Western 611; Forest, Va.; July 3, 2015

After the stop in Roanoke, we headed west for the Walton portion of the day, pausing at Riverside near Elliston. Wet rail and a heavy train had 611 working hard as it blasted past us on a nice curve.

Norfolk & Western 611; Riverside, Va.; July 3, 2015

The train had slowed down considerably thanks to the grade, and that allowed just about every chaser to congregate in Shawsville. While the photo doesn't show it, there were several hundred people in the small town to watch the train pass through. It only went through at about five miles an hour, thanks to the grade and wet rail.

Norfolk & Western 611; Shawsville, Va.; July 3, 2015

The slow speed allowed us to get ahead of the train again. Montgomery Tunnel, a classic N&W location, was under construction for a clearance project, so we bypassed that and headed for the CPL signals in Christiansburg.

Norfolk & Western 611; Christiansburg, Va.; July 3, 2015

After the train turned at Walton, we caught it coming under the old N&W coaling tower at Vicker (top photo of this post). Fading light at this point encouraged us to call it a day.

The next morning found us at the CPLs at Montvale for the Lynchburg run. The sun was out, then went back under a cloud. We could hear 611 approaching as it tackled the Blue Ridge grade, and we thought we were skunked. But amazingly the cloud cleared about 20 seconds before the train's arrival and we got 611 splitting the signals in fantastic morning light -- probably the shot of the trip.

Norfolk & Western 611; Montvale, Va.; July 4, 2015

From here we negotiated the outskirts of Bedford and made it to the overhead bridge in Lowry with just a couple of minutes to spare.

Norfolk & Western 611; Lowry, Va.; July 4, 2015

From here we headed back west towards Roanoke to set up for a shot on the "must do" list -- passing the CPLs at Blue Ridge. Blue Ridge requires a bit of a hike to get into, and is almost in the middle of nowhere. Imagine our surprise when we got to the signals and found 30 other people already there! There were some anxious moments, though -- as we were monitoring 611's return from Lynchburg via cell phone from others along the route, a slow freight train came out of Roanoke and trundled upgrade on the track between us and where 611 would be. Eventually we could hear 611 whistling as it got closer, but the freight just kept on coming. Finally, the last car of the freight went by and less than 30 seconds later 611 came flying down the hill.

Norfolk & Western 611; Blue Ridge, Va.; July 4, 2015

From here we headed for another shot on the "must do" list -- westbound at the coaling tower at Vicker. Despite being distracted by some freights on the former Virginian Railway that parallels the N&W, we arrived at Vicker in plenty of time for the shot. Once again, the train would be battling bad sun on the way back to Roanoke, so Vicker was the last steam shot of the day.

Norfolk & Western 611; Vicker, Va.; July 4, 2015

The next morning, July 5, we joined the throng of people on the Blue Ridge Parkway overpass at Bonsack. Our last day of 611 started with a fine sight as the train negotiated the S-curve.

Norfolk & Western 611; Bonsack, Va.; July 5, 2015

From here we made an attempt to get greedy by getting ahead of the train at the CPL signals at Villamont. Parking was -- ummmm -- interesting on the one-lane dirt road back into the signals and it did take some time to get everyone untangled once the train went by. Still, the shot was worth it.

Norfolk & Western 611; Villamont, Va.; July 5, 2015

There wasn't much one could do with the delay in getting out of Villamont, so we headed to Lowry to await the train's return. We had shot off the bridge here two days earlier when the first trip went east -- now we were shooting at ground level as the train went west.

Norfolk & Western 611; Lowry, Va.; July 5, 2015

Back to the "must do" list -- we left Lowry and headed straight for the CPLs at Webster. That shot appears earlier in this post. For the afternoon trip to Walton, we paused on the grade up Christiansburg Hill at Wabun to enjoy the sights and sounds of the train working uphill.

Norfolk & Western 611; Wabun, Va.; July 5, 2015

Another shot at Shawsville followed by another shot at Christiansburg (both photos appear earlier in this post) finished off our westbound chase. With home beckoning, we set up for one final shot of the eastbound at Vicker, then reluctantly said goodbye to the Norfolk & Western and 611 for the drive back to New Jersey.

Norfolk & Western 611; Vicker, Va.; July 5, 2015

Photos from this post can be purchased here.

East of Roanoke

Norfolk Southern; Villamont, Va.; November 24, 2015

Our journey to Appalachia started with chasing the CSX Santa Train on the former Clinchfield Railroad, then took us to the coal fields of West Virginia on Norfolk Southern's former Norfolk & Western mainline. Staying with a Norfolk & Western theme, the final day of the trip, November 24, 2015, kept us on the N&W's coal artery to tidewater, this time east of Roanoke where the line climbs up Blue Ridge summit before heading to Norfolk. While much of the former N&W is seeing its color position light (CPL) signals replaced as railroads adopt Positive Train Control, the railroad east of Roanoke still retains many of the old signals. How long they will last is unknown, as Amtrak is looking to extend its New York-to-Lynchburg train to Roanoke, which will require installation of PTC on this part of the N&W.

The NS mainline can be viewed on ATCS Monitor -- telemetry is sent from switches and signals along the line to the dispatchers' office to show dispatchers which way the switches are thrown and what the signals are displaying. This telemetry can also be picked up by the ATCS Monitor program and a pseudo-dispatcher display can be seen on a laptop computer. This allows one to see if there are any trains anywhere between Christiansburg (west of Roanoke) all the way to east of Lynchburg, and if trains are out there it displays which way they are heading. ATCS showed us we'd have a westbound train first, and, with CPL signals as our primary photo prop, we caught it at Villamont (above).

The next train on the screen was also a westbound. The short winter days and low sun were producing long shadows, so some of the CPL signals we wanted to get were unshootable early in the morning; we settled for the "backside" of the CPLs at Webster for the second train.

Norfolk Southern; Webster, Va.; November 24, 2015

We really wanted eastbound trains to take advantage of the morning sunlight. But our next train was yet another westbound. We caught this one at Bonsack.

Norfolk Southern; Bonsack, Va.; November 24, 2015

With nothing showing on the ATCS Monitor, we took advantage of the quiet railroad and headed into downtown Roanoke to see what was happening at the former Virginian Railway station in town. The building is under restoration by the Roanoke Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society. A couple of coal trains were sitting at the station.

Norfolk Southern; Roanoke, Va.; November 24, 2015

A lot of the space in this area was at one time taken up by railroads. Indeed, a scrap yard was located near here that had four former Norfolk & Western steam locomotives residing in it well into the 21st century. A lot of the tracks -- and the scrapyard -- are now gone, replaced by an expanding medical center. Fortunately, all four of the N&W steam locomotives found new homes where they can be cosmetically restored. Only one remains in Roanoke, however.

Norfolk Southern; Roanoke, Va.; November 24, 2015

We had fought a bit of traffic getting into town, so we decided to leave town and head back east by way of the Blue Ridge Parkway, which had an entrance close by. Getting to the Parkway involved going up Mill Mountain, home of Roanoke's famous giant star that looks down on the city. We briefly stopped at the star to observe downtown; the Hotel Roanoke, once owned by the N&W, is in the center of the scene.

Hotel Roanoke; Roanoke, Va.; November 24, 2015

Finally we had trains showing up again on ATCS Monitor, and the sun was still good for those elusive eastbounds. The Blue Ridge Parkway dumped us off on U.S. 460 near Webster and we continued east from there. We got our first eastbound train splitting the CPL signals at Montvale.

Norfolk Southern; Montvale, Va.; November 24, 2015

The shadows were retreating from the tracks as the midday sun got higher. As the sun swung around to the west we headed back to the signals at the west end of the crossovers at Webster and got a train with a Union Pacific locomotive on the point.

Norfolk Southern; Webster, Va.; November 24, 2015

The day was growing short and the trains were getting scarce again. With one more westbound on the computer, we headed east into downtown Bedford to get it passing the CPL signals there. We wanted to be in Staunton, Va., by sunset and it looked like no trains would get to us on the N&W before we had to make our break. It was time to head north.

Norfolk Southern; Bedford, Va.; November 24, 2015

With changes happening all over the U.S., especially when it comes to older railroad signals, there's no telling what the former Norfolk & Western will look like when we get back down here again. But back in July, these old sentinels saw a familiar face, as former Norfolk & Western J-Class steam locomotive No. 611 went past them on a series of excursions. We'll look back at those trips in our next post.

Photos from this post can be purchased here.

The Last Santa Train?

CSX Transportation; St. Paul, Va.; November 21, 2015

For 73 years Santa Claus has traveled the rails of the Clinchfield, Carolina & Ohio Railroad (known simply as "the Clinchfield." Traveling from Elkhorn City, Ky., to Kingsport, Tenn., (and spending most of its journey in far southwest Virginia), the Santa train has traditionally run on the Saturday before Thanksgiving, spreading cheer to Appalachia. In recent times, with the hardships of the southwest coal region, the train has been even more important in bringing Christmas to this economically challenged region of the U.S. The train has run under the banner of the Clinchfield, continued to run when the Clinchfield became a part of Seaboard System, and when CSX was formed  in 1981 the train still continued.

CSX; Pool Point, Ky.

In October 2015 CSX made the announcement that it was downgrading the Clinchfield main line (which extends from Elkhorn City to Spartanburg, S.C.). Elkhorn City to McClure, Va., would see a train serve one customer on an as-needed basis. From St. Paul, Va., to Frisco, Va., the tracks would still be used, but not by CSX -- Norfolk Southern runs trackage rights trains over this section. Customers in Kingsport would continue to be served from the south at Spartanburg. But two sections -- McClure to St. Paul and Frisco to Kingsport -- would see no more trains. To top it all off, 300 employees lost their jobs when CSX closed the Clinchfield shops at Erwin, Tenn. The Santa Train's route includes both of the sections of the railroad that will see no other trains.

I had not planned on chasing the Santa Train this year. I had chased it in 2014 and planned to go back for the 75th running in 2017. But with the sudden change in the status of the Clinchfield, I decided to do the chase again this year -- just in case. The only problem was I had a prior commitment in Lancaster, Pa., the night before. But with the possibility that the 2015 Santa Train might be the last through train on the railroad, I left Lancaster at 9:30 p.m. and did the all-night drive to Pool Point, Ky., just south of Elkhorn City. I caught up with the train as it made the spectacular crossing of a large bridge in Breaks Interstate Park at 7:45 a.m. on November 21. The train had already made two stops by this time.

After hiking out of Pool Point, I used the train's stop at Haysi, Va., to get ahead of it, setting up at the tunnel just north of the train's next stop at Clinchco, Va.

CSX Transportation; Clinchco, Va.; November 21, 2015

The train makes several stops of 15-20 minutes at various towns along the railroad. At each stop, Santa and his helpers throw tons of stuff (literally -- estimates say that 25 tons of goodies are distributed from the train) into the waiting crowds. The Kingsport Chamber of Commerce is the driving force behind the train, with a lot of help from CSX. Food City is also a major sponsor. Each year a celebrity helps Santa distribute gifts; this year it was Meghan Linsey, runner-up on the television show "The Voice."

Santa and Meghan Linsey; Clinchco, Va.; November 21, 2015

Santa stays out on the back platform of the rear observation car for the entire 110-mile trip, waving to everyone along the route. Up until a decade or so ago, gifts were thrown off to anyone standing near the tracks, but today gifts are only tossed at the designated stops. Santa was waving as the train headed towards the next stop at Fremont, Va.

CSX Transportation; Clinchco, Va.; November 21, 2015

We used the Fremont stop to get ahead of the train and set up for one of the classic shots on the Clinchfield -- passing the Union Baptist Church at Dante, Va. This is in the section that will have no more trains, so it was an important shot to get.

CSX Transportation; Dante, Va.; November 21, 2015

We caught the train again as it approached St. Paul, then ventured into the crowd again during the stop in St. Paul. Once again, an amazing amount of stuffed animals and other gifts came off the back of the train.

CSX Transportation; St. Paul, Va.; November 21, 2015

CSX; Dungannon, Va.

The train's next stop was at Dungannon, Va., and we caught the train coming into town there. This is the section of the Clinchfield that will still see Norfolk Southern trackage-rights trains.





Still on the trackage rights section, next up was Fort Blackmore, Va. A highway bridge provides a nice view of the train passing through the crowd before stopping the observation car at the designated spot so Santa can do his thing.

CSX Transportation; Fort Blackmore, Va.; November 21, 2015

CSX; Copper Creek Viaduct

From Fort Blackmore, the train heads for the scenic highlight of the entire railroad -- Copper Creek Viaduct near Clinchport, Va. A large crowd was gathered to watch the train make its crossing.

From here the tracks duck into a long tunnel while the roads take the long way around. The train had two more stops to make before arriving in Kingsport, wandering into Tennessee. Rather than follow the train around the mountain, we headed for Kingsport and set up at the Holston River bridge just outside of town. Right on schedule, just after 3:00 p.m., Santa arrived in Kingsport for the big Christmas parade in town. After cleaning and fueling, the train departed for Spartanburg and on to Jacksonville, Fla. In past years it would have gone only as far as Erwin, but that Clinchfield town is no longer used by the railroad.

So is this the last Santa Train? Is this tradition going to die just two years short of its 75th birthday? It's hard to imagine the 22 miles of track between McClure and St. Paul will be maintained by CSX for one train a year. CSX, however, has said publicly that it plans to continue the Santa Train tradition, and CSX CEO Michael Ward (who was on board the 2015 Santa Train) has said the train will continue. Still, a lot can happen between now and next year, and the shaky status of the former Clinchfield mainline makes you wonder... The Clinchfield has little in the way of online customers, especially with the downturn in the fortunes of Appalachian coal. It served primarily as a bridge line for coal traffic heading south, and those trains have all been rerouted.

My guess is if the Santa Train makes it to 2016, then it will make it at least until the 75th birthday in 2017. The next several months are critical, but sometime in the spring CSX is going to have to inform the Kingsport Chamber of Commerce on whether it will run the train in 2016. Let's hope that Santa continues to ride the Clinchfield!

CSX Transportation; Kingsport, Tenn.; November 21, 2015

Photos from this post can be purchased here.

Cool Chromes - Steam On the Front Royal Branch

Southern 722; Linden, Va.; March 29, 1980

The Southern Railway Steam Specials operated all over the southern U.S. in the 1970s until the 1990s with trips almost every weekend except for the winter months. Living in New Jersey, however, most of the trips were not within an easy drive from home. The closest starting point for steam trips was Alexandria, Va., where trips either headed down the Southern main line to Charlottesville or over the lightly-used branch to Front Royal. The main line trips were a pain to chase, so the branch trips became favorites. One of the first trips I chased to Front Royal was on March 29, 1980, when 2-8-0 No. 722, decked out in Southern green and gold, made the trip (above). Diesels were not used as helpers on these trips, so when the chunky Consolidation hit the steep grade of Linden Hill, it went to a crawl with plenty of noise from the stack.

The Southern was still the Southern in June 1981 when steam once again ran to Front Royal. Finding itself power short (2-8-2 No. 4501, the primary locomotive in the program, seemed to be perpetually down when the Alexandria trips rolled around each year), Southern leased a former Canadian Pacific 4-6-2 from the Allegheny Central tourist operation. No. 1238 ran a few trips on the branch, including a "photographers" trip that had most of the planned photo stops cancelled when the engine ran short of coal.

Allegheny Central 1238; Delaplaine, Va.; June 1981

The 1982 merger of the Southern Railway and Norfolk & Western to create Norfolk Southern only expanded the steam program. New engines were brought into the fold in the form of two N&W locomotives -- 4-8-4 No. 611 and 2-6-6-4 No. 1218. Interestingly, despite being a larger locomotive, No. 1218 could run on the Front Royal Branch while 611 could not due to weight restrictions; 1218 had its weight spread out over more wheels and thus could run on the branch. The photo below required keeping one eye on the track and one eye on a temperamental bull that didn't like strangers in his field.

Norfolk & Western 1218; Marshall, Va.; October 1989

The Norfolk Southern merger meant an increase in traffic on the Front Royal Branch, as it became a through route for trains bypassing the Washington, D.C., area. NS trains would come down the Shenandoah Line from Harrisburg, Penn., and Hagerstown, Md., to Riverton Junction near Front Royal, then traverse the branch over to the former Southern main line near Manassas to continue south. The upgrading meant that No. 611 could now use the line; it also meant the days of laid back charters were coming to a close as the steam trains had to dodge the new parade of stack trains.

Norfolk & Western 611; Rectortown, Va.

The Norfolk Southern steam program came to a close in 1994, but has seen a bit of a comeback since the advent of the 21st Century Steam program a few years ago. Maybe one day I'll get back down to Alexandria and chase another steam special to Front Royal.

Cool Chromes -- Louisville & Nashville 152

Cool Chromes is a semi-regular feature that looks at slides that have recently passed through the scanner.

Louisville & Nashville No. 152; Marion, Va.; June 6, 1986

Some restored steam locomotives have been elusive for me. While Southern Railway 2-8-2 No. 4501 was one of the most photographed and widely traveled steam locomotives of the 1970s, I only saw it once. With lessons learned from steam locomotives that appeared and quickly vanished before I could see them, when I heard that Louisville & Nashville 4-6-2 No. 152 would be powering trips for Norfolk Southern out of Bristol, Va., I made plans to get down there.

Louisville & Nashville No. 152 is a Jersey girl, built by the Rogers Locomotive Works in Paterson in 1905, one of 45 Pacifics purchased by the L&N from the builder. Among its reported claims to fame is it powered part of the trip that took Al Capone to Alcatraz. It was retired by the L&N in 1953 and donated to the Kentucky Railway Museum. It returned to service for the museum in 1985, and in June 1986 it was tapped by Norfolk Southern to power a set of trips.

My brother Bruce and I headed south from New Jersey on Friday night, June 5, after work. A nearly all-night drive put us in Bristol on the Virginia-Tennessee border at about 4:00 a.m. We found No. 152 in the yard, and the night hostler was nice enough to turn on the headlight for us for a quick round of night shots. We then slept in the car until daybreak.

Louisville & Nashville 152; Bristol, Va.; June 6, 1986

The morning found No. 152 getting ready for the first of two weekend trips. The first one would take it north on the former Norfolk & Western's Shenandoah Line, a stretch of track that was often used by O. Winston Link for his magnificent night photos from the 1950s. Much of the line roughly follows U.S. Route 11, making chasing somewhat intuitive -- a good thing in this day before GPS systems or even decent maps. Near Marion, Va., we got the classic Pacific heading north.

Louisville & Nashville 152; Marion, Va.; June 6, 1986

The trip's destination was Walton, which is a railroad place deep in the woods along the New River near Radford. At Walton is a wye, which would allow the entire train to be turned for the southbound trip back to Bristol. We caught the train approaching the northern end of its trip at Dublin, just outside of Radford.

Louisville & Nashville 152; Dublin, Va.; June 6, 1986

On the return trip we went into the town of Rural Retreat. It was here that O. Winston Link made a classic night shot at the depot on a Christmas Eve, and recorded the sounds of a train passing through town as the church bells played hymns.

Louisville & Nashville 152; Rural Retreat, Va.; June 6, 1986

Signal problems dropped the train's speed to ten miles per hour as it followed a rural road above Marion. This allowed for multiple easy shots, including a pastoral scene at Atkins.

Louisville & Nashville 152; Atkins, Va.; June 6, 1986

From here the train proceeded back into Bristol, unloaded its passengers, and deadheaded to Johnson City, Tenn., for the next day's run to Bull's Gap and Natural Tunnel. The following day's chase was much more challenging (it was done using a state highway map that kind of showed railroads), but we got a handful of shots.

In the years since this trip, No. 152 has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places and was named the Official State Locomotive of Kentucky. It is now the oldest surviving Pacific-type locomotive in the U.S. It was retired from service at the Kentucky Railway Museum in 2011 and faces a future that will largely be determined by the ability to raise a large amount of cash.

Cool Chromes - Switching Around

Cool Chromes is a semi-regular feature where we look at slides that have recently passed through the scanner.

New York, Susquehanna & Western; Little Ferry, N.J.; August 1988

Today's edition of Cool Chromes celebrates the lowly switcher, the workhorse of the railroad. We'll start things off with an NW2 built by the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors in June 1948 (above). This engine originally ran for the New York, Ontario & Western, which was abandoned in the late 1950s. The locomotive subsequently became the property of the New York, Susquehanna & Western, which painted in back into the NYO&W colors. It is seen here at the Susie-Q's now-gone engine facility at Little Ferry, N.J., in August 1988 during a night photo session for the convention of the National Railway Historical Society.

Elgin, Joliet & Eastern; Joliet, Ill.; October 1990

Next up is a pair of SW1200s, also products of EMD, working for the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern. No. 322 was built in June 1964 for Kansas City Terminal while No. 300 was built in June 1960 for the EJ&E. We see them switching in front of the EJ&E shops in Joliet, Ill., in October 1990.

Harvest States; Superior, Wisc.; September 1991

Our third chrome features at least two SW1s (also from EMD) working the Harvest States mill along Lake Michigan in Superior, Wisc. No. 15 was built in December 1941 and began its life working down south for the Louisville & Nashville. In the background is No. 200, built im March 1953 for the Portland Railroad & Terminal Division in Oregon.

Potomac Electric; Alexandria, Va.; September 1979

We'll finish off with an unusual locomotive. Potomac Electric Company used a steam locomotive to switch its Alexandria, Va., facility until late 1979. No. 43 was built by Heilser in 1938 and is a "fireless cooker" -- it burns no fuel of its own, but instead would plug into the power plant's steam line for a charge of steam that would keep it running for a couple of hours. We see it here in September 1979 during a tour for the NRHS Convention. No. 43 would be retired shortly thereafter and now resides in the B&O Railroad Museum in Baltimore.