Train Tuesdays Some great reading is Kipp Teague’s website with the story, complete with sound clips and videos, of Norfolk and Western Class J #611′s last run back to Roanoke after Norfolk Southern ended their previous steam operations program in 1994: When I think back on seeing and hearing the 611 under steam for what [...]
Train Tuesdays Why do thousands of people want the 611 to be restored to special excursion service? Why do so many people, myself included, love the locomotive? I think this video does the best job I’ve seen of explaining the phenomenon. This was produced by Norfolk Southern after the locomotive was restored the first time [...]
Train Tuesdays Some recent news… Norfolk Southern’s 21st Century Steam program featured Southern 2-8-0 #630 wearing a Class J whistle on its recent excursions out of Roanoke. It sounds almost like the 611 albeit maybe slightly different due to 630′s lower boiler pressure. Here’s a video from Trainmaster Bob: Also, the Fire Up 611 campaign [...]
Train Tuesdays While visiting my inlaws in east Tennessee, we saw the 630 in Bulls Gap. This photo was taken after the train turned on the wye for its return trip to Bristol. Today, the train arrived in Roanoke for the 21st Century Steam excursions scheduled for next weekend. Video added 3/13/2013: Tweet
Train Tuesdays Big news from Norfolk Southern today with the announcement of their 21st Century Steam program’s Spring 2013 schedule of excursions: March 9: Bristol, Va., to Radford, Va. Host: TVRM. Steam locomotive SOU 630. March 10: Bristol, Va., to Bulls Gap, Tenn. Host: TVRM. Steam locomotive SOU 630. March 16: Roanoke, Va., to Radford, [...]