Brought To You By The Letter 'J', Part 6: In The Year Of Our Queen

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"For us is the life of action, of strenuous performance of duty. Let us live in the harness, striving mightily; let us rather run the risk of wearing out than rusting out."

Theodore Roosevelt passed on long before Class J 611 rolled off the erecting floor at the Norfolk & Western's East End Shops in Roanoke in 1950, but I don't find it difficult to imagine his words from over 50 years prior as an appropriate description of the Queen Of Steam. What better life for a steam locomotive than one where it risks wearing out, 'striving mightily' in 'strenuous performance of duty', instead of rusting out while sitting on static display?

That 'strenuous performance' was on grand display in the spring of 2016 as the 611 led excursions through North Carolina and Virginia, hosted by Norfolk Southern in cooperation with the Virginia Museum Of Transportation, the North Carolina Transportation Museum, and the many railcar owners who lent their equipment to the excursion consist. 'Brought To You By The Letter 'J', Part 6' covers the excursions from the first run out of Spencer, NC on April 9th through the last day of trips out of Roanoke on May 8th. Click the links below to jump to a particular excursion:

0:56 - April 9 'The Virginian', Spencer NC - Lynchburg VA

7:32 - April 10 'The Blue Ridge Special', Spencer - Asheville NC

19:47 - April 23-24 'The Roanoker', Greensboro NC - Roanoke VA

26:26 - May 7-8 'The Powhatan Arrow' Roanoke - Lynchburg VA\ 'The Pelican' Roanoke - Radford VA

Each day of 'The Roanoker' and 'The Pelican' included one run to each destination.

The Consist:

Norfolk & Western storage mail car 1407 (Roanoke Chapter NRHS)
Norfolk Southern 42, 'Tennessee'
RPCX 2263, 'Berlin'
St. Louis & Rio Grande 1394, 'Prairie View'
St. Louis & Rio Grande 511, 'Scenic View'
Milwaukee Road 53, 'Super Dome'
Milwaukee Road 3103, 'Wisconsin Valley'
PAXX 800290, 'Stampede Pass' (ex-Northern Pacific)
WATX 400, 'Moultrie' (ex-Atlantic Coast Line)
WATX 2251, 'Crescent Harbor' (ex-Southern)
Norfolk Southern 26, 'New York'
Norfolk Southern 28
Norfolk Southern 29
WATX 539 (ex-Norfolk & Western)
WATX 500, 'St. Augustine' (ex-Florida East Coast)
RPCX 3125, 'Paul Revere' (ex-Pennsylvania RR)
Norfolk Southern 43, 'Iowa'
Norfolk Southern 44, 'Florida'
Norfolk Southern 46, 'New Jersey'
Norfolk Southern 47, 'Louisiana'
NRHX 0001, 'Dover Harbor' (Washington DC NRHS)
PPCX 800029, 'Dearing' (ex-Georgia RR)

For the excursions operated out of Spencer on April 9th and 10th, the 611 was assisted by two diesels:

Norfolk Southern ES44AC 8099 (Southern Railway heritage unit)
Southern FP7A 6133 (owned by the North Carolina Transportation Museum)

Many thanks to Norfolk Southern, the Virginia Museum Of Transportation, the North Carolina Transportation Museum, and the railcar owners for a memorable excursion season! For information on excursions and other events, visit the VMT and NCTM websites:

#railfanning #train #railroad #trainspotting #northcarolina #virginia #travel