A quiet afternoon in Shawsville, VA is interrupted by the thundering exhaust of N&W 611 working hard to climb Christiansburg Mountain, where three generations of farmers are hard at work picking b... (more)

The afternoon trip to Walton departs downtown Roanoke as a crowd of onlookers watch.

The CPL's are dying.

The Color Position Lights, which safely guarded untold thousand of trains and their crews in their lifetime were installed by the Norfolk & Western railroad in the 1960's b... (more)

Steam locomotives? Cabooses? Lordy, Roanoke IS Heaven!

Let it shine! Members of the Fire-up 611 Crew take advantage of a little down-time to wipe away a morning's worth of accumulated soot on their big Northern, in preparation for an afternoon ... (more)

Norfolk and Western class J number 611 leads the eastbound "Pelican" excursion train downgrade at Shawsville, Virginia, returning to Roanoke with a full train of passengers on July 4, 20... (more)

N&W 611 turns her train on the wye in downtown Roanoke immediately following her arrival from an all day ferry move beginning at Spencer, NC. She brought 13 cars along for the ride, including her ... (more)

After turning on the wye at Radford N&W 611 passes under the old coaling dock at Vicker, VA.

N&W 611 heads heads through the Blue Ridge Mountains with a Roanoke to Lynchburg round trip excursion on 7/3/2015

N&W 611 makes good speed westbound as it leaves Roanoke behind and takes aim for Radford.

N&W 611 thunders westbound toward Roanoke with the hottest train on the railroad.

I started devouring Lucius Beebe books in the 1950's. I saw his "Burning of Rome" smoke plumes and thought that was how steam locomotives always looked. Boy, did I ever want to see that! Flash for... (more)

Several hundred spectators gathered in downtown Christiansburg, VA to witness N&W J-Class 611 as it leads a Roanoke to Walton round trip excursion through town.

N&W 611 accelerates out of the Roanoke area toward Lynchburg, VA with the morning trip. This was my first time seeing the 611 under steam and she made a mighty fine impression.