N&W Eastbound train #4 behind #604 at Lynchburg, VA in Jaunary 1957. Photo by Bob Drake from the Tom Sink Collection

At approximately 4AM, the Chesapeake and Albermarle rock job was northbound with approximately 40 empties. When it approached the open bascule draw span over the Intercoastal Waterway, the train ... (more)

Famous class A 1218 struggles up the Blue Ridge grade with an eastbound freight while a leased RF&P EMD E8 rolls downgrade with the POWHATAN ARROW.

N&W Y6a 2160 and class A 1219 are nose-to-nose rolling downgrade at Blue Ridge with an empty hopper train. I had also seen this unusual helper arrangement that August on one occasion. There were a... (more)

N&W Y6a 1258 and class A 1221 have crested the Blue Ridge grade with eastbound coal and are rolling downgrade at Villamont in the morning.

Norfolk and Western freight power is well represented at Shaffers Crossing. Class A 1221 faces Y6b 2173 while EMD GP9 721 sits nearby.

Class A 1221 is steaming nicely as it passes beneath the bridge at Blue Ridge with a westbound empty hopper train.

N&W Y6b 2179 is running light eastbound early in the morning at Blue Ridge.

N&W Y6 2142 leaves Blue Ridge with the eastbound local freight after switching the stone crusher there.

The sunlight was dramatic and the hills very lush as Y6a 2158 pushes the afternoon freight headed by two other Y6 locomotives.

This train was at the end of my August 1958 visit to Roanoke. It had rained quite hard that afternoon but then the sun broke through dramatically. Two Y6s pull on an eastbound freight and the lead... (more)

Class A 1217 pulls upgrade with an eastbound merchandise train, probably no. 84, near the small overpass at Blue Ridge.

An eastbound coal drag behind Y6 2129 and class A 1216 pull upgrade near the summit of the Blue Ridge grade. I met several other railfans on this trip and one of them must have been Jerry Carson ... (more)

Y6 2152 pulls hard on an eastbound coal drag a few miles short of the summit at Blue Ridge. The smoke of Y6a pusher 2167 can be seen clearly on the rear.

Y6 2154 sits at Shaffers Crossing facing west.