The Return of Steam in the Shenandoah

Norfolk and Western Class J 611

Steam returned to Virginia's Shenandoah Valley in October-November 2023 as Norfolk and Western 611 returned to mainline excursion service after roughly eight years.

Norfolk and Western Class J locomotive 611 crosses onto the Buckingham Branch mainline in Goshen, Va. as it heads east towards Staunton, Va. on the afternoon of Oct. 14.

Thousands of photographers and railroad enthusiasts descended on Goshen, Va. to witness Norfolk and Western 611's return to mainline excursion service during the fall of 2023. The historic locomotive would thunder along the Buckingham Branch line from Goshen to Staunton, Va. and back twice each day on every Friday, Saturday and Sunday of October and the first weekend of November.

These mainline excursions, the first in eight years come after 611 operated on shortline excursion service at the Strasburg Railroad in Pennsylvania in 2019 and 2021-early 2023. Earlier in 2023, 611 returned to it's owners at the Virginia Museum of Transportation in Roanoke, Va. and it was later ferried over to Goshen.

For its fall excursions, 611 operated on the former Mountain subdivision on the old Clifton Forge division of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad mainline. These 2023 trips were part of a collaboration between the Virginia Museum of Transportation, the Virginia Scenic Railway and the Buckingham Branch Railroad.

Background

Norfolk and Western 611 is the sole surviving J-Class locomotive, built by Norfolk and Western's Roanoke Shops in 1950. The Norfolk and Western Railway operated this locomotive on its signature passenger routes, namely the Powhatan Arrow, Pocahontas and Cavalier between Norfolk, Va. and Cincinnati, Ohio until the end of the 1950s.

It was later sent to Roanoke, where it was put on static display at what is now the Virginia Museum of Transportation. Between 1981 and 1982, the locomotive was restored for excursion service at the Southern Railway's Norris Yard in Irondale, Ala. It then ran numerous excursion for the Norfolk Southern steam program between 1982 and 1994.

Norfolk and Western 611 then was sent to its second retirement in Roanoke until the 2010s. After the beginning of Norfolk Southern's new steam program, called "Twenty-First Century Steam" the Virginia Museum of Transportation sent 611 to the North Carolina Transportation Museum in Spencer, N.C. for restoration between 2014 and 2015.

Zac McGinnis is no stranger to 611, as he has been involved with the locomotive since 611's second restoration in Spencer, N.C.

"It was mostly boiler work, we put a new rear flue sheet in it, rebuilt all the superheater units, all new tubes and flues. The engine was in great shape and obviously that was because it ran from 1982 to 1994," said Excursion Manager Zac McGinnis.

The locomotive then participated in multiple excursions on Norfolk Southern's mainline trackage, including traveling up the Old Fort Loops to Asheville, N.C. in 2015. After the brief program concluded in 2015, the locomotive spent time in both North Carolina, Roanoke, and Strausburg.

Through the years, Norfolk and Western 611 has been referred to as the "Queen of Steam" and the "Spirit of Roanoke."

Shenandoah Valley Limited - 2023

Each of the jointly operated fall 2023 excursions operated out of Goshen Va. The Virginia Museum of Transportation and the Virginia Scenic Railway planned to run the "Shenandoah Valley Limited" for passengers between Goshen and Staunton twice daily beginning Oct. 6-8 and continuing on Oct.13-15, Oct. 20-22, Oct. 27-29 and Nov. 3-5.

These trips were not without disruption, at the end of the day on Oct. 27 teams found a broken flexible staybolt inside the firebox of the Norfolk and Western 611. It forced the "Shenandoah Valley Limited" to run on Oct. 28 using diesel locomotives from the Buckingham Branch Railroad.

Broken staybolts happened 1,000s of times every day all over the country when steam [locomotives] were in regular operation, it's just a normal occurrence," said McGinnis. "It just so happened to happen to us when we're operating excursion trips."

The 73-year old locomotive has a roughly 4,437 staybolts and 2,420 rivets that make up around a mile of solid tubing in the boiler and firebox. The teams in Goshen were able to find an extra staybolt and were able to install it inside the locomotive after the firebox cooled down on Oct. 28. By roughly 4:00 p.m. that afternoon, the crew were able to get the locomotive lit for excursions the following day.

After backing out from a side track at the temporary Victoria Station site in Goshen, Norfolk and Western 611 joined the Buckingham Branch (former C&O) mainline. For the eastbound runs, the train operated under the callsign "J611."

At the throttle of 611 was Robert "Bob" Saxtan, who recently retired from Norfolk Southern in 2020. Saxtan began his long railroading career in 1982 when he was employed for the Southern Railway, and later Norfolk Southern. Saxtan was part of Norfolk Southern's first and second steam programs For the "Twenty-First Century Steam" program, Saxtan was the senior general foreman.

As 611 headed eastbound towards Staunton, it had to tackle the elevation increase from North Mountain. Due to wet tracks from rain on Oct. 15, 611 struggled up the roughly 1.22% grade at a curve in Augusta Springs, which nearly stalled the locomotive.

"The first couple of weekends we really struggled going up the mountain. And it's not that the engine doesn't have enough power - we've pulled longer trains up steeper grades," said McGinnis. "The problem we were running into the first couple of weekends was the leaves and the dew and oily film on the rails from the morning and everything. When you hit the bottom of the grade at North Mountain it's like going in a tree tunnel."

This was much less than the roughly 4% grade the locomotive tackled in 1992 on the now-defunct Saluda grade in North Carolina, which was the steepest mainline track in North America. McGinnis said a couple of s-curves on the western slope of the grade also caused some difficulty for the engineers and the locomotive.

"It's a totally different perspective from the engine - when you hit the bottom of the grade, it's like a tree canopy about 40 feet above the engine," said McGinnis. "We we went into the mountain at the bottom of the grade with speed and when it started slipping, we slipped down to a walking speed within a minute."

Norfolk and Western 611 crested the incline of North Mountain at the signals at Control Point West North Mountain. Between Augusta Springs and North Mountain, the grade increases to roughly 3%. The crest at North Mountain was the highest point on the former Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad at an elevation of 2,082 feet.

"The grade at the top of North Mountain, when you're looking at it, it literally disappears - it just drops straight down. It's a heck of a piece of railroad - one of the most challenging pieces of railroad I've ever been on," said McGinnis.

McGinnis credited the teams and staff on board the engine to provide them the ability to climb North Mountain on the Buckingham Branch. This included Bob Saxton and Scott Lindsay, the Chief Mechanical Officer for the Norfolk and Western 611. Both Saxton and Lindsay traveled on this section of track during the Chessie Steam Special in 1978 and during the Chessie Safety Express in 1981.

After cresting atop the grade at North Mountain, Norfolk and Western 611 roared down the grade east towards Staunton, reaching speeds nearing 45 miles per hour. This is faster than the maximum speeds at its former home in Strasburg, Pa., where it ran no more than 20 miles per hour.

"Even though it's called the Buckingham branch railroad, its straight mainline territory its signaled, heavy grades, track speed - we were up to 40 miles an hour," said McGinnis. "It's the hardest the engine has worked since 2017 on the Norfolk Southern trips."

Throughout the run between Goshen and Staunton, railroad enthusiasts and photographers lined the tracks to witness the "Queen of Steam" in action on the mainline. This included a popular bridge over the tracks in Swoope, Va.

The Hewitt Road bridge in Swoope, Va. is popular among photographers due to its elevated perspective of 611 with the mountain in the background. McGinnis was able to operate the locomotive from the cab for one of the runs of the "Shenandoah Valley Limited."

"You don't get to see much scenery because you're concentrating on so much. We're watching signals, I'm watching boiler pressure, the water in the glass for the water level in the boiler and the fire and watching the engineer and looking for slow orders," said McGinnis.

After passing through North Mountain, the "Queen of Steam" traveled through the rolling hills of the Shenandoah Valley towards Staunton. These excursions in the post-steam era are the result of a crash along the Tug River near Cedar, W.Va. on Jan. 23, 1956, while running the Pocahontas at excess speed. Needed repairs put 611 in better condition upon retirement in the late 1950s compared to other Class J locomotives.

"But for me personally, getting up to 40 miles an hour was awesome again, because that's where that engine is at the peak of its power curves," said McGinnis. "Operating steam over the [former] C&O railroad for me was really cool because I come from a C&O family."

After a quick stop at the Amtrak station in Staunton, two Buckingham Branch Railroad Electro-Motive Division GP40 locomotives pulled the train back west to return to Goshen, with 611 at the rear.

After numerous excursion runs on the "Shenandoah Valley Limited" early in the season, it was decided to attach the Buckingham Branch GP40s to the end of the train for the eastbound run to assist the 611 up the mountain.

"For the safety of the operations and passengers on the train from slack and from a railroad standpoint of getting the train over the road and from a mechanical standpoint of not tearing up equipment we just decided to put the diesels on the rear," said McGinnis.

This decision also cut switching times in Stanton, and the Buckingham Branch GP40 diesels were attached to the train when it turned around in Staunton for the first few weekends before this decision.

"For the most part they were just along for the ride in the mornings," said McGinnis. "We used them maybe in notch one, notch two on the throttle just just to keep the momentum going and not let the train slip and just to maintain track speed."

Both Buckingham Branch locomotives and 611 at the rear make the final charge to Goshen to clear the mainline for the northbound Amtrak Cardinal.

"Anytime its being towed, [611 is] always under steam and the throttle always has to be open some to get lubrication to the cylinders and the valves and pistons," said McGinnis.

A passenger leans out of a doorway of an old Southern Railway coach around the Bells Valley, Va. area while 611 was pushing the train from the rear on the return leg to Goshen. Fares for the Shenandoah Valley Limited ranged from between $99.00-$249.00 per person.

Zac McGinnis (right) waves to 611 fans trackside from inside a tool coach behind Norfolk and Western 611 in Goshen, Va. This coach is owned by the Virginia Museum of Transportation and includes mechanical equipment and power for other coaches.

Norfolk and Western 611 returns to Victoria Station in Goshen, Va. after an afternoon run of the "Shenandoah Valley Limited."

After completing a total of five weeks of excursion runs on the Buckingham Branch, the Norfolk and Western 611 completed the 30th and final run of the "Shenandoah Valley Limited" on Nov. 5. To complete the excursion season, the whistle on 611 was sounded at 6:11 p.m. that evening.

The focus for the teams was to prepare the streamlined locomotive for the ferry trip back to its home base at the Virginia Museum of Transportation in Roanoke, Va. That Sunday evening, the train cars were offloaded of food and supplies.

Monday, Nov. 6 was a day for the teams in Goshen to prepare the 611 and the coaches for the trip home. The different coaches were split between ones going back to Roanoke with the 611 and those being sent elseware. The locomotive was also serviced.

On Nov. 7, the train crews arrived to Goshen at 5:30 a.m. for the journey home. A pair of Buckingham Branch diesel locomotives first towed the 611 east to Waynesboro, Va. There, the 611 was handed over to a Norfolk Southern diesel locomotive to take it south along the Norfolk Southern H-Line south to Roanoke.

We use it [the diesels] to save coal and water because on ferry moves, you're the lowest of the priorities, so you never know how long it's going to take," said McGinnis.

On the way back, along the 611 traveled on home rails on former Norfolk and Western trackage, passing by the town of Vesuvius, Va., made famous by the late photographer O. Winston Link's 1956 photograph titled "Sometimes the Electricity Fails."

The 611 arrived back to Roanoke around 11:30 p.m. that evening on Nov. 7 and was towed into the museum upon arrival in Roanoke. The 611 is currently on public display at the Virginia Museum of Transportation and will remain there till future excursions.

"We've built a great partnership with the Buckingham branch and the Virginia Scenic Railway," said McGinnis. "We overcame a lot of odds, a lot of things that people said we couldn't do, we did. It's a great partnership - they've got the scenery, they've got the tracks, we've got the locomotive. It just seems like like something good can come out of this, and we can only make it bigger and better if we do it again."