The Lone Survivor

After a successful weekend of excursions N&W 611 joins its sisters at the Virginia Museum of Transportation. A brief break in heavy cloud cover allowed for th... (more)

Roanoke

N&W class Y6a #2156 sits by N&W class A #1218 each awaiting their next assignment. Built respectively in 1942 and 1943, No. 2156 will retire in 1959 after working the coal fields... (more)

N&W Y6a Class #2156 is finally home in Roanoke, and she's a beauty. Built as the strongest pulling locomotive in the N&W Steam Fleet back in the day, she was built right here in downtown Roanoke i... (more)

N&W class Y6a #2156 poses in front of the former site of the N&W/NS Roanoke Car Shop, present day Freight Car America facility. A yard crew has pulled the big gal out of her hiding place and left ... (more)

After 56 year wait and a long trip from St. Louis, the N&W Y6a #2156 is finally reunited with Class J #611 and Class A #1218.

Along the journey from St Louis to Roanoke, Norfolk and Western Y6a #2156 was able to greet an old friend: The coaling tower at Prichard, West Virginia. If these two relics could talk, they could... (more)

Norfolk and Western Y6a #2156 is back on home rails at Elmwood, Ohio. 2156 is being moved by Norfolk Southern train 956 from the St Louis Museum of Transportation for long term loan to the Virgin... (more)

Fans on the west end of the 7107 foot new Elkhorn tunnel helped clear engine exhaust ahead of slow moving east-bound trains. N&W also maintained ventilation fans on the single-track Cowan tunnel,... (more)

The new Elkhorn line had been in service only six years. Working hard with clear stack, sanders and rail-washer working, N&W 2198 is about to enter Elkhorn Tunnel. Sister 2181 is pushing on the re... (more)

View from under coal wharf area at Shaffers Crossing. Norfolk and Western Y6a 2157, and Class A 1241 await their turn to take on coal.

Photographer- unknown- from my personal collection. 35mm Anscochrome slide. July 11, 1959 finds Y6b 2174 performing a photo run by at the giant Trace Fork viaduct on the Dry Fork Branch of the ... (more)

Ready for the big move. NW Y6a #2156 rests out its final week at the Museum of Transportation on a beautiful fall morning. Sometime very soon, it will depart the museum for a long trip to t... (more)

Norfolk and Western 2-8-8-2 Y6a #2156 stands magnificently under the canopy at the Museum of Transportation in St. Louis. The sole survivor of the Y6 class, this powerful giant once applied brute ... (more)

Westbound N&W Y6b 2180 gets a run for Christiansburg grade at Elliston, Va

Late in the steam era on Southern Railway, Ls-2 simple 2-8-8-2 4050 works the Bristol local upgrade just west of the crossing at Sunbright, VA. The grade is nearly two percent at this point. Both ... (more)