One of the little publicized aspects of many N&W 1218 excursions was what happened when the destination did not have facilities to turn the huge 2-6-6-4. On this day, the A had led a long excursion from Alexandria to Charlottesville, Virginia. While the passengers and most chasers were going north with three Southern FP7’s and the excursion train, 1218 was making a deadhead move to its next scheduled location in Roanoke. With several cars bound to the same place, the A was pressed into revenue service, as seen here at Emerson, Virginia.
