| Posted by FSWood on May 16, 2012 | |
Rode several fan trips behind 611, beautiful machine. Have read that it could move faster than one would expect with 69 inch drivers, and from the way it cruised on a couple of those trips I believe it.
Pretty good at climbing grades as well. Liked it's kind of 'steamboat-y' whistle.
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Bullet-nose, jointed-rail, and chromed auto bumpers. What a nice, nostalgic photo! How exciting it must have been to see these last passenger steam engines when all else were diesel.
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| Posted by on May 17, 2012 | |
At the time, there were something like 14 or more passenger trains serving Christiansburg--not counting the "Huckleberry," the mixed train to Blacksburg and back. And, most of those trains were J-powered (remarkable, since there were only 14 on the entire N&W). If you throw in the manifests and eastbound coal trains (with pushers cutting off after shoving upgrade from Walton), you could imagine what a great day of train watching one could have here. The depot, by the way, still stands.
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Nice photo of one of N&W's finest! You can tell it's near the end of the steam era. The photo is in color and there is plenty of road grime on the locomotive - making the locomitives look shiny were no longer a priority.
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Those look like PRR signals.
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