Railway and had established a steam program on his railroad. Locomotives like 2-8-2 No. 4501 and 2-8-0s Nos. 722 and 630 were delighting crowds. His brother, Robert Claytor, became president of the Norfolk & Western and started exploring his own steam program, with No. 611 being the most likely candidate as the power. As it turned out, Southern and N&W merged in 1982 to form Norfolk Southern, and the steam program was vastly expanded across the new system. No. 611 was pulled out of the Roanoke museum in 1981 and sent to the Southern’s steam shop in Birmingham, Ala., for rebuilding. In 1982 No. 611 made its first triumphant return — under steam — to Roanoke. It wasn’t long after 611’s return
that I had one of my favorite rides behind steam. During the 1983 NRHS convention a trip was offered between Richmond, Petersburg, and Norfolk. I got to the train early and was able to score a seat in a car with open windows. Once out of Petersburg and onto the flat, straight track towards Norfolk, No. 611 approached 70 m.p.h. The cinders actually stung when they hit your arm. The steam program was incredibly popular across the South, but a cloud was cast over the operation when a train powered by No. 611 derailed in the Great Dismal Swamp in eastern Virginia in 1986. After picking a switch, 13 of the 23 cars in the consist came off the track, with a few rolling onto their sides. There was a lot of speculation that it was the end of the line for the steam program. Somewhat surprisingly, NS retired and replaced the oldest cars in the excursion fleet (those that didn’t have tight-lock couplers and other modern safety devic- es) and further expanded the program, adding A-Class 2-6-6-4 No. 1218 to the steam stable. Gone, though, were the open cars, and speeds were limited to 40 m.p.h. For the next decade, NS steam was often running in two different loca- tions on most weekends in the spring, summer, and fall. All good things come to an end, though.
Robert Claytor retired as NS president, and an accident in a yard damaged sev- eral of the passenger cars used by the steam program. In October 1994 it was
40 SEPTEMBER 2015 •
RAILFAN.COM
ABOVE: No. 611 and its 21-car consist has just departed Lynchburg and is heading back to Roanoke as it rolls through Forest on July 3. The wye at Lynchburg provided a convenient turning point for the entire train.
announced the steam program would come to a close. Just as it did in 1959 when it powered the last N&W farewell to steam trip, No. 611 powered the final Norfolk Southern Steam Special on De- cember 3, 1994. Three days later No. 611 returned home to Roanoke under steam, and the fire was dropped one last time.
Back to the Future
All of this brings us to the 2013 an- nouncement that the Virginia Museum of Transportation was kicking off the “Fire Up 611” campaign. Norfolk South- ern, under CEO Wick Moorman, was amenable to steam and had started the “21st Century Steam” program using 2-8-0 No. 610 from the Tennessee Valley
Railroad Museum in Chattanooga and Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 No. 765 from the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society. Bringing 611 back to the rails seemed only logical. In spring 2014 the stream- liner was dispatched to the Robert Ju- lian Roundhouse at the North Carolina Transportation Museum in Spencer for yet another resurrection. In spring 2015 No. 611 was back on
the rails, heading for Roanoke. After briefly stopping in its birth city, the lo- comotive went on to power trips out of Alexandria, Va., and Lynchburg in June. But the real treat — the days everyone had circled on their calendars — was go- ing to be over the July 4 weekend when No. 611 would run over its old regular
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