Norfolk & Western 611: Assault on Christiansburg Mountain (Roanoke to Walton 2016)
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- Опубліковано 15 лип 2024
- On the 7th & 8th of May 2016, N&W 611 ran four excursions out of her hometown of Roanoke, Virginia. It was along this route that the 611 and the rest of the J class hauled famous passenger trains such as the Powhatan Arrow, Cavalier, Pelican, Pocahontas, and Tennessean. The 611 put on a great show doing exactly what she was built to do, hauling a 20-car passenger train in and out of the Roanoke Valley.
The afternoon excursions ran westward out of Roanoke up the Christiansburg Grade to Walton wye, near Radford. I chased both trips, and this video is in geographical order. On Sunday 611 flew pink flags for Mother's Day.
LOCATIONS:
0:10 - Roanoke - Pedestrian overpass near Gainsboro Parking Lot
3:15 - Riverside - West River Rd
4:25 - Ellison - US 460/Lee Hwy
5:20 - west of Shawsville - Friendship Rd
7:08 - Montgomery Tunnel, Den Hill Rd
9:06 - west of Christiansburg - Chrisman Mill Rd
10:13 - Vicker - Switchback Rd
13:15 - west of Christiansburg - Chrisman Mill Rd
15:00 - Riserside - West River Rd
16:25 - Wabun - West River Rd - Авто та транспорт
Exiting the tunnel shot was fabulous !
Thanks!
And just think, not only is she the most beautiful steam locomotive ever built, but under that streamlined casing she’s also the single most powerful 4-8-4 locomotive ever built; no wonder she was able to pull that grade unassisted 😍😍😍
Oh man, I absolutely love that she was running unassisted here. Glorious chuffing, no diesel brum to drown it out! And real genuine work gettin' done too, she's pullin' hard and runnin' like a swiss watch here.
Nice not to have a diesel. And it doesn't even need one.
How many Diesel Electrics would it take…
2, maybe 3.
You cannot appreciate the noise of 611’s stack talk until you see her in person working hard! It’s deafening!
Rail tunnels are notorious for gassing crews. My father fired steam through the Mount Airy tunnel on the Old Main Line of the B&O and has a story about stalling in the tunnel and nearly passing out from the locomotive exhaust. He had to wake the engineer out of a gas-induced stupor, cut away from the train, and run light out of the tunnel to escape the gas.
As a Brit I love our locos, particularly the A4 streamliners one of which holds the world record for steam, but there is something about these magnificent American locos which I really admire. Of course we dont have the loading gauge to accommodate huge trains like this in the UK, but your engineers took full advantage of the space available to build fantastic locos. Great video, thanks.
Camelot is up,and running on the Bluebell. Gorgeous .
Laws of economics. Americans needed big heavy power: UK needed to move a lot of short trains very quickly and efficiently. And they did.
What a beauty !!!
Arguably one of the most beautiful streamlined locomotives ever designed.
Agree and disagree. Daylight Limited looks better.
Other railroads had made all of the mistakes by the time they built this.
Poetry in motion. Gorgeous videography, great vantage points, high production values. It all comes together to produce an experience that is the next best thing to being there.
I've ridden behind the mighty 611 on quite a few occasions before the current restoration and I'll have to say that she is quite the lady, very refined, elegant and graceful. She's the epitome of modern steam technology when NS built her in their own shop in Roanoke around '50 or '51. She's just a joy to watch with her roller bearings, automatic lubrication and steam operated stoker and
from what I hear an engineer's favorite because of her ease of operation.
If you get a chance buy a ticket for a ride behind her if she's coming through your area or at least watch her as she passes by. You'll not regret the experience.
I'm certainly glad she wasn't scrapped.
God I Love Steam Locomotives! Bring back such fond memories of my youth and my Grandfather....
Listen to the SP 4449's old whistle on the 611! Truly spectacular!
Wow , 611 is and will always be my Favourite American Steam Loco !!
How beautiful and majestic! What a terrific whistle!!
Awesome!!! and 2:16 right side there is a old car running on the road, wowwwwww, just feel back to 1920
Poetry in motion...reminds me of the late 40s and 50s living east of Roanoke, good times.
You Yanks certainly have some great locos to admire!
Damn right Brit
Thank you! Glad there’s so many still operational.
You over in England have some beautiful steam locomotives too!
I rode this train on this same route with my girlfriend but it was earlier than 2016. Wish I could remember. Was probably in the 80s. Very cool ride. N&W string band walking through the cars playing bluegrass. I remember feeling the pulsating feeling of power it had...and the small amount of flakes of soot or maybe unburnt coal dust on us. Just stumbled on this video. Really takes me back. We were running late and almost missed it. Glad we made it.
Absolutely beautiful piece of art that is still in use.love the nostalgia.
That is one gorgeous locomotive!!!!
Terrific camera work and all locations familiar from my many trips to shoot #611 in the late 1980s and early 90s. Love the shot of the freight meet on the Christiansburg curves! Great video and thanks for posting.
My uncle was an engineer on the Powhatan Arrow, though he never spoke much of it. I never knew that he drove the mighty J class. Such a beautiful engine.
Nice video! I am the fella standing on the back of his truck in the first part of the video! I am a crew member and we swap morning and afternoon runs, so I took the opportunity to take a little video of her pulling out.
kind of like a busmans holiday.
7:20 on, that has to be my favorite train video ever, blasting out of that tunnel OMG amazing
the sound rattling in the tunnel is amazing
Robert Coulter that is the sound of people trying to breathe!!!
They'll manage :)
Impressive! That's a long train through the mountains and that single steamer is doing it all alone.
611 is a real beast, you could feel her shaking the ground as she went by.
my grandad was a train engineer for 35 years, used to take me n my brothers on short rides in the summer when we went to visit, ill never forget those days, thanks grandpa Frank!!!!!!
It is amazing to see such a beautyful old steam Train in action! :)
Beauty of a Beast. 611 seems to be in pristine condition. Kudos to the maintenance team. Great video, man.
THAT SOUND!! Some absolutely gorgeous shots!! Thanks for sharing!
Just found this - beautifully done!
Excellent footage. Love it when she's "chopping them off" as we say here in the UK. Thank you sir.
Great video. Thanks for taking the time to shoot it, edit it, and post it.
Noted the Northern Pacific Vista Dome passenger car being pulled by 611. Brought back many fond memories riding the southern Montana part of the NP as a youngster. Saw the 611 in Manassas last year, it really stands out with the paint job.
AMAZING stack talk. Great video, excellent work!
There is a lot of very good steam locomotive vidos. This is among the best. Thanks!
Amazing video. Thank you for sharing.
Cool hadn't seen any footage of the 611 coming out of the tunnel!!
Luv the sound of the rails sing as the 611 passes by!
Great video work! Thanks for sharing!!
Fantastic video, excellent camera work, well scouted locations.
8:02 - Crewman opening the cab window after leaving the tunnel!
Thank you!
Music to my ears!
Stunning, what an impressive beast and I love the whistle
What a great looking and sounding train!
great shots!
A most excellent video. Thank you.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Excellent work, especially at Montgomery!
Great work indeed, but I feel sorry for anyone following through the tunnel . . . and diesels going through a tunnel are already bad enough.
Great video skills... thanks for posting!!
Thanks!
Great camera work!
Sorry I missed this!
I miss the 611 it use to run by myhouse when I was a teen.
great job thank you
My hometown, great railroad town with a museum , come on down you'all.
Pulling 21 carriages including it's own weight is an incredible feat, such is the power of steam...
Ahh, my home city. What a pretty sight.
That's a great looking consist!
I just got done watching Up's 844 and I decided to compare, I am noticing 611 has no diesel assistance and is pulling a longer consist up rougher terrain. Those boys at the East end Shops knew how to build a locomotive especially The J class. I had the privilege of riding behind her twice. Once when I was a kid june of 89 to Buffalo NY and in May of 2016 from Manassas to Front Royal. 611 is definitely my favorite engine. She has both grace and power. You definitely feel it when she runs by that she's a living and breathing marvel of human engineering at It's finest. When I was in Great Britain I've also got to ride behind the Flying Scotsman. It's a fine engine and graceful, to me the Flying Scotsman doesn't have the character and soul like J 611 has.
East coast engines, there were a lot more powerful than west, of course coal was big part of that
What a thing of beauty ! The times of real men and women and families
I live in Christiansburg, the sound is amazing in person
I live in Radford
16:30 I live right down the road from there! Glad you could join us in watching 611!
Western Virginia is beautiful. I hope to see 611 running through there many more times in the future.
Winston Link would have loved this video
Look at how easily it draws such a heavy train
NEVER underestimate the power of steam
Fun story: In July 1988 NKP 765 was tucked behing two SD40-2's and a U33C which were pulling a 60 car freight train. They were heading up to Gulf Summit on the former Erie, and at first they were rolling at 40 mph but once they hit the hill at Gulf Summit their speed began to drop to 25 mph and was was continuing to drop. The fireman on 765 that day wanted to test a new load of coal they just aquired (765 had been "idling" this whole time on this 60 car freight train) 765's engineer radioed the diesels and asked if they wanted some "help" up the hill. Eventually after easing 765 into the load the throttle was to the roof with a steady 245 psi boiler pressure with the 765 making SO much noise it drowned out the diesels ahead of it. After several minutes they were back up at 32 and accelerating slowly (still going up this hill mind you) Satisfied with the performance of the coal, 765's engineer radioed to the diesels informing them they would be backing off now. The response he got was: "It's a good thing you let me know. I'll start notching up again. You guys have had the whole train all by yourselves for the last 3 miles."
765 pulled a 60 car freight train BY HERSELF up Gulf Summit Grade at 32 mph, and three diesels couldn't match her power.
@@e-train765 They were great locos, operated by a company that understood steam and what it could achieve.
I bet the engine crews were gasping for air. Nice video.
So magestic. !!!
What a glorious way to travel.
really nice work here..... Subbed your channel
Good speed and good power to pull 20 coaches in flat and a gradients.
Love to see that Milwaukee Road coach (car). America's Somerset and Dorset? We all seem to have lost fantastic lines.
I rode 611 last July on this same route. I caught it the next day at various locations including the Friendship Rd crossing.
Would love to ride on her.
Great Video of "her"!!... and great camera angles & video capture. Personally, I think the best "stack talk" I ever heard from the 611 was the day she stalled on Saluda with 22 heavies.... was a Masterful "touch" on the throttle to get her started again on the grade... though that had to cut the train and bring the trailing end up with diesels.... but Hey!... it was on Saluda, and she did "good". If you haven't seen that video.. just search for N&W 611 stalls on Saluda (Oct. 1992). Seems to me that the whistle is not as "clean" and stout sounding as it did "back in the years" before she was static and then the rebuild.... or, maybe it's the engineer(?). It sounds like it's just "waking up" from a sleep, with wet steam not yet cleared out of her "throat" and the boiler is only at about 70 or 75 percent of operating pressure (300psi.. after 1950).
I believe there was some fiasco involving the original engineer and HIS whistle from her last excursion service back then. The one she has now is either a repop or the closest they could get.
Its still amazing, and to hear it echo through danville va as she was coming through, sent chills up my spine and tears in my eyes. Its the most sorrowful, lonely sounding noise Ive ever heard. But with her in view, its kinda cheerful in a way.
These were great locos
Got to ride behind the 611 at least once, maybe twice in the mid 80s in the Ohio-Kentucky area.
Nice video dude
From what I noticed, the Great Northern passenger cars have been split up and bought by others. I would love to see the F7 units and all the cars together running again
7:48 THAT LOOK AWESOME!
Attention! 2:11 The Cars to accompany!
I like this
good vid.
Steam locomotives gain horse-power the faster they travel; diesels loose horse-power as they gain speed. That's why a heavy consist requires 3 to 4 diesels to pull it.
OMG what a cloud of smoke when it exited the tunnel.
And by the time the end of the train finally exited, the smoke was STILL trailing out of the tunnel!!! 😺💕🐾
Montgomery tunnel...scary !!!
Pulling around 20 carriages without diesel loco support...great
I'd hate to be in that cab going through the tunnel. NS speed restrictions not allowing the ole girl to get some speed hitting the grade meaning you really have to let the engine work to maintain your speed. Which means holding your breath and closing your eyes going through the tunnel lol
cool video
Great !!!!
That whistle... My god
What an amazing machine! Any railroad running that train as an OCS would have 2 of their newest high horsepower diesels on it. 611 took care of business!
diesles can start up a train, high power low end torque, but a steamer works better when it has a good speed on it or worked hard makes the fire burn hotter and the steam expands more taking less of it to push the piston and once gets going the steam admission valve can be cut shorter saving steam, and that is where it makes its most power when its running hard the boiler does its job the best.
that is where with the more modern steamers built late in the era like 611 make their peak hp at speed.
Actually, early diesels weren't good on slopes, the Santa Fe actually had steam engines on standby in certain areas as helpers for that reason.
They still aren't as good they can also overheat the motors on a hard hill as it were like the problem with ashbula hill that 765 climbed unaided last year on the way over though ohio about this time she needed everything she had and they thought she would slip but she made it , also, just listen to the hill story by Rich Melvin when he ran up attica hill, during the conrail years a yard foreman doubted that any train could make the hill since the diesles needed help, but then got a shock when Mr Melvin had 775 accellerating up the hill, the thing is the harder you work the pressure on the pistons as it goes up the stack the harder the draw on the fire like puffing a cigar when you smoke or a set of bellows in a blacksmith shop the the harder you draw the more it glows and more heat it gives off, the hotter the fire the more the steam expands and takes up more volume with less gas to push the piston in the cylinder, also the more easy it makes steam in the boiler.
That yard foreman must have had the shock of his life as he witnessed 765 climb Ashbula Hill by itself.
Amazing information on how a steam locomotive seems to become more efficient and powerful the harder the engineer works her; just the opposite for a diesel. You just can't beat a steam locomotive for sheer power and torque.
And you can't beat a steam locomotive for sheer beauty.
If I were a member of the top 10% or the 1% I would own a train like this and travel in no other manner.
7:30 damn that sound!!!!
3:13 that box car went past my place I even have a short video and a picture of it
How many noticed the antique car passing through at 2:15? Then the sports car behind it?
i saw her go through pulaski and dublin.
Some great vantage points and crisp audio. Thumbs up! I'm guessing you use a directional shotgun mic?
Thank you! Actually at the time this was filmed I was using the Sony ECM-XYST1M stereo mic. I now use the Azden SMX-30 which can be switched between shotgun and stereo as the situation requires.
Wow 😳😁👍
My new American Train Set has arrived. It's called The Chattanooga. I've yet to test it.
nothing like the sound of big steam working steep grades. that sound...... i can do it, i can do it, i can do it..... it's almost like its steady beat is saying that lol
What a beast;
How Many Diesel Electrics would it take to pull all those cars up that mountain??
Just curious;
Anyone know?
I don't know why we never stuck with those trains you look pretty cool I wonder why the nose of the train was a lot longer and bigger.
In only a couple of shots did it show that the Fireman was earning his keep because "Black Smoke Wastes Fuel" is printed in Large White Letters on the face of every Tender where it's coupled to a Norfolk and Western Steam Locomotive!
What's with the 26 giving this video a thumbs down?
10:24 was the sound waves from the trains horn causing the picture wobble?
No, I got there at the same time the train did so I didn't have time to set up my tripod. The wobble is the camera trying to compensate for the unsteadiness of my hands.
The speed of this steam train is mind blowing:110 km per hour
Just to let you know, the 611 was speed restricted to 45 MPH for the july 2015 trips. During the production of the locomotive, while pulling 15 cars was able to get up to 110 MPH or 177 Km/h. The engineer started to get nervous with vibrations to push it any faster, therefor the true power and speed of that locomotive is not known.
The train horn at 3:00 sund so good, what kind is it ?
I believe it is called a Hancock.