Norfolk and Western 611 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
References:[1][2][3] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Norfolk & Western Class J No. 611 Locomotive | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Location | 303 Norfolk Avenue SW, Roanoke, Virginia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Coordinates | 37°16′23″N 79°56′50″W / 37.272943°N 79.947231°W | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Built | 1950 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Built by | Roanoke Shops | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NRHP reference No. | 100009961 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Added to NRHP | February 8, 2024 |
Norfolk and Western 611, also known as the "Spirit of Roanoke" and the "Queen of Steam", is the only surviving example of Norfolk and Western's (N&W) class J 4-8-4 type "Northern" streamlined steam locomotives. Built in May 1950 at N&W's Roanoke (East End) Shops in Roanoke, Virginia, it was one of the last main line passenger steam locomotives built in the United States and represents a pinnacle of American steam locomotive technology.
No. 611 hauled N&W's premier passenger trains between Norfolk, Virginia, and Cincinnati, Ohio; and ferried Southern Railway's (SOU) passenger trains through the Blue Ridge Mountains between Monroe and Bristol, Virginia. Retired from revenue service in 1959, No. 611 was donated to the Virginia Museum of Transportation (VMT), where it became the sole survivor of the 14 class J locomotives.
In 1982, No. 611 was restored to operation by N&W successor Norfolk Southern (NS). It became the main line star of the railroad's steam program, pulling excursion trains as far south as Florida, as far north as New York, and as far west as Illinois and Missouri. In late 1994, when liability insurance costs led NS to end its steam program, the locomotive was again retired and moved back to the VMT.
In 2015, after a year of restoration at the North Carolina Transportation Museum (NCTM) in Spencer, North Carolina, No. 611 returned to main line excursion service as part of the NS 21st Century Steam program. That program ended in 2017, and the VMT has since operated No. 611 in excursion service and as a traveling exhibit, spending time at the NCTM and Strasburg Rail Road (SRC) in Strasburg, Pennsylvania.
Frequently invoked as an icon of Roanoke and its railroading history, No. 611 was declared a National Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) in 1984 and was designated the official state steam locomotive of Virginia by the Virginia General Assembly in 2017. It was added to the Virginia Landmarks Register by the Virginia Department of Historic Resources (DHR) in 2023. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2024.[4]