today was a glorious shakedown run for the Norfolk & Western Class J Passenger Locomotive #611. She's been out of service for 21 years, and it took 1 year to restore her back to operation.

through High Point station

and up out of the Yadkin River Valley toward Spencer

Thanks David, for sharing!

http://www.fireup611.org/



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The fastest and easiest way to purchase tickets is online through FIREUP611.org. You may also call the VMT Ticket Line at 540-797-2666 or purchase tickets in person at the Virginia Museum of Transportation in downtown Roanoke.

Norfolk and Western Class J 611 is considered by many to be the finest American locomotive ever made. She is a marriage of beauty and power. Simple lines, a bullet nose, a midnight black façade, a Tuscan stripe and a baritone whistle makes her the most distinguished steam locomotive left in the world. She's an engineering powerhouse of steam, technology and near mechanical perfection. The Class J Locomotives were built using American ingenuity, design and engineering. Even today, she is the pinnacle of steam locomotive technology known to man.

The Norfolk and Western Class J Locomotives were designed, constructed and maintained in Roanoke, Virginia. These streamlined locomotives have captivated the hearts of rail fans worldwide since they first rolled out of the N&W Roanoke Shops, beginning in 1941.

611 was built in May of 1950. The 611 Locomotive pulled the Powhatan Arrow, the famed passenger train, from Norfolk to Cincinnati. 611 retired from passenger rail service in 1959. In 1962, she was moved to the Virginia Museum of Transportation in Roanoke, Virginia.

In 1981, Norfolk Southern pulled her out of retirement and restored her to her original glory. Once again, she blew her whistle to sleepy towns and thundered across the landscape. She was retired from excursions in 1994 and moved back into the Virginia Museum of Transportation. Since her retirement, rail fans have clamored, hoped and dreamed that she return to the rails, to blow her whistle and steam over the Blue Ridge and Appalachian mountains once again.