Through The Lens 128 – N&W 611 Roanoke Mornings

Roanoke Mornings

N&W 611 pulls into the station on the final morning of her 2017 Excursion Season.  Hopefully this sight will return in the future.

Through The Lens 125 – N&W 611 Spring Flowers

Spring Flowers

Last year about this time was the second weekend I chased N&W 611.  The flowers in the foreground made this one of my favorite images from the trip.

Through The Lens 123 – N&W 611 Brown’s Summit

Brown's Summit, NC

As a child I watched a video tape of the National Geographic program, ‘Love Those Trains’, until I wore it out.  N&W 611 was featured in the opening sequence and I always wanted to see her run in person.

Last year, my friend Kevin invited me to chase the J with him and a couple other friends. I immediately took him up on the offer and ended up chasing three of the four weekends that 611 ran in 2017.

The image above of N&W 611 charging up grade through the rain at Brown’s Summit, NC was taken about this time last year on the first of the three weekends I chased.

Through The Lens 102 – Wabun and the J

The engineer eases off the throttle of N&W 611 heading into a speed restriction on the uphill grade outside the town of Wabun, VA.  This was the first of two trips out of Roanoke on Memorial Day 2016.

After Norfolk Southern ended its first steam program in 1994, many thought we’d never get to see the J under steam again.  Fortunately miracles happen and the Virginia Museum of Transportation restored 611 to service with the help of Norfolk Southern and many other generous donors.  I’m thankful to have had the opportunity to ride behind and photograph one of the finest steam locomotives ever built.  Even better, I got to photograph it with some good friends.  Thanks again, Kevin, Mike and Rick!

Through The Lens 99 – The Road to Paradise

The road to Paradise has long been the nickname for the Strasburg Railroad. Fitting name too since the line ran from Strasburg PA to Paradise, PA where it interchanged with with the Pennsylvania Railroad, now part of Norfolk Southern.

I’m headed to Strasburg again soon for a photo charter featuring N&W 475, which will be disguised as her sister locomotive #382.   N&W 382 was made famous by O. Winston Link in his photos of it operating on the N&W’s Abingdon Branch, but was lost to the scrapper’ torch.

Through The Lens 84 – Chasing the J

Christiansburg Grade

Half the fun of photography is the experience behind each image.  In the case of this image, I’ll never forget the sound of N&W 611 crawling up the grade outside Christiansburg pulling a 19 car train while doing her best Mt. Vesuvius impression, or the moment when the exhaust hit the underside of the highway bridge we were standing on, lifting the bridge upward.

 

Through The Lens 77 – The Mighty J

The Norfolk & Western Class “J” 611 is an incredible machine. She was designed to pull the N&W’s premiere passenger trains at speeds up to 100mph. As the only example of this class of locomotive to survive the scrapper’ torch, we’re lucky she’s operational today.

In the photo above, we see her rolling past the former N&W Freight House in Roanoke.  The site is now home to the Virginia Museum of Transportation.

Last week was the third weekend I photographed her this spring. Watch for the trip Report in a couple of weeks.