Steam & Excursion > Chasing the Queen of Steam Day 2 04/24/16

The second day of our weekend chasing the N&W 611 dawned clear and cool.  Unfortunately for us, it started later than anticipated since we forgot to set our alarm clock so we didn't shoot much of the inbound trip into Roanoke.  That's just as well since most of the angles were backlit.  We decided to head out on the former Virginian main to the village of Goodview for our first run by of the day.  The angle I wanted was from the south side of the tracks near the east end of the siding.  NS scuttled those plans by putting an eastbound grain train in the hole to wait for the special.  We relocated to the northside of the tracks despite the light not being the best, it was still a good shooting locale.

1. N&W Steam Locomotive 611 leads train 957 westbound at Goodview, Virginia.

We headed into Roanoke.  Thanks to some traffic and MOW in the Roanoke Terminal, we were able to get ahead of her and positioned ourselves along Norfolk Avenue next to the shop complex where the 611 was born to watch her entrance into town.

2 and 3. N&W 611 leads train 957 past the former N&W shops on the east side of Roanoke, Virginia.

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We headed into downtown and parked ourselves (among with several other railfans) onto of one of the parking garages to wait out the 3 hour layover she had before heading back to Greensboro.

4. N&W 611 backing up to the former N&W passenger station to unload passengers at Roanoke, Virginia.

While parked, several NS freight came by.  Ironically the first one had a Canadian Pacific engine on the point.

5 and 6. NS train 128 passes by railfans and N&W 611 at Roanoke, Virginia.

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The freights continue to pass by during the afternoon.

7. NS train 29G passes N&W 611 at Roanoke, Virginia.

8 and 9. NS train 189 slowly pulls west past the N&W 611 at Roanoke, Virginia.

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Right at 3 p.m. on the dot, the N&W 611 whistled off and started to pull out of the station to start the return trip to Greensboro.

10 and 11. N&W 611 pulled out of the former N&W passenger station in downtown Roanoke, Virginia.

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While the train was turning on the wye downtown, we took advantage of the extra time and headed to Hurt to be in position when she came through instead of having to get a grab shot like the previous day.  After about a 30 minute wait, the Queen of Steam came around the bend to charge up grade towards the Southern mainline.

12 and 13. N&W 611 blasts uphill on the Hurt Connection at Hurt, Virginia.

Next stop for us, Gretna.

14. N&W 611 passes by a small farm pond on the outskirts of Gretna, Virginia as the local hound dog looks on.

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We continued on into Danville.  I wanted to try to shot over the Dan River again because the previous day I had used my 70-200 mm lens and didn't like how tight the shot was with it.  This time I used my 24-105 and loved the results.

15. N&W 611 pulls across the Dan River in Danville, Virginia.

We continued south and got our next shot in northern North Carolina.

16. My father enjoying the sight and sound of N&W 611 thundering through the small town of Pelham, North Carolina.

We continued south for one last shot as the sunlight was really starting to fade by now.  We got our final run by of the day at Reidsville.

17. N&W 611 heads south at sunset through Reidsville, North Carolina.

This ended a great couple of days chasing what is arguably the prettiest mainline steam engine plying the rails today.  The trip in my opinion was totally worth it.

Enjoy

BNSFDS

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Don't tell me they got rid of the diesel....time to book an airplane.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/29/16 11:36 by masterphots.

masterphots Wrote:
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> Don't tell me they got rid of the diesel....time
> to book an airplane.

Yep.  Diesels were only on the Spencer trips.  Should be no diesels on any of the other trips.

Who is qualified to run 611 now besides Bob Saxtan?

Don I know Sandy Alexander is and has been running the engine.


Frisco1522 Wrote:
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> Who is qualified to run 611 now besides Bob
> Saxtan?

Scott Lindsey as well.

Chris Bost
Leesport, PA

I believe this years pattern has been Aaron Sherman running in the morning with Cheri George firing.  In the afternoon it's been Sandy Alexander with Tom Mayer firing.  Not sure if Scott or Bob have run the locomotive this year, but they both ran a little last year.  Also, I believe there were at least 3 other engineers that ran the locomotive last year.  No shortage of qualified people on 611.

Nice series of photos, I really like #'s 6 & 7 at the station in Roanoke.

Nathan

Thank you for sharing your fine images !!

Nice shots! Thanks for sharing!