Steam & Excursion > A Little 611

Since it seems like some of us could use a break from the drama surrounding the ATSF 3751 situation on the West Coast, so I thought I'd upload some shots of N&W 611 from April 9th.

1 - Shortly after midnight in the wee hours of 4/9/16, I grabbed a few night shot in the parking lot of the NC Transportation Museum.

2 - After leaving the museum grounds and pausing to line the switch back to the main, 611 gets her train back on the move.  I got some HD video of this as well; I'll have to figure out how to convert into a format compatible with Trainorders' sytem so I can post it.

3 - Now with the sun all the way above the trees, NS 958 rolls through Thomasville.

More in a minute...

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4 - 958 rolls into downtown Greensboro.  The brick building on the right side of the frame is lettered SOUTHERN RAILWAY above the front door; I was told it was once their division headquarters.

5 - Rolling through Ruffin.

6 - Coming through Danville, with high crosswinds blowing the smoke all around.

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7 - After a much-later-than-advertised departure from Lynchburg (single track, opposing freights, etc) they crossed the high bridge al Altavista around 5:30p.

8 - I posted this one already, but here it is again.  Last shot of the day, which turned out to be the best, as she gets back up to track speed after a brief stop at Danville.  From here it was back to the motel to drop my buddy off at his truck, and then straight back to Charlotte - I cleared security just as they made the first call for my flight home.

And before anyone says it - Damned dirty diesels!  Damned dirty mismatched consist!  Damned dirty [insert gripe of your choice here]!  Whatever.  Its steam on the main line, so I took what I could get.  And I'm glad I went.

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Great stuff! We were next to each other for #2, Spencer, and #5, Ruffin. The shot at Ruffin was my favorite shot of the entire trip!
~wko

How's about damned dirty pretty green diesels?

I actually spent a weekend chasing the Southern heritage unit when it was pinch hitting for 630 a couple of years ago.  Not an E-Unit, but not bad, either.

Mary McPherson
Dongola, IL
Diverging Clear Productions

I think your last shot of the day was at a long curve, right?  If so, then I'm over there somewhere, getting the video of it accelarating out of the Danville station stop as well...

Jim Lipnitz
Morrisville, PA
Big Jim Video Productions

GREAT pics!!  Thanks for posting.

Nice set of pix ... Cool steam effects in pic 2.

* JB *