Steam & Excursion > N&W J class 600's on the Shenandoah Valley line from Ha

Judging by the O. Winston Link photos, and others, the K class mountains held sway on N&W passenger trains in the Valley. Did the J's ever run on that line in a pinch? Did the 611 ever run up there in her NS excursion career?

NKP779 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Judging by the O. Winston Link photos, and others,
> the K class mountains held sway on N&W passenger
> trains in the Valley. Did the J's ever run on
> that line in a pinch? Did the 611 ever run up
> there in her NS excursion career?


Never say never, but the regular assignments for Js were Roanoke - Cincinnati, Roanoke - Norfolk, and Bristol - Monroe.

A summary of N&W passenger service in 1946 is here: http://www.oocities.org/orvillei/norfolkandwestern1946.html

Based on the attached diagrams, in the 1946-1947 time period (before the last 3 600s were constructed), 16 K2 or K2a engines would be in passenger service on any given day. (When N&W started dieselizing in 1955, it still had 16 K1s and 22 K2s on the roster.)

Off the top of my head, the only time 611 operated on the Shenandoah line was a June 1994 circle trip to Natural Bridge / Glasgow, then to Lynchburg over the C&O, and back to Roanoke.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/26/12 10:24 by johnacraft.

---

---

Wow, that is THE definitive document on scheduling of the J's and K's.

John, you are correct. 611 ran the first leg of that circle trip on June 12, 1994 but went no further than the CSX interchange at Glasgow/Balcony Falls, VA. She dropped down the wye long enough to spot the coaches on CSX where they proceeded behind dismals to Lynchburg and then back to Roanoke.

The crew jumped out for this picture at the Glasgow/Balcony Falls CSX wye after which it was back to the tool car for an uneventful return to Roanoke. We backed up the hill from the wye which positioned us head-first back to Roanoke.

---

With all the excursions out of Roanoke over the years, it's a bit surprising 611 didn't make more trips on the Valley line aside from the aforementioned loop trip. Any operating issues with Roanoke to Waynesboro Roundtrips?

5-String Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Any operating issues with Roanoke to Waynesboro Roundtrips?

I'm not aware of any way to turn a locomotive at Waynesboro.

johnacraft Wrote:

> I'm not aware of any way to turn a locomotive at
> Waynesboro.

that would be a pretty good reason! And maybe Roanoke-Shenandoah would be a little long for a round-trip day?

5-String Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> that would be a pretty good reason! And maybe
> Roanoke-Shenandoah would be a little long for a
> round-trip day?

I would think it's about the same as a trip to Bluefield. NKP 759 hauled a round trip to Shenandoah in 1968.