Steam & Excursion > 611 - The Great Race At Shawsville

I'd have led with this video but for the fact that two nearly identical shots would have been posted the same day. On Sunday, May 28th, Norfolk & Western #611 played tag with a Norfolk Southern stack train westbound out of Roanoke. The race finally came to an end at Shawsville, and two cameras were there to capture it.

Kurt set up at the cemetery on the east side of town, which is always a popular spot for photographers on these trips. Last year he had set up alongside the road on the opposite side of the tracks; fortunately he had decided to capture a different angle. The first one to arrive, he was in a perfect spot to capture the scene as the head end of the stack train passed first with the 4-8-4 overtaking its train.

Up the grade in Shawsville's downtown area, such as it is, George had set up across the tracks from where the depot once stood along Newtown Road. As the trains' head ends rounded the curve and into view, they were neck in neck with #611 beginning to pull ahead.

The pair of them hadn't been chasing the train; these were the locations they set up at before #611 had even departed Roanoke. Sometimes it is simply pure luck that puts you in the right place at the right time!

Mary McPherson
Dongola, IL
Diverging Clear Productions

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MaryMcPherson Wrote:
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>
> The pair of them hadn't been chasing the train;
> these were the locations they set up at before
> #611 had even departed Roanoke. Sometimes it is
> simply pure luck that puts you in the right place
> at the right time!

There's good luck and bad luck. The was REALLY GOOD luck!

I set up at Wabun around 1 PM in great sunlight, one crossing before Kurt's Saturday set up. BAD luck for me (although I did get a shot of 611 thru an empty well car in the now overcast light).

Different story Monday morning, awesome sunlight there.

$2 on the chunk of iron!

Wow! Did you buy a Powerball ticket that night? Very nicely produced.

That is a beautiful, beautiful video!!
Huge congratulations to all of you for
a job very, very well done! right place,
right time! Wow!!!

That there at Shawsville was definitely one
for the ages! And the 611 was square as a die!
What glorious stack talk and music!! Thank you
all or that incredible video. Wow.......

NICE video!!

Super stuff, Mary, Kurt, George and crew.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/11/17 14:00 by nycman.

Wow, terrific!!!

Posted from iPhone

This was certainly a neat thing to witness, the classic new vs. old match. I'd have probably sung a different tune if I'd been on the other side of the tracks, but I picked the correct one in this case.

Also it was very nice to run into George. I hadn't seen him in probably 5 or 6 years, so it was great to briefly catch up.

Pump

Very nice video. They were going back and forth all the way from Roanoke. 611 had a slow order at Elliston and the freight started to pull ahead, but 611 got ahead for good once they were on the steeper part of the mountain. By the time they got to Christiansburg, 611 was at least 10 or 15 minutes ahead.

-James
http://www.steamtrainvideos.com

611 won for good right in front of George. The guys enjoyed seeing you and Brady out there.

Mary McPherson
Dongola, IL
Diverging Clear Productions

UPTRAIN Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> This was certainly a neat thing to witness, the
> classic new vs. old match. I'd have probably sung
> a different tune if I'd been on the other side of
> the tracks, but I picked the correct one in this
> case.
>
> Also it was very nice to run into George. I
> hadn't seen him in probably 5 or 6 years, so it
> was great to briefly catch up.
>
> Pump

It certainly reminds me of the incident where a number of fans were blocked by a stack train as 765 rounded Horseshoe Curve in 2013.

Mary McPherson
Dongola, IL
Diverging Clear Productions

Wow, now that's impressive. I see between the stacks, that there were people on the other side. Bet they were furious.

I was on the train that day. We paced next to that train for miles. I felt bad for everybody that were trying to take pictures.

Alec

Ms. Mary and crew, you have given all our friends a look at one of the greatest videos that I have seen! ! I am old enough to have seen several 600s in my time, but this is one of my favorites.. Thank you, Thank you! wag216 and Mrs. Gibson, too.

Wow, a scene like that seems to be from a club layout. Fantastic sights and sounds, thanks for posting.

Nathan

Thanks for your good job.

Bob Wilcox
Charlottesville, VA
My Flickr Shots

Job well done on the video! I need to get mine ready to share. For this run, I was in Christiansburg waiting for the 611. And as noted, the 611 cleared the freight by about ten to fifteen minutes. I will say thanks to the other railfans there for the freight train symbol. I figured I would catch both the 611 and the freight train there.

MaryMcPherson Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The pair of them hadn't been chasing the train;
> these were the locations they set up at before
> #611 had even departed Roanoke. Sometimes it is
> simply pure luck that puts you in the right place
> at the right time!

Thank you very much for posting the video! Nice choice of a location, lucky or not. Very fun to watch.

I bet the folks at CSX are jealous.

Jim
Hatboro, PA