Steam & Excursion > Ten Years Ago Today - N&W 611 in Roanoke...

Ten years ago (July 4th)... 

In 2015, plenty of railfans, including my brother and I, spent their Fourth of July holiday weekend in southwest Virginia. Norfolk & Western 4-8-4 611 would be pulling its first excursions out of Roanoke since its restoration as part of Norfolk Southern's 21st Century Steam Program.

There were two excursions each day departing from the former N&W station in Roanoke (now the O. Winston Link Museum) from Friday, July 3rd to Sunday, July 5th. The morning excursions were 98-mile round trips on the former N&W mainline over the Blue Ridge to Lynchburg, named the “Powhatan Arrow.” The afternoon 84-mile round trips, named the “Pelican,” would head west up the former N&W Christiansburg grade to the wye in Walton.

Since both trips would cover former N&W territory, we made sure we knew the locations of all the endangered N&W color position light signals along the route, including spots where work had already begun on their replacements.

#1. Our Saturday morning chase started with a walk to the former N&W CPLs at Blue Ridge, located just west of the former station site. Various photo lines were set up for different angles and I chose the closest photo line to the signal for this head-on shot splitting the masts.

#2. After the mass exodus back to the cars, we pushed east about 15 miles to the west end of the siding in Bedford to get the 611 racing past the N&W CPL there.

#3. The return run to Roanoke produced the most nerve-racking shot of the trip. After catching the westbound run at the east end of the Bedford siding, we again joined a large group of photographers at the Blue Ridge CPLs, which had a clear signal displayed for an eastbound on the close track. As we all waited, a slow-moving manifest crawled up the grade on the near track to the photo line, blocking our view. Since we were almost even with track level and our view was blocked, people anxiously peered under the freight cars to see if anything was rolling by on the opposite track. The photo line relaxed as the end of the freight passed and the smoke column from the 611 could be seen rounding the curve.
 

---

---

---

#4. With the freight clear of the signals, everyone could breathe a sigh of relief as they got the westbound shot of 611 splitting the signals.

#5. After lunch and a few freight photos, we set up for the afternoon trip at one of our favorite spots, the CPLs at Porterfield, just over 10 miles west of downtown Roanoke. The long straightway and mountain ridge in the distance made the spot stand out, plus the difficulty of access kept the crowds away, unlike our next spot.

#6. Fifteen miles west, while the 611 climbed the grade to Christiansburg, we fought the traffic to find anyplace to park the car off of Den Hill Road at one of the most popular photo locations, the twin bores of Montgomery Tunnel. At this time, not only was NS in the process of replacing the CPL signals, crews were also at work enlarging the tunnel for larger double stack container clearance.
 

---

---

---

#7. We just barely made it to the former station area in Christiansburg for one last grab shot of the WB run, then repositioned slightly while the train turned on the wye in Walton. Just west of the only crossing in Christiansburg was the CPL for the crossover at Pelton, with its replacement cantilever already standing beside it.

#8. Our last good spot was not a CPL, but a signal of another sort. This unique crossing signal had protected the entrance drive for a brick quarry just east of Elliston. The lights would stay lit until a train tripped the circuit and turned them off. After this, we would get one more grab shot before the 611 made it back to Roanoke.

#9. We capped off the day by setting up our tripods on the Jefferson Street SE bridge over NS’s South Yard to shoot the “Fireworks on the Fourth” celebration at River’s Edge South Park. While setting up, an eastbound loaded coal train pulled in and stopped next to the former Virginian depot below. We abandoned our bridge spot and headed down to track level behind the depot to get the fireworks above the parked train. Not a bad way to end the holiday.

- Chris
 

---

---

---

Excellent - Including the signals made some of these photos doubly historic.
Bob

You got the shots and you did a fine job with all of them :-)

That fireworks shot is something else, that's for sure.  Right on the nose.

 

Nice series of photos; thanks for sharing!

Great coverage.  The signals are just as rare and unique to N&W as the J.  BSB 

BigSkyBlue Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Great coverage.  The signals are just as rare and
> unique to N&W as the J.  BSB 

...and the signals are long gone now I believe!

srfreer Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> BigSkyBlue Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Great coverage.  The signals are just as rare
> and
> > unique to N&W as the J.  BSB 
>
> ...and the signals are long gone now I believe!
Mostly gone the very next May (2016), when the incredible horde of railfans descended on Roanoke for what I consider 2 of the most difficult days of railfanning I ever put myself through.
Pics 1 &2 are from the Stampede Pass dome, I believe east of Shawsville.
3. Loading a WB Excursion at Roanoke
All  photos taken 5/7/2016 by me

---

---

---

Nice shots!!  Thanks for posting.

bigsavage Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> ...May (2016), when the
> incredible horde of railfans descended on Roanoke
> for what I consider 2 of the most difficult days
> of railfanning I ever put myself through.

We cheated and mostly didn't bother with the chase.  With three in the same vehicle, we would drop off and set up at different locations.  Once the train passed and the chasers fled, we would set up at different locations for the return trip and wait for the train's arrival.  Six good locations per round trip with no craziness; wash, rinse, repeat all weekend.  Sometimes the tactic works!

Mary McPherson
Dongola, IL
Diverging Clear Productions

I'm glad your tactic worked, but I was alone, unfamiliar with the area, and had slipped in a ditch at Villamont Saturday morning, which gave me a painful lump on my right heel. Fortunately I was able to limp on the Stampede Pass for my dome ride, and later that evening had a great local craft beer at the 611 Steakhouse to ease the pain.
Next day I rested my heel further on a ride to Lynchburg, that afternoon I tried chasing to Walton from Roanoke.
By now things had gone totally obnoxious, and local law enforcement was starting to show up. I arrived at Vicker coal tower early, and thus had a good spot to avoid the subsequent drama.
The 4-hour drive home up I-81 the next day in the rain was alnost anticlimatic. 

---