Passenger Trains > Last Pocahontas - 55 years and a day

May 1, 1971 was Day One for the newly created National Railroad Passenger Corporation to be known as Amtrak. It was also the final day of operation for Norfolk and Western's Cincinnati to Norfolk train No. 4, the Pocahontas by virtue of its 11:25 p.m. departure on April 30. There would be no more regular passenger service on the N&W as Amtrak opted for the Chesapeake and Ohio route between Cincinnati and Washington, D.C. with a section of the train splitting at Charlottesville for Newport News. The train that departed Cincinnati arrived in Roanoke headed by a freight GP9 No. 883 and a pair of passenger Geep 9s with 515 and 502. Owing to the historic nature of the final run, N&W had assembled a block of the cars that included two of the former Wabash dome coaches and former Wabash parlor car Lafayette to bring up the markers. On the head end was former Nickle Plate Road No 759 that had been temporarily re-lettered Norfolk and Western even though N&W had never rostered a 2-8-4 locomotive. Although Pocahontas was scheduled for a 5:20 p.m. arrival in Norfolk, it was well after dark and several hours late when it pulled into the station. Few cared. This was history - the end of an era. Included here are several photos I took in the course of the trip.

---

---

---

At Roanoke, the N&W had placed on display in the station Class A locomotive No. 1218, a 2-6-6-4 recently cosmetically restored for display at the Roanoke Transportation Museum. There was a stop in Crewe to service the locomotive - and an opportunity for photographs.

---

---

---

Nice pics of no. 4's last run. Thank you for posting.

Posted from Android

I believe the 759 is at Steamtown in Scranton Pa

Posted from iPhone

You would be correct! NKP 759 is at Steamtown in Scranton but not operable.

Thanks for sharing these photos! I never knew that a NKP Berkshire carried Norfolk and Western lettering, even if it was for only a single trip.

ClassM475 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> You would be correct! NKP 759 is at Steamtown in
> Scranton but not operable.

Which sucks. I bet it would've been cool to have her and 765 running together someday!

Interesting all around, thanks for posting.
Gonut

Cincinnati to Norfolk sounds like an interesting city-pair.  This sounds like a great train-off trip