Article #108: Norfolk & Western J Class 4-8-4 611 NC Transportation Museum (June 18, 2016)

 

In this new article, we will be taking a look at Norfolk & Western J Class 4-8-4 #611 running at the North Carolina Transportation Museum back in June of 2016. 

#611 was built in May of 1950 by the Norfolk & Western Railway in Roanoke, Virginia. It operated for nine years (1950-1959) running on various passenger trains like the Pocahontas, the Cavalier and the Powhatan Arrow. All three of those trains ran between Norfolk, Virginia and Cincinnati, Ohio.

It was donated to the city of Roanoke in 1962 after being retired. For a long time, it resided at Wasena Park in Roanoke. This is where the majority of the museum collection was before the mid 1980's. Thereafter, the collection moved the current location of the Virginia Museum of Transportation. 

In 1982, the locomotive was restored for the Norfolk Southern steam program where it ran many excursions.  It ran up until 1994 which is when steam excursions on Norfolk Southern were eliminated.

The excursions came back in 2015 where #611 was the main locomotive running on those excursions. After excursions were eliminated for a second time, #611 has resided at the museum in Roanoke ever since. It has operated on some excursions in 2023 and 2025 on the Buckingham Branch Railroad.

The photo here was taken on June 18, 2016 where it was running around the North Carolina Transportation Museum pulling a couple of cabooses.