We had the extreme good fortune to be able to ride this special train excursion on a beautiful and warm Sunday. Our ride was planned about four months ago when the Roanoke Transportation Museum announced the fall rides over six weekends. The website was launched two months later and then we were finally able to logon to the on-line queue to buy tickets. Waiting something like an hour for our time to click on the buy button. We got our five tickets! And not just regular tickets, but we splurged on the dome seat tickets! I was looking forward to this time with family and a reminder of train rides from years ago!
Our two sons and daughter-in-law joined Pat and I on this special day. Bryan and Jenn driving over from DC and Pat, Ross and I from the New River Valley. This J-Class steam powered locomotive has drawn people from around the globe to just see it.
What is the 611 J-Class Steam Engine?
From Wikipedia: Norfolk and Western 611, also known as the “Spirit of Roanoke” and the “Queen of Steam”, is the only surviving example of Norfolk and Western’s (N&W) class J 4-8-4 type “Northern” streamlined steam locomotives. Built in May 1950 at N&W’s Roanoke (East End) Shops in Roanoke, Virginia, it was one of the last mainline passenger steam locomotives built in the United States and represents the pinnacle of steam locomotive technology.
This beast of a train engine is the most powerful 4-8-4 passenger steam locomotive ever built. Here are a few stats:
- Built to haul passenger cars around Virginia and into Ohio
- Retired from regular service in 1959 to Roanoke Museum after auto travel gained popularity
- The 611 is the sole survivor of the fleet of 14 built
- Restored to service in 1982 pulling excursion trains all over the eastern half of the USA
- Retired again in 1994 to sit idle in Roanoke Museum until 2015 when it was restored again
- The 611 is a National Historic Engineering landmark and is the official steam locomotive of Virginia
- It generates 5,100 HP and can run at 110 MPH while pulling 2 million pounds of rail cars
- Fuel consumption is 6 tons of coal per hour and 12,000 gallons of water
Cleaning the smoke stack 
Randy, Pat, and Ross 
Mechanical Problem
At 11pm on Friday, we received an email from the organization running the excursion. Not good news. The 611 had developed an issue with the boiler and would not be running this weekend. Instead, the train would be pulled by diesel engines. Bummer! But that was well within their rights. We still wanted to ride and just see the static 611 engine in Goshen.
The day before (Saturday) runs (AM and PM) were both completed with the three diesels. We were following the issue on the facebook 611 group. The problem was with a broken flexible staybolt within the firebox, a problem that could take many days to repair by the all-volunteer crew. But, by a possible miracle, they got it fixed in time for our Sunday trip!
The broken staybolt was one of 4,437 staybolts and 2,420 rivets. The engineering crew have skills that are unmatched worldwide to repair a steam locomotive. They somehow troubleshooted they problem, found a spare bolt and defied the laws of physics to cool down the boiler in hours instead of days.
And it was back up and running just in time for our Sunday trip!
Dome Car Seating
We estimated the sold-out train to hold about 400 people for our particular excursion ride. But there were only 30 people in our elevated dome car with wide wrap around windows for views in any direction. We had to climb a few stairs in a winding staircase to climb above the pullman berths. Our car was built sometime in the 1950’s and has been nicely restored. We also had an attendant providing snacks and drinks as we cruised along viewing the rural landscape and fall colors.
Our Dome car seats in that top section up there 
View from our seats 
More view of the Staunton station stop 
All of the 10 or so passenger cars are true museum pieces built from 1950 to 1972. Our tickets gave us the opportunity to walk the entire train while it was underway to be able to inspect each car. And we did! The photos below are from our walk from car to car while bouncing around a bit.
Double decker car 
The Ride
We boarded the train at a new temporary station at Goshen Virginia, a very tiny town situated along the rail line. The 611 steamer pulled the excursion train about two hours to Staunton Virginia where we stopped for a few minutes while the crew reconfigured the train for the reverse trip.
On the way back to Goshen, the 611 was run in reverse at about 10% power, just enough steam heat to keep the mechanicals lubricated. The pulling power was supplied by three diesel engines.
I was amazed by the number of people lined up along all the side roads and intersections. Just to get a glimpse at this iconic beauty as it bellowed out the coal smoke and steam vapor.
Our premium tickets enabled us to have a few snacks and drinks over the 3.5 hour trip. I wasn’t sure what to expect but had visions of a grand meal like on those dining cars of years ago. It was not quite so grand but enjoyed anyway. I enjoy all things about train travel after having a few trips as a 6 to 10-year-old with my parents. Dad was a rail employee, and I was always around trains growing up. He actually started his rail career on steam engines hauling coal in southern Indiana and finished on the diesels as a freight conductor. I miss those rail stories.
A special thanks to John Harsh and Matt Diley for their great Facebook photos below of our ride from a train chasers’ point of view!
Thanks for following along and God Bless.
Very cool! We did Durango to Silverton ride this past August. Love steam engines! Have you been to the Age of Steam Roundhouse Museum in Sugarcreek Ohio. Amazing private collection of steam engines.
Wow! What a day! Glad you were able to experience it. I would be in on a trip like at in a heartbeat.
Yes, I’ve always wanted to do more excursion trains and need to make it happen! Thanks for the note