Norfolk and Western

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The National Museum of Transportation

There has been a museum on my sketch list for a long time and I used my fall break to finally visit it.

The National Museum of Transportation is in the St. Louis suburb of Kirkwood, Missouri. The 42 acre museum was founded in 1944 and has a large collection of railroad history (and cars and planes).

The museum has it’s own railroad spur to the Union Pacific mainline (formerly Missouri Pacific Railroad) so the larger locomotives in its collection can be shipped on rail.

The railroad spur connecting the museum to the UP mainline.

I made up a sketch list before my visit and there were a lot of iconic locomotives to render in ink and watercolor.

I was going to be busy, very busy!

Visiting this museum is like having my favorite train book as a child, The Illustrated Encyclopedia of North American Locomotives by Brian Hollingsworth, come to life. As a child I thought: “I’d like to see that locomotive!” And now I was about to! In fact the museum has 13 iconic locomotives featured in this book. The reason I knew this museum even existed was the common refrain in the book, “now displayed at the Museum of Transportation at St. Louis, Missouri”.

One of the electric locomotives featured in the book is the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railroad’s Class EP-2. This is the only preserved unit in its class in existence.

I planned to spend a good deal of time on my Sunday visit at the museum sketching. I would do all the line work in the field and then add watercolor back at my hotel.

The museum has an amazing collection of large steam and diesel locomotives to sketch. One of those sketches completed the Norfolk & Western triad of A- Class, J-Class, and now Y-Class.

The N & W Y-Class was designed to haul long and heavy coal trains. While it is slightly smaller than Union Pacific’s Big Boys, the Y Class is more powerful than the UP articulated.

The NMOT is also one of the places to see a Union Pacific Big Boy. I have now seen and sketched four of the eight remaining Big Boys.

Freshly painted Big Boy No. 4006 with Centennial No. 6944 reflected in her black livery. This museum is one of the few places to see one of the largest diesels and largest steam locomotives displayed side-by-side.

While the Big Boy is a big draw to the museum, there is one locomotive that is the most loved and best known. This is the St. Louis-San Francisco Railway (“Frisco”) No. 1522. This 4-8-2 Mountain type was built in 1926 by Baldwin. The locomotive logged over 1.7 million miles in passenger and freight service. She was restored to working order and was in excursion service from 1988 to 2002 around the Midwest, where many saw and rode behind her.

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The Chase is On!

Now it was my turn to be a foamer in a car. I planned to chase 611 from Goshen to Staunton on her afternoon run.

611 being mobbed by fans at Goshen before the afternoon run to Staunton.

I headed into “downtown” Goshen and parked near the railroad. There were already a few chasers getting ready. One was looking over a map and was conversing with another foamer on which grades you could get the best “stack-talk”. He was a serious foamer who had done his research and was willing to share it with the like-minded.

After a wait of about 45 minutes, 611 sounded it’s whistle and the Shenandoah Valley Limited was on it’s way. She had to back her consist onto a siding before headed onto the mainline. Now 611 was facing Staunton and the engineer pushed the Johnson bar forward, released the breaks, and pulled back on the throttle. No. 611 burst in steaming-hissing life!

Down the tracks the sounds of the stack-talk (or the chuff-chuff-chuff of the exhaust) was amazing. 611 blew the crossing and passed the old Goshen Depot and steamed off to Staunton.

Let the foam-fest begin!

611 heading toward approaching the grade crossing at Goshen.
Now this is “stack-talk” as 611 approaches the grade crossing at Goshen. You also hear her powerful whistle.

I then joined the line of foamers in cars on Highway 42, which parallels the line. This has created a traffic jam on the two lane road because the pacers wanted to take pacing shots of 611. I and most others on the road, wanted to drive ahead and get shots of 611 on a run by.

611 and dreaded line of pacers in front of me!!

After some of the pacers pealed off, I was able to get ahead of the madding crowd and pulled off to get a run by shot of 611.

611 at a grade crossing.

From here, I made a b-line to Staunton because I wanted to get a shot on the walkway above the tracks as 611 pulled into Staunton Station.

611 pulling into Staunton Station. 611 is streamlined even from above. Off to the left are the two diesels that will pull 611 and her consist back to Goshen.
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Post No. 611: Norfolk and Western J Class No. 611

On my one week fall break I knew I was going to travel nationally. So I chose Virginia. (It’s for lovers, don’t you know?)

High on my list was to see the streamlined Northern 4-8-4, Norfolk and Western No. 611 at the Virginia Museum of Transportation in Roanoke.

This is one of the most iconic American passenger locomotives ever made and is still active in excursion service. She was built in 1950, very late in the steam age, as diesel-electric locomotives where ending the age of steam across the country.

611 is one of the most technically advanced steam locomotives ever built. One disadvantage of stream was the large amount of hours needed to maintain and operate these locomotives.

To counter this, Norfolk and Western built their new streamlined locomotives, the Class J, at their Roanoke Shops. The locomotive was built with a self lubricating system that automatically lubricate over 200 bearings, including the bell mechanism. This meant the Class J could run for 15,000 miles before maintenance was needed. The 14 Class J locomotives could be serviced in about an hour and then be back out on the mainline.

It was such an engineering marvel of it’s time that is was designated a National Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. Out of the 300 landmarks there are just seven steam locomotives that are honored with this designation and 611 shares this honor with Southern Pacific’s Cab-forward No. 4294 and Union Pacific’s Big Boy No. 4023, among four others.

I scoured the Virginia Museum of Transportation’s website for more information about 611. She is clearly the star of the show at the museum where she is called “one of the most iconic and beloved trains in American history”. Wow, that is some praise! Then I read the next line: “Inquire BEFORE visiting, locomotive travels”. Travels? Where could 611 travel in October? Where can you possibly hide an almost 400 ton locomotive that responds to the name “The Black Bullet”?!

I think the first time I saw an image of a J-Class was in a Brian Hollingsworth book. In this case: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of the World’s Steam Passenger Locomotives.

It turns out that 611 would not be on static display at the museum. Would I be making this cross-country trip without seeing one of the most iconic 4-8-4s in existence? (Southern Pacific 4449 and Union Pacific 844 would be the other two.)

Nope! It turns out that 611 would be 80 miles to the north in Goshen, Va. The streamlined J-Class would not be on static display but under steam and on point of the Shenandoah Valley Limited! And I got myself a ticket!

Before I headed east to take in this Queen of Steam, I did three illustrations of 611. One was my version of a stylized promotional period sketch (featured sketch), a realistic head on view (above), and a drawing design of the profile of 611 and tender with specs (below).