There has not been any progress on the railroad for over a week as I've been traveling in Georgia, Tennessee and Virginia. So I thought I would share a few photos from some of the railroad themed sites I've been to on this trip, including rides on four railroads.
On the first day, the only railroad related item I came across happened to be a garden railroad at the Atlanta Botanical Garden location in Gainesville, GA. Every garden, even a botanical garden, needs a garden train! Two independent loops with lots of nice bridge work and a tunnel for each locomotive to hide in when it rains.
The highlight of the next day was a ride on the Tennessee Valley Railroad along the Hiwassee River, through the gorge and up to the famous Hiwassee Loop, where the railroad corkscrews up around a mountain. The photo below shows the trestle work at the top of the loop. The train passes under the trestle on its first loop, then crosses over the trestle after completing its second loop.
The following day included a ride (two, actually) behind this beautiful 2-8-2 built by Baldwin in 1943. It was originally built for the U.S. military for use on the White Pass railroad and today is one of two coal powered locomotives that pull the Dollywood Express. There are about 200 operational steam locomotives in the U.S. today but only a small fraction of those still burn coal. It was a truly great experience to see, hear, smell and ride behind this locomotive on a track with a grade that approaches 6% at one point. Amazing!
Here's a second photo including the coal tender.
The next day included a visit to the Virginia Museum of Transportation in Roanoke. The 611 was in the yard, and was still hot as it had just been on a run from Spencer to Roanoke the day before. The 611 is one of 14 J-class locomotives built by the Norfolk and Western in their Roanoke shops, the most powerful passenger steam locomotives ever built. Built in 1950 and retired in 1959 when the N&W converted to diesel, the 611 was placed on static display at the museum. Following a restoration in 1981-82 she hauled passenger excursion trains up until 1994 when she retired again. After a big fundraising campaign, a second restoration occurred in 2014-15 and she returned to service last fall. This locomotive was, and is, capable of reaching 110 mph.
611 is the only remaining J-class, and below is 1218, the only remaining A-class locomotive built by Norfolk and Western. This is also the only suriving 2-6-6-4 of any manufacturer. Built in 1943, it had a similar timeline to 611, being restored in 1985 and hauling excursion trains up until 1994 when it retired. It has been on static display since then. This type of locomotive was incredibly powerful and built for hauling freight, not passengers, but could still reach 70 mph. When in revenue service this locomotive regularly hauled coal between Crewe, VA and Norfolk, VA (more on Crewe coming up).
There are several dozen locomotives and rolling stock cars at the VMT, but I'll just include a couple more pictures. The first one is Wabash 1009, which is looking very pretty as it just had a cosmetic overhaul a couple of years ago at the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum shops. This E8 was manufactured by EMD for passenger service on the Wabash and hauled trains such as the Wabash Cannonball. EMD built 450 E8 locomotives and this is one of 58 that survive, a surprisingly large number that is due to how popular these are with rail fans.
And I had to include this photo just because it's a NW2. As I mentioned in a previous post, there are several NW2 locomotives preserved at museums, as here's one of them! This particular one was one of four purchased by the Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway (W&LE). It saw service on a few railroad before retiring in 1987.
A few days after Roanoke we stopped by the Crewe Railroad Museum. Crewe was a significant spot on the Norfolk & Western which built railroad repair shops here due to Crewe's central location on the railroad. Nothing remains of the roundhouse today except photos. This was a very small museum but worth the stop. Below is a photo of one of their locomotives, 606, a 2-8-0 Consolidated built by Lima that spent it's entire operational life in Virginia. Much more information on this locomotive can be found at the site linked above.
And here is Norfolk & Western 2185, an EMD GP7u originally built for the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe. This was never owned by the N&W, but was repainted by the museum. Again, much more on this can be found on the link above.
The latest addition to the Crewe museum is very cool, a passenger car that they recently did a remarkable restoration job on. Look at those beautiful antimacassars!
Later the same day we found our way to Danville, VA. No train museum, but several preserved train related structures. Below is a picture of bridge across the Dan River built by the Richmond & Danville Railroad in 1856, used today as a pedestrian bridge. This bridge barely escaped being destroyed during the Civil War; in the two months following the war, over 33,000 soldiers passed through Danville and across this bridge, some headed north, some headed south.
Trains still cross the river at Danville on a more modern structure a couple thousand feet downstream. I happened to find this beautiful picture of the new bridge taken just a couple weeks ago that you've got to see. What's the train crossing it? It's the 611, headed from Spencer up to Roanoke!
The Richmond & Danville Railroad fell into bankruptcy in 1892 and in 1894 it was sold in foreclosure to the Southern Railway. Another preserved structure in Danville is this beautiful station, built by the Southern in 1899 and renovated most recently in 1995. It is currently served by Amtrak's Crescent line.
And one more picture from Danville, this one of a former Southern Railway office building, which today houses the Danville Science Center.
The next day we made it to Spencer, site of what was once the Southern Railway's largest steam locomotive servicing facility, employing 3,000 workers at its peak. The massive roundhouse has been preserved and part of the building is still being used for what it was intended -- servicing, repairing and restoring locomotives and rolling stock. Walking around this site was incredible.
Below is a picture of Southern 6133 which we rode behind. This is an EMD FP7 built in 1950 -- the FP meant that it was intended for use with either Freight or Passengers. It was restored in 1980 and has been used at the museum for hauling passenger trains since then. If you're keeping count, this was our third rail trip (fourth, if you count Dollywood twice).
There are many, many locomotives on the grounds of this museum, and I'm not about to post pictures of all of them (but I did get a picture of each one I saw!) But I had to post a picture from inside the back shop of this locomotive, historically the most significant one currently at the museum. This is Western & Atlantic 49, a 4-4-0 American type locomotive built in 1856. It is better known as "The Texas", the locomotive that pursued "The General" in the Great Locomotive Chase during the Civil War. This had been on display in the basement of the Cyclorama in Atlanta since 1927. It is currently undergoing cosmetic restoration after which it will move into a new building at the Atlanta History Center in Buckhead, GA.
Here's a picture of one end (this is a short side) of the massive back shop. When this was built in 1905 it was one of the largest buildings in the Southeast.
And here is a picture of the 100-foot turntable and part of the massive roundhouse. This 37-bay roundhouse is one of the largest ever constructed.
Finally, a picture from our fourth rail trip (or fifth, depending on how you're counting), this time on the Stone Mountain Scenic Railroad. You'll probably recognize that, yes indeed, it's another FP7. And just like the one above, this was built for Southern Railway in 1950. These two locomotives are practically sisters -- 6133 was delivered to Southern in April and 6143 was delivered in November.
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