611 stalls at Poe Y (Petersburg) on May 6 excursion - dramatic video

Our Ford's Colony Model RR Club had a very enjoyable day rail fanning  611's run morning run from Lynchburg to Petersburg on May 6, 2017.   With speed restricted to 40 mph it was easy to view  the train at multiple location along route US460 between Crewe and Petersburg (and drive safely).  From what I observed rail fans were behaving properly and the NS crew were great hosts at the Petersburg station stop.

  A highlight of the afternoon was watching the train stall after it left downtown Petersburg at Poe junction - the point where it took the west leg of a wye to rejoin the former N&W main.    That leg of the wye at Poe is rather sharp and on a slight upgrade.  Momentum was slight as speed on the wye was restricted to 10mph.  A NS employee at the scene told us that they lightly greased the rails on the curve before 611's run, and were concerned they might be blamed for the stall.  However looking closely at the track in the area of the stall one can see there is a dip in the rail profile where there are two rail joints directly opposite one another.  Perhaps not a problem for diesels but one for a ridged wheelbase steam locomotive pulling a 20 car passenger train around the curve.  After the stall a number of the support crew got off the train to spread several bags of sand on the rails ahead of the locomotive.  611 sanded the rails under and behind the point of stall as it backed up a short distance for a restart.  With careful handling the restart was successful , despite several very dramatic wheel slips.  The delay lasted around 20-30 minutes.    

Unfortunately my camera died due to low battery - but several of the other 20 or so rail fans at Poe recorded it.  Here is a link to the first  video's I've found of the incident: 611 at Poe junction 6 May 2017  It shows the stall and sanding the rails for the restart.  Here is the link to the video showing the successful restart.  Successful restart 

Enjoy!