Do you have questions for the crew of N&W 611? Post them here!

try to get an interview with Will Sadler...great guy and will have some great (and no doubt hilarious) stories for you.

Question for the crew: what was your previous steam experience, and how does working with 611 differ in adjusting to that type of locomotive?

Please inquire with the crew if 611 will pause at Crewe, VA on its May 6/7 run between Lynchburg and Petersburg, VA.  The train is scheduled to cover the approximately 110 miles  in 5 hours, leading me to suspect that an unadvertised stop is planned.  If the train will stop at Crewe for servicing or crew change it would provide me an opportunity to video the train both east and west of Crewe on its morning run to Petersburg.

Ask 'em if they'll let me run the engine!   

Two questions:

One, can I cut coal? Two, will the 611 ever return to northern Ohio and Indiana on the NKP?

Rich, I'd be happy to tag along! 

No question, just a Thank You to everyone who restores, maintains, and operates the 611, and all her sisters of every make and gauge.

Another thread has a discussion about "driving" the PM 1225 during a Throttle Time session.  When the 611 has operated Throttle Times at Spencer, how far could you actually engineer the locomotive?  How much time did you actually get at the throttle?  Did you get to fire any and what was the price?

Do the hot box detectors  pick up anything from the firebox? 

Gregg posted:

Do the hot box detectors  pick up anything from the firebox? 

I've heard of the detector picking up the 765's firebox on the New River Train video. Maybe Mr. Melvin could go more into detail on that as he was the engineer when it happened in the video.

Gregg posted:

Do the hot box detectors  pick up anything from the firebox? 

No, as the firebox on any large main line steam locomotive is way too high for the detectors to read. In my experience, some of the areas that detectors "pick-up" are:

1) One specific rod bearing which might just happen to be "down" at the detector location. The plain type rod bearing generally run hotter that a freight car roller bearing. Of course, N&W 611 would not have that issue being all roller bearing on the rods.

2) Steam operated cylinder cocks, even closed, can be detected as "hot".

3) Feedwater exhausts, depending on the location.

4) Blowdown exhausts.

5) Injector overflow.

6) Dynamo, or other, condensate drains, that are piped down to track level. 

OGR Webmaster posted:

Ask 'em if they'll let me run the engine!   

How about doing that on the CVSR ?

Yes, my question is can.i have a cab ride?

A few questions: 

Has the 611 crew contacted the Wheeling and Lake Erie about conducting excursions on the former N&W up north (read old Wabash Terminal)? 

What sort of background does the crew have? e.g. machinist's experience, former hoggers for freight railroads, etc.

I've heard a few stories about the old N&W/NS excursion programs. What was each crew member's most memorable or humorous experience they had in the course of operating 611? 

Will they try to gather funds to 2156 or 1218 in operating condition?

Would the 611 venture out of the Virginia area?  How about a CVSR visit?

Why no Manassas runs the first weekend in June this year?  Recently the 611 and it's many passenger cars have been the main attraction of the day and will be sorely missed this year.