Nothing finer:
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Roanoke built, Roanoke proud! Those East End Shops produced some of the finest steam locomotives that ever turned a wheel, including the A, J and Y6's. All had distinctive and memorable whistles including the iconic "hooter"! Once heard, they became an inextricable part of your sense memory!
Having chased and ridden behind both the 611 and 1218, I have some dear memories! My spouse of 49 years actually got a cab ride at speed on one excursion as a reward for being a volunteer in the commissary car. Though I never got that privilage, I did get to work the engineer side injector and got to throw some coals onto the banked fire while it was laying over one night in Chattanooga, TN during the summer of 1984, while a friend was "babysitting" her.
I am still surprised nobody asked the N&W to make engines for them. Or asked for blueprints. OK, the PRR did test locomotive 610. And the War Board sent some out during WWII.
Or was the N&W so unique in its geography that its locomotives would "work" only there?
At least the PRR did the second best thing concerning its part ownership in the company: Leave it alone. (The first would be: Learn from it!
@Dominic Mazoch posted:I am still surprised nobody asked the N&W to make engines for them. Or asked for blueprints. OK, the PRR did test locomotive 610. And the War Board sent some out during WWII.
In fact, the N&W did produce quite a lot of steam appliances for other railroads.
Or was the N&W so unique in its geography that its locomotives would "work" only there?
That was a very big part of it, plus no other railroad had direct access to the absolute finest, highest BTU per pound, coal on the planet, i.e. Pocahontas Range Coal, which the N&W steam locomotives were designed to burn.
At least the PRR did the second best thing concerning its part ownership in the company: Leave it alone. (The first would be: Learn from it!
HW: Good facts as always - THANKS!
@C&O Allan posted:Funny - I first though this was about AT&SF Madam Queen in Amarillo looking at the title!
My thoughts exactly. 
Rusty
@Dominic Mazoch posted:I am still surprised nobody asked the N&W to make engines for them. Or asked for blueprints. OK, the PRR did test locomotive 610. And the War Board sent some out during WWII.
Or was the N&W so unique in its geography that its locomotives would "work" only there?
At least the PRR did the second best thing concerning its part ownership in the company: Leave it alone. (The first would be: Learn from it!
The PRR also bought a few Y3s (reclassified as HH1's) from the N&W during WWII but they were replaced by the J1s (and diesels) by the early 1950s.
On the flip side of it, the N&W bought five PRR K3 pacifics and classified them as E3's.
As for the PRR testing of N&W 610, the book The Pennsylvania Railroad: 1940s-1950s by Don Ball Jr. includes a first-hand recollection of the PRR's testing of the locomotive.
@Prr7688 posted:The PRR also bought a few Y3s (reclassified as HH1's) from the N&W during WWII but they were replaced by the J1s (and diesels) by the early 1950s.
On the flip side of it, the N&W bought five PRR K3 pacifics and classified them as E3's.
As for the PRR testing of N&W 610, the book The Pennsylvania Railroad: 1940s-1950s by Don Ball Jr. includes a first-hand recollection of the PRR's testing of the locomotive.
The PRRT&HS did an article on the 610 test, also.
@Rusty Traque posted:My thoughts exactly.
Rusty
Or the Queen of England.
I know this is a sacrilege, especially from someone who lived in Roanoke when the 611 was operating, but I have never been a fan of the Js, or for streamlined steam locos in general.
As to why no other roads asked the N&W to build locos for them, look at the list of what the Roanoke shops turned out. Most of what we consider the superior N&W locomotives were built at the end of the steam era.
The 1218 has been referred to as the "Mercedes of steam" so I thought the 611, Class J could be called "Queen", given its pleasing lines and royal bearing!
@Tinplate Art posted:The 1218 has been referred to as the "Mercedes of steam" so I thought the 611, Class J could be called "Queen", given its pleasing lines!
Come on Art, "pleasing lines"? In spite of he truly superior mechanical design, her appearance is more similar to an up-side-down bath tub.
@Hot Water posted:Come on Art, "pleasing lines"? In spite of he truly superior mechanical design, her appearance is more similar to an up-side-down bath tub.
It sounds like you just described a vast majority of streamlined steam locomotives. As the saying goes, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" and not every railfan thinks that streamline locomotives are all that interesting.
@ecd15 posted:It sounds like you just described a vast majority of streamlined steam locomotives. As the saying goes, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" and not every railfan thinks that streamline locomotives are all that interesting.
Agreed. I tend to prefer the "semi-streamlined" styling, like the Southern Pacific GS2/GS3/GS4/GS5 locomotives, especially #4449.
The 611, at least from my aesthetic viewpoint, is more pleasing than say the Commodore Vanderbilt, which actually looks like an upturned bathtub. LOL!
Gretna, VA - May 4th, 2017 enroute to Lynchburg.
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NICE SHOT - THANKS!
I read the 611 drivers were thought to be to small for the PRR, K4s had 80" drivers and the 610 were 70". The Pennsy thought their engines were the best. You know the " Standard of the world"
@John Pignatelli JR. posted:I read the 611 drivers were thought to be to small for the PRR, K4s had 80" drivers and the 610 were 70". The Pennsy thought their engines were the best. You know the " Standard of the world"
Yes, while all the other railroads were "Deluxe". Also, the PRR Mechanical Dept. was seriously afflicted with the "not invented here" syndrome.
Couldn't agree more with you Art! Way better than that oil burning streamliner out West (*sarcasm*).
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Mike: WOWSA! She and the 1218 were, and still are, my favorites that I have chased and ridden behind for those wonderful years between 1982-1994. My last ride behind her was from Charlotte to Asheville and back on Halloween, 1993.
Your shot of her crossing that viaduct with the billowing white plume is supreme!
Thanks Art! She's definitely a beast of a machine. I'm just happy to have seen her. Not many can say they saw a Class J with a single beam headlight running on jointed rail in a spectacular sunset.
And here I thought that you were referring to:
@PennsyPride94 posted:Couldn't agree more with you Art! Way better than that oil burning streamliner out West (*sarcasm*).
Except that "oil burning streamliner out west" isn't restricted to 45 MPH when we go out on the main line.
I agree that 4449 can gallup when required. Rode behind her in Freedom Train livery in 1976 from Birmingham, AL to Chattanooga, TN and return. She was running at a pretty good clip on the way back to B'ham and it was almost impossible to look out the vestibule window at that speed (80 mph?)! I will admit 4449 is a good runner, but for my taste not as pleasing as the 611.
@Tinplate Art posted:I agree that 4449 can gallup when required. Rode behind her in Freedom Train livery in 1976 from Birmingham, AL to Chattanooga, TN and return.
That would have been March 1977. After completing that weekend pair of excursions, we departed westward with the Amtrak Transcontinental Steam Excursion, in order to return 4449 back to Portland, OR.
She was running at a pretty good clip on the way back to B'ham and it was almost impossible to look out the vestibule window at that speed (80 mph?)!
Not 80 MPH, but a pretty good solid 65 to 70 MPH.
HW: THANKS for the correction on the date! I remember I had just gotten a new Bolex sound camera and was anxious to try it out on that trip. I was very lucky to secure tickets on that excursion, as a friend called about the same time and they were sold out. It was raining as we pulled out of Birmingham, but I did get some nice sound footage.
@LLKJR posted:
If you are attempting suggest that THAT photo represents an example of the "Queen of steam", you are sadly mistaken! Yes, those C&O H-8 class Limas were pretty much the zenith of freight steam power, but a "Queen"? I don't think so.
Have to agree with HW!
@Hot Water posted:If you are attempting suggest that THAT photo represents an example of the "Queen of steam", you are sadly mistaken! Yes, those C&O H-8 class Limas were pretty much the zenith of freight steam power, but a "Queen"? I don't think so.
"King" would be more like it! 
Ox would be more like. That thing is a beast.
@Hot Water posted:If you are attempting suggest that THAT photo represents an example of the "Queen of steam", you are sadly mistaken! Yes, those C&O H-8 class Limas were pretty much the zenith of freight steam power, but a "Queen"? I don't think so.
The caption didn’t display. It says, “The King of Steam!”.
I am a great fan of SP steam in general, and "Daylight" steam in particular - but the "J" for me ranks right on up there for elegance.
I would reserve the "upside down bathtub" epithet for UP streamlining, the 5344 Hudson, some of the NYC Pacifics, and that hideous LV thing with feathers.
all opinion.
