This is one of the best videos of N&W steam in the 50s. No question. The sound with this is unreal. With a pair of headphones on, I feel as though I'm standing right on the ballast line. Taken back many decades in the past where railroading was done at a whole level above what it is today.
Been watching N&W steam videos for years, how come this is the first time I've seen this one? I was born at Roanoke in '43 and spent my first 13 years in Radford. Was I blessed, or what? So, I was born a train nut. Dad would take me down to the tiny station in Radford on Saturday mornings and set me up on one of the REA wagons while he leaned up against it smoking his pipe. I was in N&W Heaven! We'd watch the Trains pass through, but there weren't nearly enough! The occasional Ys and As were enormous and terrifying to this little boy, but I had to be there as the platform trembled as they passed by. Once in a while a J would stop and dad would walk me down so I could talk to the engineer who were always so kind and friendly to me. When the Js would start out their acceleration was impressive. The times of my life.
Wonderful video of the Great Giants of the Norfolk And Western Railroad. I wish all of these Steam Locomotives could have been saved. Such wonderful powerful engines. It is very sad what happened to No. 1218 as many of the running parts were just tossed out.
What I would give, to go back in time to watch these beasts doing what they did best. N&W truly had some of the greatest steam locomotives to ever run on the mainline. It is an absolute shame that there aint more of their steam locomotives in preservation.
I have a book somewhere that shows an absolutely bizarre image: A massive Y6a breezing along with a 6-7 car local freight. Unless it was a transfer move for the engine (to Roanoke for maintenance or perhaps a new duty station), it seems like a highly inefficient choice of motive power for an assignment like that. Normally the N&W's 4-8-0s among other smaller ones did that work.
