Here she is! The Norfolk and Western Class J #611 made a grand return to Northern Virginia in June of 2016, and provided two full days of all-time great steam railroading action. She ran three different trips from Manassas to Front Royal and return. She also participated in the 22nd annual Manassas Heritage Railway Festival on the first of the two days.
In this video, you will first see a brief few moments of the morning run on June 4th. If you want to jump right to the June 5th chase, go to 16:16. There is a segment at 18:33 showing the J working hard on the 1.5% Linden Hill, slipping and starting again several times.
There were periods of rain on that Sunday morning (the 5th), and 611 gave it all she had going through Linden with over 20 cars and wet rails. With 70 inch drivers and 80,000 lbs of tractive effort, the J was built to pull heavy loads over grades like this. Yet, wet rails creates a whole new dynamic! This video does not really do it justice. You actually had to be there to fully experience the power and majesty of this occurrence. No other 4-8-4 Northern type locomotive could have pulled this off. Hats off to the crew, whose care and skill is super evident here, too. They had 611 marching up Linden Hill from an almost standstill with a full 20 car passenger train like it was NOTHING!
7 сен 2024
