J32885-
After its last trip 10/24/59, 611 was stored in the roundhouse at Shaffers Crossing. It was used briefly in standby boiler service at the East end Shops ca 1960. AFAIK, there is no evidence that 611 ever left N&W property prior to being place in Wasena Park May 1963.

nasaracer-
The skyline casing was an assembly of many pieces on all the class Js’ according to surviving drawings and photos.

Gbpuckett -
It sounds as if you’ve intimated that an N&W engineer may have engaged in criminal activity, that the ICC report may have been deliberately skewed, and that employees and the railroad may have engaged in cover-up activities. That’s pretty risky stuff to post on a public forum, don’t you think?

Nope, not at all.

To repeat what I said before: "As to the truth of his account, I have no opinion. Some of what he told me was from his own experience. Some was from contemporary rumors. At any rate, he was on the scene that day, [and in regular contact with N&W train crews on that run thereafter] so I figured it was a perspective worth passing on."

If it's part of the lore, legend, history of the locomotive, and presented as being unknown as factual, I don't see an issue. Puckett never intimated that he had special information about a criminal offense.

Note that 53.6 MPH was a "theoretical" speed (i.e.- calculated using the methods of the time). I can well imagine that having the water level in the boiler higher than normal, new tires recently installed, and other factors could skew that speed to a lower number. The dynamics of the shift in the engine's center of gravity as the boiler water sloshed as the engine rode the curve would have probably not have been included in their calculations either.

Sounds like a good question for Mythbusters!

[quote="Dave Stephenson"]nasaracer-
The skyline casing was an assembly of many pieces on all the class Js’ according to surviving drawings and photos.

quote]

Sorry, I may have been unclear in trying to get my point across. Certainly, the entire skyline casing insn't one piece from nose to cab...it was 13 sections including the front with the 5 'chrome' stipes. But one piece went from the engineer's side, up and over the boiler (or steam dome or sand dome, etc.) to the fireman's side. This section was all one piece when the engines were built. In Ken Miller's book, N&W Class J, there is a good picture of the 600 being built on page 23 and another on page 38 of the 602 at Shaffers that give a good look at the top. Page 92 has one of the 608 that also shows it.

The same book on page 114 shows the top of the 611, post wreck, with the 'top' piece of the casing off, showing the details like the safety pops, low water alarm, and the earlier mentioned dent in the sand dome.

I hope that helps clarify what I was trying to point out.

For the record, you can't libel or slander the dead. Whether true or false, it's not actionable in a court of law. And I would certainly say that the statute of limitations has certainly expired on any alleged criminal activity involved with this matter, if indeed any conspirators were left alive to charge.

nasaracer32-
OK, I wasn't exactly sure what you meant before. You're correct. Thanks for the clarification.

To Mr. Puckett:
I had just discovered your post on the 611 wreck on January 23, 1956. I have been for the last several years writing a book about this wreck. I am nearly completed with the project, though I am still looking for new insights and material. If you are interested in providing your grandfather's account to the book, I would be most appreciative. Please email me at aclennam1815@yahoo.com for details.
For the rest of you:
I had just discovered this thread as I am seeking to complete my book on the 611 wreck. I will note however, that I did notice that 611 did indeed jump over one of the tracks during the wreck. Either she was going at a very high speed or our lady has a talent no one has yet discovered!
Lois
Friends of the 611

I can't for the life of me recall where/when I saw it, but on one of 611's NS trips, someone was passing around a photo taken from the track level looking down and it had the outside rails in the shot, across the path 611 would have taken over the side. The closest track to the edge had nary a mark or even scattered ballast past the inside rail (probably from being sprayed from where she left the rails). It's almost impossible to imagine her clearing such a gap unless she was just tearing down the line when this happened.
I assume that the tender on 611 today is the same one that also went over the side in that wreck?

The tender 611 has today is the same she had in the wreck, as a few dents remain on its fireman's side. I iI do not have record of 611 using any other tender.
Lois
Friends of the 611

An interesting coincidence....the crane used to pull 611 back up the riverbank after this wreck is the same one preserved with her at VMT

The one that was removed from the field last December?

Howard P.

No, Howard, the big one over on site at VMT... this one

:http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=2677863

It was brand new at the time and the first diesel crane that N&W had. By the way, do you know anyone looking for an N&W crane, VMT now has too many of them....

Interesting (and somewhat ironic) that the N&W already had a diesel derrick at that time. One of my earliest clear childhood memories is watching two ACL steam derricks work a train wreck in my hometown of Salters, SC on the ACL mainline between Florence and Charleston, SC around 1960. It seems that most roads kept steam-powered derricks in service well into the 60's.

Even later than that. I clearly recall seeing a steam crane in operation (yes, I knew the difference, even then, especially as my parents were taking about and both would certainly have known the difference) at a derailment on the SCL in Florida when I was a kid, that would have probably been about 1976 to 78 based on how old I would have been at the time.