On April 16th & 17th initial work was performed on Norfolk & Western #611 at the Virginia Museum of Transportation in preparation for her journey to Spencer, NC where she will be restored to operating condition. The major restoration work will be done at the North Carolina Transportation Museum and is expected to last approximately 9 months.

It is expected that Roanoke's Rockstar, N&W #611, will again be operational sometime during the 2nd Quarter of 2015, an event which has not happened in nearly 20 years!

Below is a link to an approximate 8 minute video of the preparation activities conducted on the 16th & 17th at the Virginia Museum of Transportation.

This is not by any means the highest video quality possible as time did not permit same. However, I dare say that by the time you finish viewing this piece that it just may make you as a grown man, and/or woman cry !!!

https://www.youtube.com/embed/A38nmXhf6ds

Great video, almost as good as being there. Like the music choice too, what song could be better? Nothing like the Stones. Thanks for posting.

Actually Bob, we started on Tuesday, worked again today. There will be more prep work over the next month, but much of the heavy work is done. The crew was Roanoke Chapter Mechanical Dept, under the direction of Scott Lindsay

Great video! I can't say I didn't cringe at the thought of that main rod coming down on someone's foot though. (I'm sure necessary precautions were taken.)

I was surprised to see the rod supported from beneath. I sure thought that the rod was going to tip off the fork to the large end. Looked pretty sketchy when they were prying it off the pins. Could have popped off, slipped on the fork and wound up on the ground.

A MUCH safer way would have been to use slings to avoid any chance of the rod falling uncontrollably.

I watched this too, but I will play the devils advocate here. When the rod came free did you see the rod jump, dip or wobble? I saw a couple of guys who had things under control. I did not see anything that suggested it was close to "coming unglued". Did you see the rod slip around on the forks when the operator took it "away"? I probably would of used slings too, but I wasn't there and it isn't my project. My only thought was you have to be nimble and quick at times like that, if things go south that is. Have never worked on a locomotive with those funny looking bearings! Seriously though, the guys seemed to be in control of the operation.

Regards, John.

If you look closely there is something applied to the forks that looks to provide an anti-skid surface. mld

I was there for the whole 4 days, and at no time was anything done that I consider unsafe. The rod removal process was the same that was used by the "Old" NS Steam Program and is standard practice for Steam Operations Corp. The forklift had a layer of cardboard (well secured) on the forks to provide a crushable non-skid surface. We had an experienced operator that formerly worked at East End Shops. We actually had to muscle the rods a bit to get them off the forks onto the pallets. If slings had been used, there would have been the probability of lateral swinging, which would have resulted in a much greater opportunity for a pinch type injury.

Nice to see 611 getting her feet prep for the journey to NCTM. ^_^