Brought to you in a way we could only fantasize about back then: online streaming video on your own computer..........

http://www.retroweb.com/611lastrun.html

Thanks to Bernie Wagenblast's Transportation Communications Newsletter for the tip.

Alexander D. Mitchell IV

I had the pleasure of riding the last 611 trip up Saluda grade on November 13, 1994. Although unfortunately, I was in the section of the train that went up behind the diesels. I would have liked to have made it to Birmingham for the last trip on December 3, but that's just another item on my regrets list.

I was in 7th grade on December 6, 1994 and now wish I had cut school that day as the middle school I attended was less than a mile from the NS Washington-Atlanta mainline and I could hear 611's whistle as it passed through Spartanburg, but could not see it. I did not see the 611 for another 9 years until October 2003 during a quick but long weekend road trip where I went on an Ohio Central Photo Freight photo special with GTW 6325 on Saturday, Sunday I rode on the Collis P. Huntington Chapter of the NRHS Amtrak powered New River Train and on Monday made a last minute side trip to the Virginia Museum of Transportation in Roanoke to see the 611 and the 1218 (which I had not seen in 12 years).

I am thankful that the VMT has provided an overhead shelter to help protect the A and J from the elements, but I have to admit after seeing and riding behind both locomotives in person it was difficult to see them on static display, much like going to my grandparents grave sites. Something I want to do, but at the same time depressing. I'd like to get back to Roanoke to visit the O.Winston Link museum since it was not open at the time and back to the VMT to see the 611 and 1218 once again. Although right now I wish I had Christopher Lloyd's time-traveling Delorean (if such technology existed) from the film Back to the Future and go back to the 1987 Roanoke NRHS convention or better yet 1955 to see Y's, J's, A's and even the short-lived Jawn Henry.

So how many RYPN'ers today worked on the NS Steam program?

Bob

I can't claim to have worked for the NS Steam Program, but a July '94 ride with my father from Erie to Cleveland behind 611 was the steam catalyst for this RYPN'er at the tender age of 9.

For that matter, interest in machinery and engineering in general stemmed from that experience. What a ride it's been!

Hoping to see steam on the gauge again someday,

TB

It's a sad day for a lot of people. Sad for WW2 vets as today is also Pearl Harbor day. I hope that 611 will live again....someday.

Here is a picture of her when she was moved out in 2007 for the NS East End Shops 125th Anniversary Open House.


Martin Moorefield

I think that the answer to that would be how you define "worked". The number is probably small if the criteria is having received a paycheck from NS, but much larger if you include the many volunteers who were involved with the program over the years in the operation of the trips and providing the equipment used on the trains. Almost all of the the trip sponsoring organizations were all volunteer for the life of the program. The Steam program always had only a small administrative staff of 2 to 3 people. Trip planning, marketing, staffing, and logistics was pretty much the responsibility of the sponsoring organization. Prior to 1983, even a large part of the actual "steam crew" was volunteer, with different folks in different areas helping "the Boss" and a few contract employees take care of the locomotives and cars both on the road and in the shop. The program started using a number of leased cars in the 1970's along with company owned equipment. The unions raised a stink in 1983 about unpaid help working on the steam train (the newly merged NS had just laid off a number of shop personell) so the locomotive and shop crews had to then became NS employees. For a couple of years, they were drawn from laid-off employees, which had mixed results. Later on, the program used contractors as well as employees for both locomotive and car maintenance. My own "resume" with the program began as a child in 1966, when I rode part of a ferry movement of 4501 from the NRHS Convention in Richmond back to Chattannooga. As a teenager in 1972, I started as a volunteer, selling souvenirs, car hosting, and maintaining leased passenger cars. By 1976 I was involved in trip administration, and working fairly regularly on the engine crew as a mechanic, fireman, and night watchman through early 1983. From the late 1980's, you could describe the Roanoke Chapter NRHS's relationship with the Steam Program as somewhat incestous, as by then we owned over 25% of the passenger car fleet, and a number of us were assisting the program behind the scenes on administrative matters. I trip chaired from 1989 on and managed our passenger car fleet from 1991. When the end of the Steam Program was announced, we orchestrated (with considerable "unofficial" help from the City of Roanoke) a letter writing campaign in support of the program. I missed seeing 611 arrive home in Roanoke for the last time. When she came in, I was with a delegation at GOB South presenting a representative from Mr. Goode's office with several mailbags full of protest letters, and recieving the suitably diplomatically phrased "hell no, we're not changing our mind " message. So, if you separate hours worked from actual pay, I guess that I am among the many who worked long and hard on the Steam Program over the years.