N&W 611 Restoration Thread

Dave Stephenson · **Posted:** Thu May 21, 2015 9:32 pm

regarding bbakers post

That's the way a J should be remembered!! My guess that's well over 40 mph. Oh yeah!!!!! Thanks for sharing. Great stuff.

TimReynolds · **Joined:** Sat Aug 31, 2013 4:11 pm **Posts:** 287

More on the wye in Salisbury. "The plan upon return was to wye the 611 and train at Salisbury, next to Spencer, to be positioned for the next mainline outing on May 30, but the Salisbury wye proved to be too tight and when the crew saw the cab and tender touching, they abandoned that plan and returned to Spencer facing south." http://trn.trains.com/news/news-wire/20 ... -a-problem

whodom · **Posted:** Fri May 22, 2015 9:02 am

TimReynolds wrote:

More on the wye in Salisbury. "The plan upon return was to wye the 611 and train at Salisbury, next to Spencer, to be positioned for the next mainline outing on May 30, but the Salisbury wye proved to be too tight and when the crew saw the cab and tender touching, they abandoned that plan and returned to Spencer facing south." http://trn.trains.com/news/news-wire/20 ... -a-problem

Sorry, Tim. My reading comprehension apparently wasn't up to par. So 611 was able to turn on the wye at the north end of the run at Greensboro, they just couldn't turn around again once they got back to Salisbury.

southern154 · **Joined:** Mon Jun 24, 2013 12:54 pm **Posts:** 320

Who was at the throttle yesterday?

Becky Morgan · **Joined:** Tue Jun 22, 2010 4:22 pm **Posts:** 495

With that runby, I was wondering whethere it was Mr. Moorman :) That was beautiful and we all agree the matching cars are perfect.

J3a-614 · **Posted:** Fri May 22, 2015 8:31 pm

Becky Morgan wrote:

With that runby, I was wondering whethere it was Mr. Moorman :) That was beautiful and we all agree the matching cars are perfect.

And I like that the cars don't quite "match," i.e., the standard baggage (tool?) car that leads the consist. (Hint--need more standard cars to mix in the train--ho, ho, ho!)

A couple of other videos; the first is initial movement with lots of open cylinder cocks, the second has several runbys:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XA_EZipfi4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXigJapSgBA

PaulWWoodring · **Posted:** Sat May 23, 2015 6:01 am

Great to see her running down a mainline again after 20+ years, and kudos to the entire restoration crew. Just wondering, is it my faulty memory, or 20 years ago did it generally run at speed with a cleaner stack? That's my memory of seeing it in person, running fairly clean and hardly working much with a 20+ car train. Is it the quality of the coal available today, or is it a matter of getting the firing routine down?

dinwitty · **Joined:** Wed Oct 22, 2008 8:18 pm **Posts:** 2226

Thats just the smoke unit Lionel put in.......

really, get low carbon coal, get it really hot, cranking, you'll have barely any smoke.

mdogg · **Joined:** Mon May 04, 2015 12:06 pm **Posts:** 15

J3a-614 wrote:

Becky Morgan wrote:

With that runby, I was wondering whethere it was Mr. Moorman :) That was beautiful and we all agree the matching cars are perfect.

And I like that the cars don't quite "match," i.e., the standard baggage (tool?) car that leads the consist. (Hint--need more standard cars to mix in the train--ho, ho, ho!)

A couple of other videos; the first is initial movement with lots of open cylinder cocks, the second has several runbys:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XA_EZipfi4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXigJapSgBA

I've heard it's just the new firemen getting used to 611 and their jobs. It's a learning curve.

Richard Glueck · **Posted:** Tue May 26, 2015 2:35 pm

So it's 1957, and while other railroads are dropping fires and shuffling off their greatest machines to Luria Brothers, this is going on all day, every day.

Just amazing stuff.

PaulWWoodring · **Posted:** Tue May 26, 2015 4:05 pm

Becky Morgan wrote:

With that runby, I was wondering whethere it was Mr. Moorman :) That was beautiful and we all agree the matching cars are perfect.

I doubt Mr. Moorman has a federal locomotive engineer certification. The Claytor brothers were really the exception, rather than the rule, when it comes to railroad presidents also being qualified locomotive engineers. Also, if I recall rightly, I think federal certification may have started after both Graham and Bob retired? Both died of cancer by 1994.

PaulWWoodring · **Posted:** Tue May 26, 2015 5:39 pm

Jeff Lisowski wrote:

PaulWWoodring wrote:

I doubt Mr. Moorman has a federal locomotive engineer certification. The Claytor brothers were really the exception, rather than the rule, when it comes to railroad presidents also being qualified locomotive engineers. Also, if I recall rightly, I think federal certification may have started after both Graham and Bob retired? Both died of cancer by 1994.

In no way shape or form do I mean to slander Bob Claytor, but in actuality he had last passed a rules exam something like 2 years prior to the 1986 Dismal Swamp accident.

Obviously, the accident was not in the engine crew's fault, but you see what I'm getting at.

Well, there's more to being federally certified than the annual rules exam, but that is part of it. If I accurately recall reading an article about his being the engineer of 611 at the time of the Dismal Swamp accident, I believe he said he took a rules test soon after that and passed - with an 83. When I worked for CSX that would have been a failing grade, I believe it was 85 to pass a rules test 7 years ago. Now that was CSX, I don't know what NS' requirements are currently. Of course the signal part of the test requires 100% correct to pass.

southern154 · **Joined:** Mon Jun 24, 2013 12:54 pm **Posts:** 320

I recall in a video that Blue Ridge Video did about 2 years ago that had an interview with Rich Melvin and he stated that on one of the Horseshoe Curve trips that Wick rood the seat behind the engineer around the curve and then after Rich got off in Harrisburg? that Wick ran the engine some on the rest of the trip. And some may not realize the mr. Moorman used to be an engineer for both Southern and Norfolk Southern, whether he is certified to run engines today I do not know.

My 2 cents...

TimReynolds · **Joined:** Sat Aug 31, 2013 4:11 pm **Posts:** 287

As to speed using the first clip in this one they may have let her run btx 45 and 48 mph. That's about a 870 ft consist passing by in 12.5 to 13 seconds 67 fps or 45.68 mph. I'm guessing a bit on the length of the 9 car, water car, and loco length. Go to 900 ft and you get 47 mph.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXigJapSgBA

PaulWWoodring · **Posted:** Wed May 27, 2015 10:54 am

southern154 wrote:

I recall in a video that Blue Ridge Video did about 2 years ago that had an interview with Rich Melvin and he stated that on one of the Horseshoe Curve trips that Wick rood the seat behind the engineer around the curve and then after Rich got off in Harrisburg? that Wick ran the engine some on the rest of the trip. And some may not realize the mr. Moorman used to be an engineer for both Southern and Norfolk Southern, whether he is certified to run engines today I do not know.

My 2 cents...

OK, I possibly stand corrected on Mr. Moorman having a card. Like I said, I think it's the exception these days for a railroad CEO to have an engineer's card. It does require some extra work and effort to be an engineer, at least a decent one.