The Norfolk & Western “J” class 4-8-4 is considered by many to be the best engineered passenger steam locomotive ever built. Designed to handle passenger trains in the mountains unassisted and to make time in the flatlands, the class had a combination of speed and power unmatched anywhere. In May, 2016, the last surviving “J” returned to her hometown of Roanoke, Virginia, to pull a series of excursions over the mountains she was designed to conquer. Diverging Clear Productions had three cameras on hand to capture the sights and sounds of the big 4-8-4 as she worked the Blue Ridge and Christiansburg grades. This program begins with a look at the development of Norfolk & Western’s big steam power in the 20th Century, before looking at #611’s returns to service in 1982 and 2015. From there, we see a few scenes of 611’s April, 2016, runs out of Spencer, North Carolina, before heading to Roanoke and the Blue Ridge Mountains. In Roanoke, #611 headed up Saturday and Sunday trips to Lynchburg over Blue Ridge and Walton over Christiansburg. We visited location on the heart of these grades, concentrating on locations where the locomotive would be working and skipping the flatter portions of the routes. Locations include Bonsack, Blue Ridge, Montvale, Shawsville and Christiansburg. For big steam working grades on the mainline, it doesn’t get much better than this!
