Riding Behind Steam, Volume 6 Norfolk & Western #1218
Volume 6 was recorded on October 10, 1987, as Norfolk & Western 2-6-6-4 #1218 pulled a round trip excursion from Birmingham, Alabama, to Chattanooga, Tennessee, and return.
#1218 was the newest steam star in 1987, freshly restored that spring and still backing in the afterglow of her stellar performance at that year’s National Railway Historical Society Convention in Roanoke, Virginia.
The route between Birmingham and Chattanooga was perhaps the most traveled by the locomotives of the Southern Railway and Norfolk Southern steam program as the program was based at Birmingham’s Irondale shop. The route featured a well maintained line and plenty of hill and dale running, giving the locomotives a chance to put on a show. #1218 is no exception here, as she departs Birmingham and blasts up Irondale Hill as the trip begins.
The sounds of #1218 at work on this CD recall the vintage recordings of another Class A working a time freight on O. Winston Link’s classic recording “Mainline To Panther.” From over eight hours of tape recorded that day in 1987, we pulled out the highlights as the exhaust of four cylinders roared from the stack with the distinctive sound of the N&W hoot whistle shouting as the train passed through the towns along the line.
Today #1218 sits on display at the Roanoke Transportation Museum, and is unlikely to run again in the foreseeable future. The sounds of the Class A in action, however, live on in the memories of those who saw and rode behind her.
