The Big J, going away
Here's a going-away look at Norfolk & Western J-Class Locomotive #611 as she comes off Long Curve and heads upgrade toward Carpenter's on Pennsylvania's Strasburg Rail Road (SRC), during a November, 2022 photo shoot organized by the SRC and the Virginia Museum of Transportation. The morning chill provided a nice, steamy plume, allowing the crew to fire their locomotive cleanly and still put on a show for the photographers. The low-angle sunlight shows off the superb styling of the locomotive and its massive tender, as well as the classy Tuscan Red and Gold paint job that was applied to the J's. It also displays the meticulous manner in which this, sole-surviving J is being maintained. One non-standard feature that is also more prominent in this angle is the application of narrow, steel coal boards at the top of the fuel bunker, which were added to give this locomotive a bit more range on main line excursions, given that the infrastructure for coaling steam engines no longer exists on Class 1 railroads.
The Big J, going away
Here's a going-away look at Norfolk & Western J-Class Locomotive #611 as she comes off Long Curve and heads upgrade toward Carpenter's on Pennsylvania's Strasburg Rail Road (SRC), during a November, 2022 photo shoot organized by the SRC and the Virginia Museum of Transportation. The morning chill provided a nice, steamy plume, allowing the crew to fire their locomotive cleanly and still put on a show for the photographers. The low-angle sunlight shows off the superb styling of the locomotive and its massive tender, as well as the classy Tuscan Red and Gold paint job that was applied to the J's. It also displays the meticulous manner in which this, sole-surviving J is being maintained. One non-standard feature that is also more prominent in this angle is the application of narrow, steel coal boards at the top of the fuel bunker, which were added to give this locomotive a bit more range on main line excursions, given that the infrastructure for coaling steam engines no longer exists on Class 1 railroads.