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In 2011 the Norfolk Southern brought back their steam program, under the name 21st Century Steam, leading to speculation among some about a possible restoration of 611. On February 22nd 2013, the Virginia Museum of Transportation announced that they were forming a committee to conduct a feasibility study with the goal of returning the 611 to active service. The committee is known as "Fire Up 611."[4]
On 23 May 2015, #611 sits on the turntable at the North Carolina Transportation Museum, between back-and-forth runs around the facility.
Norfolk and Western class Y6a #2156, class J #611, and class A #1218 on display at the "Big Three" celebration at the Virginia Museum of Transportation in Roanoke, VA, on May 31, 2015.
On June 28th, 2013, the "Fire Up 611" committee announced that 611 would be restored to operating condition in time for Norfolk Southern's 2014 steam excursion season, if $5 million was raised by October 31st, 2013 .[5] If the money was raised, 611 would be restored at the North Carolina Transportation Museum roundhouse in Spencer, NC. The sum of $5 million was sought, comprising: $1 million for locomotive restoration, $2 million for a dedicated maintenance shop in Roanoke, and the balance for an endowment and other items. Restoration requirements included repairs of the engine truck, the preparation of a tool car and an auxiliary water tender, application of new safety appliances such as in-cab signals and an event recorder, installation of new flues, boiler work, hydro and fire testing, test runs and inspection and repairs of the tender, running gears and air brakes. However, the hoped for amount was not reached, and the locomotive was to remain at the Virginia Museum of Transportation until the $3.5 million goal was reached.
On November 22nd, 2013, Norfolk Southern announced that they were donating $1.5 million of the proceeds from an auction of a Mark Rothko painting to the Fire Up 611! campaign.[6] In February of 2014, several key appointments were made by the Fire Up 611 committee to the locomotive's mechanical team, and the following month, a formal agreement was made with the North Carolina Transportation Museum for restoration. On April 1st, 2014, it was announced that after raising $2.3 million, the locomotive would move to North Carolina on May 24th, 2014. 611 arrived in Spencer on May 25th and took part in the Streamliners at Spencer event the following weekend. Restoration work on the 611 began on June 2nd, 2014. Restoration was done with the help of volunteers, including several from the Age of Steam Roundhouse. Due to the generally good condition of the locomotive, restoration was complete within a year.
On March 31st, 2015, 611 was fired up for the first time in over 20 years for a test fire, and on May 9th, it ran under its own power as part of the first round of post-restoration testing and it was also the day when N&W 2-8-8-2 Y6a 2156 left the St. Louis Museum of Transportation[7] for Roanoke to welcome back the 611.[8] On May 21, 2015, 611 made a brief test run from Spencer to Greensboro, N.C., pulling the "Powhatan Arrow" passenger cars. On May 30, 2015, 611 pulled its first excursion from Spencer, North Carolina to Roanoke, Virginia.[9]
The locomotive is scheduled to run several excursions during the summer of 2015.[10]
The first set of these excursions (3 trips) operated by the Virginia Museum of Transportation, Fire Up 611, and in coordination with Norfolk Southern, was hosted on the former Southern Railway B-Line (East/West) from Manassas, Virginia B0.0 to Riverton Junction B50.9 (Front Royal, Virginia) on June 6th and 7th, 2015. This included a climb up the Linden grade, a grade over 1% for more than 3 miles in either direction.
The second set of excursion (2 trips) are scheduled for June 13th and 14th, 2015 from Lynchburg, Virginia to Petersburg, Virginia. This is a 260 mile round-trip on the former Norfolk & Western main line historically served by the Class J locomotive.
The third set of excursions and last announced for 2015 are scheduled for July 3rd through 5th. This event includes 3 morning trips from Roanoke, Virginia to Lynchburg, Virginia over the historic Norfolk and Western Blue Ridge grade. Also offered are 3 afternoon trips from Roanoke, Virginia to Radford, Virginia which will traverse both the Montgomery tunnel and the Christiansburg grade. Both follow former Norfolk and Western mainlines that were historically served by the Class J locomotives
In 2011 the Norfolk Southern brought back their steam program, under the name 21st Century Steam, leading to speculation among some about a possible restoration of 611. On February 22nd 2013, the Virginia Museum of Transportation announced that they were forming a committee to conduct a feasibility study with the goal of returning the 611 to active service. The committee is known as "Fire Up 611."[4]
On 23 May 2015, #611 sits on the turntable at the North Carolina Transportation Museum, between back-and-forth runs around the facility.
Norfolk and Western class Y6a #2156, class J #611, and class A #1218 on display at the "Big Three" celebration at the Virginia Museum of Transportation in Roanoke, VA, on May 31, 2015.
On June 28th, 2013, the "Fire Up 611" committee announced that 611 would be restored to operating condition in time for Norfolk Southern's 2014 steam excursion season, if $5 million was raised by October 31st, 2013 .[5] If the money was raised, 611 would be restored at the North Carolina Transportation Museum roundhouse in Spencer, NC. The sum of $5 million was sought, comprising: $1 million for locomotive restoration, $2 million for a dedicated maintenance shop in Roanoke, and the balance for an endowment and other items. Restoration requirements included repairs of the engine truck, the preparation of a tool car and an auxiliary water tender, application of new safety appliances such as in-cab signals and an event recorder, installation of new flues, boiler work, hydro and fire testing, test runs and inspection and repairs of the tender, running gears and air brakes. However, the hoped for amount was not reached, and the locomotive was to remain at the Virginia Museum of Transportation until the $3.5 million goal was reached.
On November 22nd, 2013, Norfolk Southern announced that they were donating $1.5 million of the proceeds from an auction of a Mark Rothko painting to the Fire Up 611! campaign.[6] In February of 2014, several key appointments were made by the Fire Up 611 committee to the locomotive's mechanical team, and the following month, a formal agreement was made with the North Carolina Transportation Museum for restoration. On April 1st, 2014, it was announced that after raising $2.3 million, the locomotive would move to North Carolina on May 24th, 2014. 611 arrived in Spencer on May 25th and took part in the Streamliners at Spencer event the following weekend. Restoration work on the 611 began on June 2nd, 2014. Restoration was done with the help of volunteers, including several from the Age of Steam Roundhouse. Due to the generally good condition of the locomotive, restoration was complete within a year.
On March 31st, 2015, 611 was fired up for the first time in over 20 years for a test fire, and on May 9th, it ran under its own power as part of the first round of post-restoration testing and it was also the day when N&W 2-8-8-2 Y6a 2156 left the St. Louis Museum of Transportation[7] for Roanoke to welcome back the 611.[8] On May 21, 2015, 611 made a brief test run from Spencer to Greensboro, N.C., pulling the "Powhatan Arrow" passenger cars. On May 30, 2015, 611 pulled its first excursion from Spencer, North Carolina to Roanoke, Virginia.[9]
The locomotive is scheduled to run several excursions during the summer of 2015.[10]
The first set of these excursions (3 trips) operated by the Virginia Museum of Transportation, Fire Up 611, and in coordination with Norfolk Southern, was hosted on the former Southern Railway B-Line (East/West) from Manassas, Virginia B0.0 to Riverton Junction B50.9 (Front Royal, Virginia) on June 6th and 7th, 2015. This included a climb up the Linden grade, a grade over 1% for more than 3 miles in either direction.
The second set of excursion (2 trips) are scheduled for June 13th and 14th, 2015 from Lynchburg, Virginia to Petersburg, Virginia. This is a 260 mile round-trip on the former Norfolk & Western main line historically served by the Class J locomotive.
The third set of excursions and last announced for 2015 are scheduled for July 3rd through 5th. This event includes 3 morning trips from Roanoke, Virginia to Lynchburg, Virginia over the historic Norfolk and Western Blue Ridge grade. Also offered are 3 afternoon trips from Roanoke, Virginia to Radford, Virginia which will traverse both the Montgomery tunnel and the Christiansburg grade. Both follow former Norfolk and Western mainlines that were historically served by the Class J locomotives
In 2011 the Norfolk Southern brought back their steam program, under the name 21st Century Steam, leading to speculation among some about a possible restoration of 611. On February 22nd 2013, the Virginia Museum of Transportation announced that they were forming a committee to conduct a feasibility study with the goal of returning the 611 to active service. The committee is known as "Fire Up 611."[4]
On 23 May 2015, #611 sits on the turntable at the North Carolina Transportation Museum, between back-and-forth runs around the facility.
Norfolk and Western class Y6a #2156, class J #611, and class A #1218 on display at the "Big Three" celebration at the Virginia Museum of Transportation in Roanoke, VA, on May 31, 2015.
On June 28th, 2013, the "Fire Up 611" committee announced that 611 would be restored to operating condition in time for Norfolk Southern's 2014 steam excursion season, if $5 million was raised by October 31st, 2013 .[5] If the money was raised, 611 would be restored at the North Carolina Transportation Museum roundhouse in Spencer, NC. The sum of $5 million was sought, comprising: $1 million for locomotive restoration, $2 million for a dedicated maintenance shop in Roanoke, and the balance for an endowment and other items. Restoration requirements included repairs of the engine truck, the preparation of a tool car and an auxiliary water tender, application of new safety appliances such as in-cab signals and an event recorder, installation of new flues, boiler work, hydro and fire testing, test runs and inspection and repairs of the tender, running gears and air brakes. However, the hoped for amount was not reached, and the locomotive was to remain at the Virginia Museum of Transportation until the $3.5 million goal was reached.
On November 22nd, 2013, Norfolk Southern announced that they were donating $1.5 million of the proceeds from an auction of a Mark Rothko painting to the Fire Up 611! campaign.[6] In February of 2014, several key appointments were made by the Fire Up 611 committee to the locomotive's mechanical team, and the following month, a formal agreement was made with the North Carolina Transportation Museum for restoration. On April 1st, 2014, it was announced that after raising $2.3 million, the locomotive would move to North Carolina on May 24th, 2014. 611 arrived in Spencer on May 25th and took part in the Streamliners at Spencer event the following weekend. Restoration work on the 611 began on June 2nd, 2014. Restoration was done with the help of volunteers, including several from the Age of Steam Roundhouse. Due to the generally good condition of the locomotive, restoration was complete within a year.
On March 31st, 2015, 611 was fired up for the first time in over 20 years for a test fire, and on May 9th, it ran under its own power as part of the first round of post-restoration testing and it was also the day when N&W 2-8-8-2 Y6a 2156 left the St. Louis Museum of Transportation[7] for Roanoke to welcome back the 611.[8] On May 21, 2015, 611 made a brief test run from Spencer to Greensboro, N.C., pulling the "Powhatan Arrow" passenger cars. On May 30, 2015, 611 pulled its first excursion from Spencer, North Carolina to Roanoke, Virginia.[9]
The locomotive is scheduled to run several excursions during the summer of 2015.[10]
The first set of these excursions (3 trips) operated by the Virginia Museum of Transportation, Fire Up 611, and in coordination with Norfolk Southern, was hosted on the former Southern Railway B-Line (East/West) from Manassas, Virginia B0.0 to Riverton Junction B50.9 (Front Royal, Virginia) on June 6th and 7th, 2015. This included a climb up the Linden grade, a grade over 1% for more than 3 miles in either direction.
The second set of excursion (2 trips) are scheduled for June 13th and 14th, 2015 from Lynchburg, Virginia to Petersburg, Virginia. This is a 260 mile round-trip on the former Norfolk & Western main line historically served by the Class J locomotive.
The third set of excursions and last announced for 2015 are scheduled for July 3rd through 5th. This event includes 3 morning trips from Roanoke, Virginia to Lynchburg, Virginia over the historic Norfolk and Western Blue Ridge grade. Also offered are 3 afternoon trips from Roanoke, Virginia to Radford, Virginia which will traverse both the Montgomery tunnel and the Christiansburg grade. Both follow former Norfolk and Western mainlines that were historically served by the Class J locomotives
Gerald Corrigan, Chairman of Goldman Sachs Bank USA, started off by presenting what he called the "core principles" of debt management.
"If you had to undertake the operation you did with Greece again, would you do this?" Hans-Peter Martin, a German independent MEP asked. "Goldman Sachs would probably do it again. But in a different way", Mr Corrigan replied.
British Member Kay Swinburne asked on whose doorstep did the responsibility lie for the use of the financial products that were used. "Is it with the buyer or the seller?" In his reply Corrigan said that both are to be considered responsible.
Swedish Liberal Olle Schmidt quizzed Mr Corrigan on his view on speculation. He replied that speculation was a good thing. “Without speculation it would be difficult to see how the financial system would work. People have to take risks. But there is currently bad speculation. When you see it you know it.
Read more: www.europarl.europa.eu/news/public/story_page/042-72405-0...
©European Parliament/Pietro Naj-Oleari
The history of the Jemison Center, often strangely called "Old Bryce," seems to be mired in half-truths and speculation on the internet. The earliest information found dates back to when the land was a plantation, called Crab Orchard back in the 1820s, due to the many crab apple trees located on the property. It was owned by William Jemison, who then passed it down to his son, Robert Jemison Jr., a successful politician and businessman. The 4,000 acre tract in Northport was later known as Cherokee Place, where Robert would live until his new home was completed in Tuscaloosa in 1862. Jemison was a major advocate for the establishment of a hospital for the insane in Alabama, and is considered a major influence to select the area as the site for the first asylum in the state - the Alabama State Hospital for the Insane (Bryce Hospital).
By the 1920s the asylum had become severely overcrowded, and satellite institutions were created nearby to relieve the pressure, such as the Alabama Home for Mental Defectives (later known as Partlow State School). In 1939, the site of the Cherokee Plantation was purchased and transformed into the State Farm Colony for Negroes (the old Bryce Hospital grounds only housed white patients during the Jim Crow era). The former plantation house on the hill was razed and in its place the state of Alabama constructed the Jemison Institute, a three-story brick institution with detached heating plant for $161,000.
History seems to fade from there; it's assumed the Jemison Center operated as a state work farm, where able-bodied African American patients would work the fields to produce food for the hospital, as well as performing other kinds of labor (weaving, mending, etc). Desegregation orders from the government and changes in labor laws seemed to put an end to the Jemison Center; all farming operations at Bryce ceased in 1977. A mid-19th century structure was also erected on the property, called the S.D. Allen Intermediate Care Facility; it was used as a nursing home until it closed in 2003.
Info taken from - opacity.us/site245_jemison_center.htm
Jennifer Aniston marries Justin Theroux (how to livesensical.com?) in secret wedding After much speculation about their long awaited wedding date, Hollywood stars Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux managed to pull off the ultimate secret wedding at their Bel Air home on Wednesday (August 5). According to reports, the ‘Friends’ star married Justin Theroux in an intimate gathering with about 70 guests including co-star Lisa Kudrow, Sia, Emily Blunt, Chelsea Handler and Ellen DeGeneres among others.
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In 2011 the Norfolk Southern brought back their steam program, under the name 21st Century Steam, leading to speculation among some about a possible restoration of 611. On February 22nd 2013, the Virginia Museum of Transportation announced that they were forming a committee to conduct a feasibility study with the goal of returning the 611 to active service. The committee is known as "Fire Up 611."[4]
On 23 May 2015, #611 sits on the turntable at the North Carolina Transportation Museum, between back-and-forth runs around the facility.
Norfolk and Western class Y6a #2156, class J #611, and class A #1218 on display at the "Big Three" celebration at the Virginia Museum of Transportation in Roanoke, VA, on May 31, 2015.
On June 28th, 2013, the "Fire Up 611" committee announced that 611 would be restored to operating condition in time for Norfolk Southern's 2014 steam excursion season, if $5 million was raised by October 31st, 2013 .[5] If the money was raised, 611 would be restored at the North Carolina Transportation Museum roundhouse in Spencer, NC. The sum of $5 million was sought, comprising: $1 million for locomotive restoration, $2 million for a dedicated maintenance shop in Roanoke, and the balance for an endowment and other items. Restoration requirements included repairs of the engine truck, the preparation of a tool car and an auxiliary water tender, application of new safety appliances such as in-cab signals and an event recorder, installation of new flues, boiler work, hydro and fire testing, test runs and inspection and repairs of the tender, running gears and air brakes. However, the hoped for amount was not reached, and the locomotive was to remain at the Virginia Museum of Transportation until the $3.5 million goal was reached.
On November 22nd, 2013, Norfolk Southern announced that they were donating $1.5 million of the proceeds from an auction of a Mark Rothko painting to the Fire Up 611! campaign.[6] In February of 2014, several key appointments were made by the Fire Up 611 committee to the locomotive's mechanical team, and the following month, a formal agreement was made with the North Carolina Transportation Museum for restoration. On April 1st, 2014, it was announced that after raising $2.3 million, the locomotive would move to North Carolina on May 24th, 2014. 611 arrived in Spencer on May 25th and took part in the Streamliners at Spencer event the following weekend. Restoration work on the 611 began on June 2nd, 2014. Restoration was done with the help of volunteers, including several from the Age of Steam Roundhouse. Due to the generally good condition of the locomotive, restoration was complete within a year.
On March 31st, 2015, 611 was fired up for the first time in over 20 years for a test fire, and on May 9th, it ran under its own power as part of the first round of post-restoration testing and it was also the day when N&W 2-8-8-2 Y6a 2156 left the St. Louis Museum of Transportation[7] for Roanoke to welcome back the 611.[8] On May 21, 2015, 611 made a brief test run from Spencer to Greensboro, N.C., pulling the "Powhatan Arrow" passenger cars. On May 30, 2015, 611 pulled its first excursion from Spencer, North Carolina to Roanoke, Virginia.[9]
The locomotive is scheduled to run several excursions during the summer of 2015.[10]
The first set of these excursions (3 trips) operated by the Virginia Museum of Transportation, Fire Up 611, and in coordination with Norfolk Southern, was hosted on the former Southern Railway B-Line (East/West) from Manassas, Virginia B0.0 to Riverton Junction B50.9 (Front Royal, Virginia) on June 6th and 7th, 2015. This included a climb up the Linden grade, a grade over 1% for more than 3 miles in either direction.
The second set of excursion (2 trips) are scheduled for June 13th and 14th, 2015 from Lynchburg, Virginia to Petersburg, Virginia. This is a 260 mile round-trip on the former Norfolk & Western main line historically served by the Class J locomotive.
The third set of excursions and last announced for 2015 are scheduled for July 3rd through 5th. This event includes 3 morning trips from Roanoke, Virginia to Lynchburg, Virginia over the historic Norfolk and Western Blue Ridge grade. Also offered are 3 afternoon trips from Roanoke, Virginia to Radford, Virginia which will traverse both the Montgomery tunnel and the Christiansburg grade. Both follow former Norfolk and Western mainlines that were historically served by the Class J locomotives
RANGERS is giving much space for speculations:
1) Fan of the New York Rangers (Ice Hockey)?
2) Fan of the Glasgow Rangers (Football/Soccer)?
3) Fan of the Texas Rangers (Baseball)?
4) Ex U.S. Army Ranger?
5) etc
If the driver/owner might ever see this photo I'd appreciate a comment. :)
In 2011 the Norfolk Southern brought back their steam program, under the name 21st Century Steam, leading to speculation among some about a possible restoration of 611. On February 22nd 2013, the Virginia Museum of Transportation announced that they were forming a committee to conduct a feasibility study with the goal of returning the 611 to active service. The committee is known as "Fire Up 611."[4]
On 23 May 2015, #611 sits on the turntable at the North Carolina Transportation Museum, between back-and-forth runs around the facility.
Norfolk and Western class Y6a #2156, class J #611, and class A #1218 on display at the "Big Three" celebration at the Virginia Museum of Transportation in Roanoke, VA, on May 31, 2015.
On June 28th, 2013, the "Fire Up 611" committee announced that 611 would be restored to operating condition in time for Norfolk Southern's 2014 steam excursion season, if $5 million was raised by October 31st, 2013 .[5] If the money was raised, 611 would be restored at the North Carolina Transportation Museum roundhouse in Spencer, NC. The sum of $5 million was sought, comprising: $1 million for locomotive restoration, $2 million for a dedicated maintenance shop in Roanoke, and the balance for an endowment and other items. Restoration requirements included repairs of the engine truck, the preparation of a tool car and an auxiliary water tender, application of new safety appliances such as in-cab signals and an event recorder, installation of new flues, boiler work, hydro and fire testing, test runs and inspection and repairs of the tender, running gears and air brakes. However, the hoped for amount was not reached, and the locomotive was to remain at the Virginia Museum of Transportation until the $3.5 million goal was reached.
On November 22nd, 2013, Norfolk Southern announced that they were donating $1.5 million of the proceeds from an auction of a Mark Rothko painting to the Fire Up 611! campaign.[6] In February of 2014, several key appointments were made by the Fire Up 611 committee to the locomotive's mechanical team, and the following month, a formal agreement was made with the North Carolina Transportation Museum for restoration. On April 1st, 2014, it was announced that after raising $2.3 million, the locomotive would move to North Carolina on May 24th, 2014. 611 arrived in Spencer on May 25th and took part in the Streamliners at Spencer event the following weekend. Restoration work on the 611 began on June 2nd, 2014. Restoration was done with the help of volunteers, including several from the Age of Steam Roundhouse. Due to the generally good condition of the locomotive, restoration was complete within a year.
On March 31st, 2015, 611 was fired up for the first time in over 20 years for a test fire, and on May 9th, it ran under its own power as part of the first round of post-restoration testing and it was also the day when N&W 2-8-8-2 Y6a 2156 left the St. Louis Museum of Transportation[7] for Roanoke to welcome back the 611.[8] On May 21, 2015, 611 made a brief test run from Spencer to Greensboro, N.C., pulling the "Powhatan Arrow" passenger cars. On May 30, 2015, 611 pulled its first excursion from Spencer, North Carolina to Roanoke, Virginia.[9]
The locomotive is scheduled to run several excursions during the summer of 2015.[10]
The first set of these excursions (3 trips) operated by the Virginia Museum of Transportation, Fire Up 611, and in coordination with Norfolk Southern, was hosted on the former Southern Railway B-Line (East/West) from Manassas, Virginia B0.0 to Riverton Junction B50.9 (Front Royal, Virginia) on June 6th and 7th, 2015. This included a climb up the Linden grade, a grade over 1% for more than 3 miles in either direction.
The second set of excursion (2 trips) are scheduled for June 13th and 14th, 2015 from Lynchburg, Virginia to Petersburg, Virginia. This is a 260 mile round-trip on the former Norfolk & Western main line historically served by the Class J locomotive.
The third set of excursions and last announced for 2015 are scheduled for July 3rd through 5th. This event includes 3 morning trips from Roanoke, Virginia to Lynchburg, Virginia over the historic Norfolk and Western Blue Ridge grade. Also offered are 3 afternoon trips from Roanoke, Virginia to Radford, Virginia which will traverse both the Montgomery tunnel and the Christiansburg grade. Both follow former Norfolk and Western mainlines that were historically served by the Class J locomotives
In 2011 the Norfolk Southern brought back their steam program, under the name 21st Century Steam, leading to speculation among some about a possible restoration of 611. On February 22nd 2013, the Virginia Museum of Transportation announced that they were forming a committee to conduct a feasibility study with the goal of returning the 611 to active service. The committee is known as "Fire Up 611."[4]
On 23 May 2015, #611 sits on the turntable at the North Carolina Transportation Museum, between back-and-forth runs around the facility.
Norfolk and Western class Y6a #2156, class J #611, and class A #1218 on display at the "Big Three" celebration at the Virginia Museum of Transportation in Roanoke, VA, on May 31, 2015.
On June 28th, 2013, the "Fire Up 611" committee announced that 611 would be restored to operating condition in time for Norfolk Southern's 2014 steam excursion season, if $5 million was raised by October 31st, 2013 .[5] If the money was raised, 611 would be restored at the North Carolina Transportation Museum roundhouse in Spencer, NC. The sum of $5 million was sought, comprising: $1 million for locomotive restoration, $2 million for a dedicated maintenance shop in Roanoke, and the balance for an endowment and other items. Restoration requirements included repairs of the engine truck, the preparation of a tool car and an auxiliary water tender, application of new safety appliances such as in-cab signals and an event recorder, installation of new flues, boiler work, hydro and fire testing, test runs and inspection and repairs of the tender, running gears and air brakes. However, the hoped for amount was not reached, and the locomotive was to remain at the Virginia Museum of Transportation until the $3.5 million goal was reached.
On November 22nd, 2013, Norfolk Southern announced that they were donating $1.5 million of the proceeds from an auction of a Mark Rothko painting to the Fire Up 611! campaign.[6] In February of 2014, several key appointments were made by the Fire Up 611 committee to the locomotive's mechanical team, and the following month, a formal agreement was made with the North Carolina Transportation Museum for restoration. On April 1st, 2014, it was announced that after raising $2.3 million, the locomotive would move to North Carolina on May 24th, 2014. 611 arrived in Spencer on May 25th and took part in the Streamliners at Spencer event the following weekend. Restoration work on the 611 began on June 2nd, 2014. Restoration was done with the help of volunteers, including several from the Age of Steam Roundhouse. Due to the generally good condition of the locomotive, restoration was complete within a year.
On March 31st, 2015, 611 was fired up for the first time in over 20 years for a test fire, and on May 9th, it ran under its own power as part of the first round of post-restoration testing and it was also the day when N&W 2-8-8-2 Y6a 2156 left the St. Louis Museum of Transportation[7] for Roanoke to welcome back the 611.[8] On May 21, 2015, 611 made a brief test run from Spencer to Greensboro, N.C., pulling the "Powhatan Arrow" passenger cars. On May 30, 2015, 611 pulled its first excursion from Spencer, North Carolina to Roanoke, Virginia.[9]
The locomotive is scheduled to run several excursions during the summer of 2015.[10]
The first set of these excursions (3 trips) operated by the Virginia Museum of Transportation, Fire Up 611, and in coordination with Norfolk Southern, was hosted on the former Southern Railway B-Line (East/West) from Manassas, Virginia B0.0 to Riverton Junction B50.9 (Front Royal, Virginia) on June 6th and 7th, 2015. This included a climb up the Linden grade, a grade over 1% for more than 3 miles in either direction.
The second set of excursion (2 trips) are scheduled for June 13th and 14th, 2015 from Lynchburg, Virginia to Petersburg, Virginia. This is a 260 mile round-trip on the former Norfolk & Western main line historically served by the Class J locomotive.
The third set of excursions and last announced for 2015 are scheduled for July 3rd through 5th. This event includes 3 morning trips from Roanoke, Virginia to Lynchburg, Virginia over the historic Norfolk and Western Blue Ridge grade. Also offered are 3 afternoon trips from Roanoke, Virginia to Radford, Virginia which will traverse both the Montgomery tunnel and the Christiansburg grade. Both follow former Norfolk and Western mainlines that were historically served by the Class J locomotives
In 2011 the Norfolk Southern brought back their steam program, under the name 21st Century Steam, leading to speculation among some about a possible restoration of 611. On February 22nd 2013, the Virginia Museum of Transportation announced that they were forming a committee to conduct a feasibility study with the goal of returning the 611 to active service. The committee is known as "Fire Up 611."[4]
On 23 May 2015, #611 sits on the turntable at the North Carolina Transportation Museum, between back-and-forth runs around the facility.
Norfolk and Western class Y6a #2156, class J #611, and class A #1218 on display at the "Big Three" celebration at the Virginia Museum of Transportation in Roanoke, VA, on May 31, 2015.
On June 28th, 2013, the "Fire Up 611" committee announced that 611 would be restored to operating condition in time for Norfolk Southern's 2014 steam excursion season, if $5 million was raised by October 31st, 2013 .[5] If the money was raised, 611 would be restored at the North Carolina Transportation Museum roundhouse in Spencer, NC. The sum of $5 million was sought, comprising: $1 million for locomotive restoration, $2 million for a dedicated maintenance shop in Roanoke, and the balance for an endowment and other items. Restoration requirements included repairs of the engine truck, the preparation of a tool car and an auxiliary water tender, application of new safety appliances such as in-cab signals and an event recorder, installation of new flues, boiler work, hydro and fire testing, test runs and inspection and repairs of the tender, running gears and air brakes. However, the hoped for amount was not reached, and the locomotive was to remain at the Virginia Museum of Transportation until the $3.5 million goal was reached.
On November 22nd, 2013, Norfolk Southern announced that they were donating $1.5 million of the proceeds from an auction of a Mark Rothko painting to the Fire Up 611! campaign.[6] In February of 2014, several key appointments were made by the Fire Up 611 committee to the locomotive's mechanical team, and the following month, a formal agreement was made with the North Carolina Transportation Museum for restoration. On April 1st, 2014, it was announced that after raising $2.3 million, the locomotive would move to North Carolina on May 24th, 2014. 611 arrived in Spencer on May 25th and took part in the Streamliners at Spencer event the following weekend. Restoration work on the 611 began on June 2nd, 2014. Restoration was done with the help of volunteers, including several from the Age of Steam Roundhouse. Due to the generally good condition of the locomotive, restoration was complete within a year.
On March 31st, 2015, 611 was fired up for the first time in over 20 years for a test fire, and on May 9th, it ran under its own power as part of the first round of post-restoration testing and it was also the day when N&W 2-8-8-2 Y6a 2156 left the St. Louis Museum of Transportation[7] for Roanoke to welcome back the 611.[8] On May 21, 2015, 611 made a brief test run from Spencer to Greensboro, N.C., pulling the "Powhatan Arrow" passenger cars. On May 30, 2015, 611 pulled its first excursion from Spencer, North Carolina to Roanoke, Virginia.[9]
The locomotive is scheduled to run several excursions during the summer of 2015.[10]
The first set of these excursions (3 trips) operated by the Virginia Museum of Transportation, Fire Up 611, and in coordination with Norfolk Southern, was hosted on the former Southern Railway B-Line (East/West) from Manassas, Virginia B0.0 to Riverton Junction B50.9 (Front Royal, Virginia) on June 6th and 7th, 2015. This included a climb up the Linden grade, a grade over 1% for more than 3 miles in either direction.
The second set of excursion (2 trips) are scheduled for June 13th and 14th, 2015 from Lynchburg, Virginia to Petersburg, Virginia. This is a 260 mile round-trip on the former Norfolk & Western main line historically served by the Class J locomotive.
The third set of excursions and last announced for 2015 are scheduled for July 3rd through 5th. This event includes 3 morning trips from Roanoke, Virginia to Lynchburg, Virginia over the historic Norfolk and Western Blue Ridge grade. Also offered are 3 afternoon trips from Roanoke, Virginia to Radford, Virginia which will traverse both the Montgomery tunnel and the Christiansburg grade. Both follow former Norfolk and Western mainlines that were historically served by the Class J locomotives
In 2011 the Norfolk Southern brought back their steam program, under the name 21st Century Steam, leading to speculation among some about a possible restoration of 611. On February 22nd 2013, the Virginia Museum of Transportation announced that they were forming a committee to conduct a feasibility study with the goal of returning the 611 to active service. The committee is known as "Fire Up 611."[4]
On 23 May 2015, #611 sits on the turntable at the North Carolina Transportation Museum, between back-and-forth runs around the facility.
Norfolk and Western class Y6a #2156, class J #611, and class A #1218 on display at the "Big Three" celebration at the Virginia Museum of Transportation in Roanoke, VA, on May 31, 2015.
On June 28th, 2013, the "Fire Up 611" committee announced that 611 would be restored to operating condition in time for Norfolk Southern's 2014 steam excursion season, if $5 million was raised by October 31st, 2013 .[5] If the money was raised, 611 would be restored at the North Carolina Transportation Museum roundhouse in Spencer, NC. The sum of $5 million was sought, comprising: $1 million for locomotive restoration, $2 million for a dedicated maintenance shop in Roanoke, and the balance for an endowment and other items. Restoration requirements included repairs of the engine truck, the preparation of a tool car and an auxiliary water tender, application of new safety appliances such as in-cab signals and an event recorder, installation of new flues, boiler work, hydro and fire testing, test runs and inspection and repairs of the tender, running gears and air brakes. However, the hoped for amount was not reached, and the locomotive was to remain at the Virginia Museum of Transportation until the $3.5 million goal was reached.
On November 22nd, 2013, Norfolk Southern announced that they were donating $1.5 million of the proceeds from an auction of a Mark Rothko painting to the Fire Up 611! campaign.[6] In February of 2014, several key appointments were made by the Fire Up 611 committee to the locomotive's mechanical team, and the following month, a formal agreement was made with the North Carolina Transportation Museum for restoration. On April 1st, 2014, it was announced that after raising $2.3 million, the locomotive would move to North Carolina on May 24th, 2014. 611 arrived in Spencer on May 25th and took part in the Streamliners at Spencer event the following weekend. Restoration work on the 611 began on June 2nd, 2014. Restoration was done with the help of volunteers, including several from the Age of Steam Roundhouse. Due to the generally good condition of the locomotive, restoration was complete within a year.
On March 31st, 2015, 611 was fired up for the first time in over 20 years for a test fire, and on May 9th, it ran under its own power as part of the first round of post-restoration testing and it was also the day when N&W 2-8-8-2 Y6a 2156 left the St. Louis Museum of Transportation[7] for Roanoke to welcome back the 611.[8] On May 21, 2015, 611 made a brief test run from Spencer to Greensboro, N.C., pulling the "Powhatan Arrow" passenger cars. On May 30, 2015, 611 pulled its first excursion from Spencer, North Carolina to Roanoke, Virginia.[9]
The locomotive is scheduled to run several excursions during the summer of 2015.[10]
The first set of these excursions (3 trips) operated by the Virginia Museum of Transportation, Fire Up 611, and in coordination with Norfolk Southern, was hosted on the former Southern Railway B-Line (East/West) from Manassas, Virginia B0.0 to Riverton Junction B50.9 (Front Royal, Virginia) on June 6th and 7th, 2015. This included a climb up the Linden grade, a grade over 1% for more than 3 miles in either direction.
The second set of excursion (2 trips) are scheduled for June 13th and 14th, 2015 from Lynchburg, Virginia to Petersburg, Virginia. This is a 260 mile round-trip on the former Norfolk & Western main line historically served by the Class J locomotive.
The third set of excursions and last announced for 2015 are scheduled for July 3rd through 5th. This event includes 3 morning trips from Roanoke, Virginia to Lynchburg, Virginia over the historic Norfolk and Western Blue Ridge grade. Also offered are 3 afternoon trips from Roanoke, Virginia to Radford, Virginia which will traverse both the Montgomery tunnel and the Christiansburg grade. Both follow former Norfolk and Western mainlines that were historically served by the Class J locomotives
Upper West Side, Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States
The Eldorado, extending along the entire blockfront of Central Park West between 90th and 91st Streets, is the northernmost of the four twin-towered apartment houses that give Central Park West its distinctive skyline silhouette. The Eldorado was designed in 1929 by the architectural firm of Margon & Holder with the renowned early 20th-century New York City architect Emery Roth as consultant. These architects created one of the finest and most dramatically massed Art Deco style residential buildings in New York City.
The Eldorado is one of the most distinguished buildings erected as part of the early 20th-century redevelopment of Central Park West. Central Park West, a continuation of Eighth Avenue, runs along the western edge of Central Park. Development along this prime avenue occurred very slowly, lagging substantially behind the general development of the Upper West Side. When Frederick Law Olmsted laid out Central Park he saw that the presence of the park would raise the value of land immediately adjacent to it.
Olmsted expected these areas to develop as prime residential streets. Land speculation did indeed occur on Central Park West. However, the west side of the park never attracted the extremely wealthy people who could afford the inflated prices of land bordering on the park.
Thus, while the side streets of the Upper West Side were built up with rows of speculative houses, Central Park West remained largely undeveloped. A survey of Central Park West published in February 1893 shows that of the three blocks between 60th and 96th Streets nineteen were either totally vacant or contained old shanties and frame houses. Other blocks were partially vacant.
The earliest residential improvement on Central Park West, and one of its great architectural monuments, was the Dakota, a designated New York City Landmark, at 72nd Street. Built in 1880-84, this eight-story building established Central Park West's character as a street of multiple dwellings. In 1890, by which time the Dakota had been joined by two apartment hotels, the St. Remo on 75th Street and the Beresford on 81st Street, as well as several flat houses, real estate broker F.R. Houghton noted that:
Central Park West seems to have only one future— it is destined to become an avenue of grand apartment houses and hotels. Everything tends that way. It is too public a thoroughfare to become a private residential avenue.
However, it wasn't until several years later that Central Park West experienced the construction boom that Houghton had predicted.
The first concentrated building boom on Central Park West occurred at the turn of the century when a significant number of elegant residential and institutional buildings were erected south of 96th Street. These include some of the finest apartment houses in New York, such as the Prasada at 65th Street, the Langham at 73rd Street, the Kenilworth at 75th Street, and the St. Urban at 89th Street, as well as such institutional structures as the Ethical Culture Society School and Meeting House at 63rd and 64th Streets, Holy Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church at 65th Street, the Second Church of Christ, Scientist at 68th Street, the Congregation Shearith Israel Synagogue at 70th Street, the Universalist Church of the Divine Paternity at 76th Street, and the Progress Club at 88th Street.
The presence of these fine apartment buildings and institutions on Central Park West reflects the coming of age of the Upper West Side. The Upper West Side had developed in the final decades of the 19th century as an enclave of upper middle-class life. Affluent middle-class families were attracted to the area by the quality of its housing, the presence of Riverside Park and Central Park, and by the accessibility of the neighborhood.
As the Upper West Side became more and more desirable, developers began to build on the more expensive sites bordering the parks, and Central Park West began to be transformed into an elegant avenue of tall buildings that contrasted dramatically in scale to low rise residential Fifth Avenue.
During World War I construction on Central Park West slowed, but between 1920 and 1931 the area was transformed as the vacant sites were filled and many of the early apartment hotels and flats were replaced by new apartment houses. This final phase of Central Park West's development culminated in 1929-31 with the construction of the four twin-towered buildings that give Central Park West its characteristic skyline.
The distinctive form of the Century at 62nd-63rd Streets, the Majestic at 71st-72nd Streets, the San Remo at 74th-75th Streets and the Eldorado at 90th-91st Streets has come to symbolize the high quality of residential design on New York's Upper West Side.
The Eldorado Apartments is not the first building of that name at this location. The present building replaces the Eldorado flats which consisted of two eight-story structures designed in 1901 by Neville & Bagge, "which for more than a generation have been among the best of the fine houses on Central Park West."
In addition to the old Eldorado, the new apartment building replaced five row houses on West 90th Street and three tenements and a row house on West 91st Street. This site was assembled in 1929 and sold to realtor Frederick Brown who retained ownership for several weeks before transferring the property to the Elkay Building Corporation, Louis Kloak, president. The architects commissioned to design the new Eldorado were the firm of Margon & Holder.
Irving Margon and Adolph M. Holder are architects about whom little is known. One of the few buildings known to have been designed by Margon is an Art Deco apartment house at 2805 Grand Concourse in the Bronx.
Although Margon & Holder were the chief architects for the new building, they do not appear to have had the experience to design such a large structure. Emery Roth, one of the most talented residential architects in New York during the early decades of this century was hired as a consultant.
Among Roth's finest apartment buildings are three important Upper West Side structures designed just prior to the Eldorado—the Oliver Cromwell at 12 West 72nd Street, the San Remo at 145 Central Park West, and the Beresford at 211 Central Park West. It was undoubtedly Roth's experience with designing these large-scale residential buildings that prompted the builders of the Eldorado to hire him as a consultant. It is believed that Roth was responsible for the massing and plan of the building and that Margon & Holder designed the facade.
The form of the Eldorado, with its massive base and twin towers set at the Central Park West corners, closely resembles the massing of the San Remo on which Roth was working at the time he received the Eldorado commission. In addition, the apartment layouts of the two buildings are similar. The twin towered form of the San Remo and Eldorado resulted from the multiple dwelling law passed by the New York State Legislature in 1929.
This law mandated an increase in yard and court area, but allowed residential buildings to rise higher than before, legalizing setbacks and towers in this building type for the first time. The bill limited the height of street walls to times the width of the street, but, on plots of over 25,000 square feet, allowed towers that could rise up to three times the width of the street. The San Remo and Eldorado were the first two buildings on Central Park West to be affected by this new law.
The few drawings that Roth produced for the Eldorado have classical details, creating a design that resembles the style of the San Remo. They do not exhibit the Art Deco forms of the building as constructed. Art Deco style ornament appeared on apartment buildings as early as 1928 on Raymond Hood's 3 East 84th Street and on Horace Ginsberg and Marvin Fine's Park Plaza in the Bronx.
Margon & Holder were probably aware of the Art Deco forms in use on those apartment houses and they adapted these forms for their Central Park West building. Among the finest Art Deco motifs on the Eldorado is the tripartite Central Park West entrance. The three entrance portals take on the faceted crystalline form that Rosemarie Bletter has traced to German Expressionist architecture.
Above these bronze entrance surrounds are bronze panels with the clashing angular geometric forms and soft curving foliate forms that give the finest Art Deco ornamentation its special tension. The best known Art Deco features of the Eldorado are the futuristic rocket-like pinnacles which crown each tower.
Other notable Art Deco motifs include an angular frieze that runs above the third floor, stylized brick spandrel panels below many of the windows, and angular balconies with zigzag panels.
Unfortunately, construction of the Eldorado coincided with the stock market crash of 1929. The crash led to the collapse of the real estate market; cooperatives failed, rental apartments remained vacant, and foreclosure actions were brought against many buildings.
Financial and labor troubles delayed the completion of the Eldorado, but on November 26, 1930, it was announced that the building was to be completed.
Although the Eldorado was finished, it experienced rental problems and the owners finally defaulted on loan payments.
On November 5, 1931, the building was auctioned. In more recent years, the Eldorado has attracted many people of note, particularly people associated with the arts. Among the Eldorado's residents have been Milton Avery, Martin Balsam, Richard Dreyfuss, Faye Dunaway, Carrie Fisher, Tuesday Weld, Pinchas Zuckerman, Richard Estes, Sybil Burton, Phil Donahue, Mario Thomas, Edie Adams, Ernie Kovaks, Groucho Marx, Roddy McDowell, and Marilyn Monroe.
Description
The Eldorado is a symmetrical building set on a three-story yellow cast stone base and faced with tan brick trimmed with light brown brick and yellow terra-cotta above. The building extends along the entire Central Park West frontage between West 90th Street and West 91st Street, 200 feet along West 90th Street, and 194 feet along West 91st Street. In the center of the ground floor of the Central Park West frontage is the main entrance consisting of three faceted portals with bronze frames. Above each entrance are a pair of highly ornamental plaques embossed with Art Deco style geometric and floral forms. In the spandrels between the faceted entry arches and the plaques are panels with birds. Separating each pair of panels, as well as the windows above, are stepped piers with geometric incising. Above these piers are projecting skeletal cast stone motifs. A frieze of Art Deco chevrons and arches crowns the cast stone base of the building.
On the ground floor, to each side of the entrance are windows and metal doors with Art Deco grilles and handrails, all of which belong to professional apartments.
On Central Park West, the windows of the main bulk of the building are massed in a symmetrical pattern of 2-3-2-3-2-6-2-3-2-3-2 All of the windows were originally metal-paned casements with thin metal mullions. Each original window is divided into two movable casements of eight panes, each with a single transom of six panes. The small window panes add a sense of texture to the facade and prevent the window openings from becoming voids in the design.
The first and third window groups from either end project slightly, while the other groups are separated by projecting piers. The second and fifth groups from either end are framed with light brown brick that gives a vertical thrust to the facade. This vertical thrust is strengthened by the use of raised brick bands below the windows and by the addition of tan brick piers between the windows of the second group from each corner.
The patterned brickwork, also appears in the central two bays at the thirteenth and fourteenth floors . Projecting from the two central thirteenth floor windows are three-sided stone balconies each supported by a single corbeled bracket and ornamented with a vertical chevron panel.
The five central window groups step back above the fourteenth and sixteenth floors to form balconies, while the three end groups on either side rise up two additional floors before setting back at the sixteenth floor and again at the seventeenth floor. All of the balconies have Art Deco railings. Patterned brickwork and pairs of terra-cotta balconies also appear on the fifteenth and sixteenth floors of the end sections and on the sixteenth floor of the central section.
The brown brick bays are ornamented at their summits by terra-cotta panels adorned with chevron, diaper, and other geometric patterns.
The towers rise free of the base for twelve stories. Each tower is six bays wide on Central Park West and faced with tan brick highlighted by brown brick panels at the four central windows. Terra-cotta balconies appear at the twenty-sixth floor and terra-cotta panels at the twenty-seventh and twenty-eighth floors.
The side elevations have similar detailing. There are corner penthouses at the twenty-ninth floor, as each tower steps back to the crowning pinnacle with its fin-like projections. It is these stepped pinnacles that give the Eldorado its distinctive silhouette and make the building immediately identifiable from as far away as Fifth Avenue.
On the side streets the Eldorado is seventeen stories tall with the three-story cast stone base continuing for the first seven bays before it drops down to a one-story base. Only near the Central Park West corners are there window bays articulated with the vertical brown brick bays used on the front elevation.
The side facades have penthouses with railings, the balconies and terra-cotta ornament described on the front, as well as professional office doors and secondary residential entrances with Art Deco carvings To the rear of the building are cast stone arches with Art Deco metal gates .
Alterations to the original design are limited to the replacement of some of the original multi-paned windows with plate glass windows. The most serious alteration has occurred on the eighteenth floor of the south tower where brickwork has been removed for the enlargement of several windows.
The Eldorado's futuristic crowning pinnacles, visible from up and down Central Park West and from as far east as Fifth Avenue, are true architectural landmarks. The Eldorado is the northernmost of the four twin-towered buildings that identify Central Park West as one of New York City's great residential boulevards and the building stands as one of the most important Art Deco apartment buildings in the city.
- From the 1985 NYCLPC Landmark Designation Report
Upper West Side, Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States
Summary
The West Park Presbyterian Church is considered to be one of the best examples of a Romanesque Revival style religious structure in New York City. The extraordinarily deep color of its red sandstone cladding and the church’s bold forms with broad, round-arched openings and a soaring tower at the corner of West 86th Street and Amsterdam Avenue produce a monumental and distinguished presence along those streets.
The Park Presbyterian Church was founded in 1852 as the 84th Street Presbyterian Church and formerly occupied a wood chapel on 84th Street and West End Avenue. The church purchased the site of the present church at Tenth Avenue and West 86th Street in 1882 and commissioned the prominent architect Leopold Eidlitz to design a small brick chapel on the eastern end of the site on 86th Street in 1883. It was completed in 1885. The Upper West Side’s population dramatically increased during the 1880s and the church quickly outgrew the chapel. In 1889, the congregation commissioned Henry Kilburn to design a large new church and to re-design Eidlitz’s façade, creating a unified Romanesque Revival-style church complex. Kilburn was the designer of many private residences in New York, including a number in the Upper West Side/Central Park West Historic District. The new Park Presbyterian Church was finished in 1890. The resulting building is a monumental structure which anchors an important intersection on the Upper West Side.
The West Park Presbyterian Church was formed in 1911 when the Park Presbyterian Church merged with the West Presbyterian Church, which was founded in 1829 in Greenwich Village and later moved to 42nd Street. Kilburn’s design remains intact, and building retains its visual prominence on the Upper West Side.
DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS
Development of the Upper West Side
Following the creation of Central Park beginning in 1858, the Upper West Side gradually became one of Manhattan’s most desirable residential neighborhoods. While the earliest row houses date from the 1870s, the first major decade of development occurred during the 1880s. Such real estate speculation was shaped by the introduction of rapid transit. Major improvements included the extension of the 8th Avenue car line along Central Park to West 84th Street in 1864, the paving and widening of the Boulevard (later renamed Broadway) in the late 1860s, and the construction of the elevated railway, which began service along 9th Avenue (renamed Columbus Avenue in 1890), with stations at 72nd, 81st, 93rd, and 104th Streets, in 1879. Alongside the railway, multiple dwellings were built, primarily five-story structures with ground-level stores. Called tenements and flats, most were leased to working-class and middle-class tenants. The side streets, to the east and west, were developed as single-family residences, mainly row houses, four and five-stories tall. Both types of buildings were designed in popular revival styles, chiefly neo-Grec and Romanesque Revival.
The significant exception to this pattern was Amsterdam Avenue (known as 10th Avenue until 1890) the neighborhood’s chief service corridor. Located between 9th Avenue and Broadway, it was an important transit route, served by a horse car line starting in 1878. Though tenements with street-level stores and an occasional hotel and storage warehouse were built on or close to the avenue, many structures were utilitarian, particularly a cluster of stables between 75th and 77th Streets. There were also a number of commercial, institutional, and religious buildings, such as the West Park Presbyterian Church, including Pubic School 87 (No. 369, demolished), New York Public Library (No. 444-446), Central Baptist Church (No. 651), Public School 93 (No.692, demolished), Holy Name R.C. Church (No. 740), East River Savings Bank (No. 743), St. Michael’s P.E. Church (No. 800), Home for Respectable Aged Indigent Females (No. 891), Public School 54 (No. 905, demolished), and the West End Presbyterian Church (No. 921-927).
West 86th Street, which is one of the wide east to west cross streets running from Central to Riverside Parks, developed as a comfortable residential address consisting of upscale row houses, flats building, and later, large apartment buildings, interspersed by an occasional commercial building or church, such as West Park.
The West Park Presbyterian Church
The Presbyterian faith, the roots of which are based on a modified form of Calvinism and a specific ecclesiastical hierarchy, was begun in Scotland in the eighteenth century. It was soon transplanted in New York with the establishment of its first congregation on Wall Street. Two other Presbyterian churches were established in New York by the late eighteenth century, one on Beekman Street known as the “Brick Church” and another in the open fields on present-day Rutgers Street. None of these early church buildings survive. Breakaway groups soon began to form their own congregations apart from the established collegiate form of worship, following factions which were being started in Scotland known as Covenanters and Seceders. In North America, these new branches became known as the Reformed Presbyterians, the Associate Presbyterians, and later the Associate Reformed Presbyterians. The number of people declaring themselves Presbyterians multiplied as did the number of buildings constructed to house the growing congregations. By 1871, the Presbyterians were the most numerous and active Protestant group in New York City, with more than ninety churches and mission chapels among the various branches.
The Park Presbyterian Church, the first Presbyterian congregation on the Upper West Side, was founded in 1852 as the 84th Street Presbyterian Church and in 1854 built a wood chapel, designed by architect and area resident Leopold Eidlitz, on 84th Street and West End Avenue. The church’s congregation, at first a mere fifteen members, struggled to grow until it hired Anson Phelps Atterbury (1855-1931) as its pastor in 1879. Atterbury was a member of the Phelps-Dodge mining family, and used his reputation to attract new members to the congregation, which also began to benefit from the increase in the population of the Upper West Side after the opening of the Columbus Avenue elevated railway at about the same time. By the early 1880s, the congregation had outgrown Eidlitz’s 84th Street chapel, and Atterbury began planning for the church’s imminent move to a new, larger brick building on Amsterdam Avenue and 86th Street. At first, a small brick chapel was built at the east end of the site in 1883. The church, which changed its name to Park Presbyterian Church in 1887, continued to grow rapidly under Atterbury’s leadership and constructed in 1889-90 the present larger sanctuary, designed by architect Henry Kilburn, incorporating Eidlitz’s earlier chapel, which was re-clad to match the new edifice.
The West Park Presbyterian Church was formed in 1911 when Park merged with the West Presbyterian Church, which was located in midtown at the time. The merged congregation made the Amsterdam Avenue church built by Park Presbyterian its home. West Presbyterian itself was founded in 1829 at 273 Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village as the North Presbyterian Church, and built a sanctuary, designed by Town & Davis, in 1831-32 on Carmine Street (now demolished). Within a few years it changed its name to West. In 1860, following the northward movement of Manhattan’s population, West was relocated to West 42nd Street and soon built a Victorian Gothic-style edifice at 31 West 42nd Street (also demolished) which was completed in 1865. West Presbyterian counted a number of distinguished citizens among its membership, including Russell Sage, Jay Gould, and Alfred H. Smith, and by 1890 had become known as the “millionaires’ gate to heaven.” By the early twentieth century, commercialization of its midtown location led to the displacement of the area’s residential population and the loss of many of West Presbyterian’s members, including the prominent men mentioned above after an internal dispute. As a consequence, the two churches began competing for members and decided to merge their memberships, forming the West Park Presbyterian Church.
The Architect
Henry Franklin Kilburn (1844-1905), who designed the 1889-90 expansion of West Park that included the modification of Eidlitz’s earlier chapel, was born and educated in Ashfield, Massachusetts, and first established an architectural practice in Northampton. In 1868, he moved his practice to New York, where he designed a number of churches in addition to West Park, including the West End Presbyterian Church (1891, Amsterdam Avenue and West 105th Street), the Mt. Moriah Baptist Church (1888, 2050 Fifth Avenue), and the St. James Episcopal Church Parish House in the Bronx (1891-92, 2500 Jerome Avenue, a designated New York City Landmark). Kilburn was also the architect of many private residences, factories, stables, and theaters in Manhattan, some of which are included in various historic districts, including the Durland Riding Academy building (1900-01, 8 West 67th Street, in the Upper West Side/Central Park West Historic District). Kilburn was a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects and a member of its New York Chapter and the Architectural League.
Design and Construction of the Church
In 1883, the 84th Street Presbyterian Church purchased five building lots at the northeast corner of West 86th Street and Amsterdam Avenue (then Tenth Avenue) for $30,000 in anticipation of its expansion and relocation to a new church building. The Reverend Anson Phelps Atterbury, its pastor at the time, engaged Leopold Eidlitz, the prominent New York architect who had designed the church’s existing chapel on 84th Street in 1854, to plan a brick, Victorian Gothic-style chapel on the eastern end of the site. The building was completed in 1885. The western end of the lot was left open for the future expansion of the church.
In 1889, the congregation, by then having been renamed Park Presbyterian, commissioned architect Henry Kilburn to design a larger main church. To be located on undeveloped western lots, the new edifice was to incorporate Eidlitz’s chapel of 1884-85, which would be modified to complement the new wing. Kilburn’s design was a boldly-massed Romanesque Revival-style edifice faced in deep red sandstone and anchored by a soaring corner tower with a bell-shaped roof. The church would exemplify what was then a new interest in medieval Romanesque forms and palettes, such as in its heavy round arches, rock-faced stonework, massive tower, and earth-toned (reddish brown) materials. The building appears to have been inspired by the work of Henry Hobson Richardson, one of the major and most influential architects of the nineteenth century, and one of the main champions of the rugged, Romanesque Revival mode that is evident at West Park. Kilburn greatly expanded and redesigned Eidlitz’s chapel, cladding it in brownstone and adding a tower, thereby creating a much larger, unified Romanesque Revival-style church complex. The two wings now share similar features, such as triple round arch window motifs and paired fenestration in their broadly-gabled roofs.
According to articles published at the time of its completion in 1890, the West Park Presbyterian Church is faced in Longmeadow (Massachusetts) and Lake Superior (Michigan) sandstones. Longmeadow stone, also used extensive by Richardson, is fine-grained and typically a bright brick-red color with little stratification, making it easy to dress and very durable. As a result, it was used commonly as a facing stone. Lake Superior brownstone is uniform in color and texture, also making it easy to cut and dress into blocks of almost any size. Richardson favored brownstone to represent the Romantic ideal that architecture should by in harmony with the forms and colors of nature. West Park rugged stonework and earthy shades exemplify Richardsonian principals.
Construction began on April 22, 1889, the cornerstone was laid on May 16th, and the building was officially completed on June 26, 1890. The new church, which had 900 seats, was finished enough to have held its first service with much fanfare on May 18, 1890. The church’s entrance doors were featured in 1891 in The American Architect and Building News.
Later History
When the socially-progressive clergyman, Anson Phelps Atterbury was hired to lead the congregation in 1879, West Park embarked on a more than one hundred year period of activism. Atterbury promoted ethnic inclusion, inviting Chinese congregants to worship at the church at the peak of anti-Chinese hysteria in the 1880s. Seventy-five years later, the church was at the forefront of the civil rights and anti-Vietnam War and anti-nuclear arms movements of the 1960s. Later, it became one of the founding churches of the West Side Federation for Senior Housing, Inc., as well as the original site of the West Side Food Pantry and God’s Love We Deliver. The church also championed same-sex marriage rights.
The building itself has been little altered since 1890. In 1911, at the time of the consolidation of West Presbyterian and Park Presbyterian, interior alterations were performed by the architectural firm Ludlow & Peabody, but the exterior of the church remains remarkably intact. At present, the church building is unused and vacant.
Description
The West Park Presbyterian Church occupies a generally rectangular lot, located at the northeast corner of Amsterdam Avenue and West 86th Street. The main façade, overlooking Amsterdam Avenue, is 75 feet long, while the secondary façade, which includes the earlier chapel portion, measures 125 feet along West 86th Street. The building consist of alternating gabled sections, square towers, and recessed planes, topped by a series of broadly sloping, pyramidal, or bell-shaped roofs. The facades and towers are clad in rock-faced Longmeadow brownstone, randomly coursed, and trimmed in Lake Superior redstone. Sections of the brownstone facing and many of its decorative elements are presently in a deteriorated condition. Some of the churches windows also show signs of decay.
The Amsterdam Avenue façade consists of a recessed central section, topped by a gable and flanked by a short tower on the north side and a much taller corner tower on the south side. Altogether, including the tower facades, there are five bays, some of which have paired fenestration.
Located in the recessed central section of the façade, the tripartite main entryway is approached via a flight of shallow concrete steps with a pair of cast-iron handrails. The paired, batten doors with hewn and riveted hinges in the shape of bow are deeply inset within round-arch openings flanked by bundled columns with florid capitals supporting moldings with floral carving that extend into the reveals and along the façade. Protective metal fences and gates have been installed at the entryways. The main entryway arches have compound moldings with floral carvings, and are topped by radiating voussoirs and intersecting label moldings with label-stops. The doors are topped by leaded fanlights with heavy wood perimeter moldings. Wrought-iron lamps with lenses hang above the two side doorways, while the central doorway has a forged-iron, stylized Presbyterian cross springing from its molded lintel. There is a foliated crown above the main above the main entryway; its top molding serves as the sill for the windows above.
The upper part of the recessed central section of the Amsterdam Avenue façade displays a set of three round arch windows, the center one being somewhat taller and wider than the other two. They contain leaded-glass sash (covered with protective plexi-glass), divided vertically and horizontally by a series of straight and curved wood members that are arranged as paired round-arch units supporting circular upper sash. The windows are flanked by attenuated columns with foliated capitals supporting a molded band (separated by the window openings and extending across the width of the façade). The window arches, which spring from the molded bands, have rounded moldings and voussoirs, topped by intersecting labels with stops. There is a pair of deeply-inset round-arch windows in the gable. They share a molded sill on blocky brackets (some of which are missing). The two windows are separated by a squat column with foliated capitals, from which the arches spring. The round-arch sash consist of leaded glass with wood framing. The windows have rounded moldings and voussoirs, topped by intersecting label with foliated stops, which are at the same level of short foliated molding from which the arches rise. The bottom sections of the windows are covered by sloping, non-historic, protective metal panels. The central section is topped by a broad gable with cap moldings rising from foliated stops, and is topped by a foliated pinnacle.
The north tower has a molded stone base and randomly-placed fenestration in the form of narrow, rectangular windows at the lower part of the tower (staggered as to suggest the existence of an interior stairwell), paired rectangular windows at mid section, and paired round-arch windows at the top. The molding that begins at the springline of the entryway arch extends into the lower part of the tower and serves as a sill for the lowest window. The middle windows share a prominently molded sill on blocky brackets (one of which is missing). These windows are separated by a large pier fronted by a squat column with a foliated capital that supports the center of a massive, beveled lintel below a stone relieving arch. The window openings are further embellished by foliation at the beveled lintel and jambs. Deeply recessed, leaded casements with wood frames fill the openings. There is a pair of deeply-inset round-arch windows at the top of the north tower above a molded band. They have slanted sills, now covered with non-historic protective metal sheets. The windows are separated and flanked by bundled columns with foliated capitals, supporting a continuous molded band. Compound arches with thick architraves spring from the molding, as do voussoirs and continuous molded labels. The round-arch sash consist of leaded glass with wood framing. The arches sit in a checkerboard stone field, topped by a molded cornice on large stone blocks. There is cooper flashing at the roofline. The original pyramidal roof of the north tower was removed in the mid-twentieth century.
The tall south tower, located at the corner of Amsterdam Avenue and West 86th Street, rises up from a square, two-story base, which includes a secondary entryway facing West 86th Street. That entryway, recessed and approached by recessed steps, consists of paired batten doors, with bow-shaped hinges, that are set deeply within a round arch with radiating voussoirs and a label molding lying in a shallow gable. A protective metal fence and gate have been installed at the entryway. Paired windows sit above the gable and share a prominently molded sill on blocky brackets. These windows are separated by a large pier fronted by a squat column with a foliated capital that supports the center of a massive, beveled lintel below a stone relieving arch. The window openings are further embellished by foliation at the beveled lintel and jambs. Deeply recessed, leaded casements with wood frames fill the openings. The lower part of the tower facing Amsterdam Avenue has randomly-placed fenestration in the form of narrow, rectangular windows, staggered as to suggest the existence of an interior stairwell. The tower base is topped by wide belt course topped by a molded band that extends into the Amsterdam Avenue façade. There is a bracketed metal flagpole at the lower section of the tower on the Amsterdam Avenue side.
The four sides of the corner tower’s mid-section are the same, except the lower part of the north side and a small section of the east side are cut off by the roof of the nave. Each side has a pair of deeply-inset round-arch windows that sit in a recessed plane. They share projecting sills above an area of slanted stonework. The windows are separated and flanked by bundled columns with foliated capitals, supporting continuous molded bands. Compound arches with thick architraves spring from the molding, as do voussoirs and continuous molded labels. The round-arch sashes consist of leaded glass with wood framing. The arches sit in a checkerboard stone field, topped by a foliated cornice on large stone blocks. The outer piers rise up to form the foliated bases of bartizans. The upper section of the corner tower, which contains the church’s chimes, is distinguished by its corner bartizans topped with turrets, its tripartite arches, and bell-shaped roof. The arches, which contain louvers, are separated by smooth columns with foliated capitals, while the arches have thick architraves, rock-faced voussoirs, and continuous molded labels. The bartizans have vertical lookout holes. The tower is finished off with projecting band that wraps around all four sides and the bartizans; its serves as the sills for blind arcades that sit below molded cornices. The bartizans are topped by conical roofs coursed in stone, while a bell-shaped roof with scalloped asphalt shingles and a copper finial top the tower.
The West 86th Street façade includes the corner tower and the nave, as well as the church’s earlier wing and tower, which sit at the eastern end of the site. The facade displays a variety of window configurations and bays, some which lie in recessed planes. The ashlar base has a molding that also serves as the sill for the grouped sash at the lower part of the façade. The inset sash have leaded-glass casements (covered by protective plexi-glass panels) and are topped by foliated lintels at the nave and rock-faced, chamfered lintels at the east wing. The nave has a projecting central section, distinguished by a large rose window that is topped by a broad cross gable. The rose window has circular tracery and sash, which are obscured by protective, opaque plexi-glass panels with rectilinear divisions. The elaborate surround consists of a wide sill molding, foliated spandrels, attached columns with foliated capitals at the level of the foliated springline molding, an architrave at the upper part of the window, rough-faced voussoirs, and a molded label with foliated ends. A lancet in the gable has a molded sill, rough-faced voussoirs, and a label molding. The gable has cap moldings rising from foliated stops, and is topped by a foliated pinnacle. The other bays of the nave have paired, deeply-inset round-arch windows that share common sills above foliated panels. The windows are separated and flanked by attached columns with foliated capitals, supporting continuous molded bands. Thick architraves spring from the molding, as do voussoirs and continuous molded labels. The round-arch sashes consist of leaded glass with wood framing. The sash are obscured by protective, opaque plexi-glass panels with rectilinear divisions. The roof of the nave is covered with asphalt shingles (probably not original) with copper flashing, catches, gutters, and drainpipes. There are single-bay dormers about halfway up the slope. Sheathed in copper and asphalt shingles, they have round columns and belting at the level of the sills and lintels. Prism-glass sash fill wood frames; there are multi-pane, leaded-glass transoms. Flared, asphalt-shingle-covered roofs, above copper cornices, top the dormers. There is a wide, ashlar chimney at the rear of the nave, topped by a suspended metal cap.
The original wing and tower consist of four bays including the tower. At the base of the tower, there is a secondary entryway, consisting of paired batten doors, with bowed hinges, that are set deeply within a round arch with radiating voussoirs and a label molding lying in a shallow gable topped by a finial. A tall lancet window occupies the central stage of the tower. It has a molded sill, architrave, voussoirs, and a label molding that springs form a belt course that reaches across the façade. The sash is obscured by protective, opaque plexi-glass with horizontal divisions. There is a metal sign bracket attached to the stone. There is a pair of deeply-inset round-arch windows at the top of the tower above a molded band. The windows, which share a molded sill, are separated by a column with foliated capitals. Thick architraves spring from a continuous molding, as do voussoirs and molded labels. The round-arch sash consist of leaded glass with wood framing. This upper stage has two other visible facades, facing east and west, which are similarly articulated. The tower is topped by a clay-tile-covered pyramidal roof above a cornice. There is copper flashing and a finial. There is a bracketed metal flagpole at mid- level.
The gabled façade to the east of the 86th Street tower has grouped fenestration at the first story and round-arch, tripartite windows as it main feature at center stage (similar to the Amsterdam Avenue façade). The center window is somewhat taller and wider than the other two. They contain leaded-glass sash (covered with protective plexi-glass), divided vertically and horizontally by a series of straight and curved wood members that are arranged as paired round-arch units supporting circular upper sash. Some of the sash has been modified to accommodate air conditioners. The windows are flanked by attenuated columns with foliated capitals supporting a molded band (separated by the window openings and extending across the width of the façade). The window arches, which spring from the molded bands, have architraves and voussoirs, topped by intersecting labels with stops.
There is a pair of deeply-inset windows in the gable. They share a molded sill on blocky brackets. The sash holds single-pane glass with wood framing (the east sash modified to accommodate an air conditioner). The windows are topped by splayed lintels. The central section is topped by a broad gable with cap moldings rising from foliated stops, and is topped by a foliated pinnacle. The slate-covered roof consists of intersection hips and gables with copper flashing. There is a skylight on the southern slope and a wide, stone chimney on the west side of the roof.
- From the 2010 NYCLPC Landmark Designation Report
08/10/2012. Campaigners from the World Development Movement protest outside Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham, calling on George Osborne to support regulation to stop bankers betting on food prices. Food speculation has been blamed for exacerbating recent spikes in food prices.
Photo: www.truphotos.com
Navin Thomas was born in Madras in 1974. He was educated in cinematography and graphic design and currently works with acoustic ecology and salvaged architecture. 'The heart is a variant' is his first solo exhibition outside India. It invites speculation on the design and sustainability of urban environments such as Singapore and the ‘electronic city’ that is his place of residence, Bangalore.
Thomas discovers the beginnings of his installations and films in and around the discarded detritus of scrapyards, recycling plants and flea markets. He uses ‘rough’ technology to construct his poetic and philosophical art from the salvage of rapidly transforming twenty-first century economies.
Throughout his career, Thomas has experimented with the reverberant and percussive effects of insects, birds, animals and people as they react and co-exist with invisible electronic fields. For the major installation, 'Long live the new flesh' (2014), he takes two powerful modern symbols—targets, literally—and creates between them an unfamiliar ecology dense with sound, memory and sensation.
Navin Thomas won the prestigious ŠKODA Prize for Indian contemporary art in 2011. He has undertaken residencies and participated in group exhibitions in India, Europe and the United States since the mid-2000s. He is represented by GALLERYSKE, New Delhi and Bangalore.
Navin Thomas won the prestigious ŠKODA Prize for Indian contemporary art in 2011. He has undertaken residencies and participated in group exhibitions in India, Europe and the United States since the mid-2000s. He is represented by GALLERYSKE, New Delhi and Bangalore.
There were alot of speculations about the actress pairing opposite Tamil star actor Suriya in his upcoming 24 which will directed by Vikram kumar. Now the 24 team put an end to all rumors and roped in Samantha to the play lead role opposite suriya. This Sci -Fci film will be produced by...
In 2011 the Norfolk Southern brought back their steam program, under the name 21st Century Steam, leading to speculation among some about a possible restoration of 611. On February 22nd 2013, the Virginia Museum of Transportation announced that they were forming a committee to conduct a feasibility study with the goal of returning the 611 to active service. The committee is known as "Fire Up 611."[4]
On 23 May 2015, #611 sits on the turntable at the North Carolina Transportation Museum, between back-and-forth runs around the facility.
Norfolk and Western class Y6a #2156, class J #611, and class A #1218 on display at the "Big Three" celebration at the Virginia Museum of Transportation in Roanoke, VA, on May 31, 2015.
On June 28th, 2013, the "Fire Up 611" committee announced that 611 would be restored to operating condition in time for Norfolk Southern's 2014 steam excursion season, if $5 million was raised by October 31st, 2013 .[5] If the money was raised, 611 would be restored at the North Carolina Transportation Museum roundhouse in Spencer, NC. The sum of $5 million was sought, comprising: $1 million for locomotive restoration, $2 million for a dedicated maintenance shop in Roanoke, and the balance for an endowment and other items. Restoration requirements included repairs of the engine truck, the preparation of a tool car and an auxiliary water tender, application of new safety appliances such as in-cab signals and an event recorder, installation of new flues, boiler work, hydro and fire testing, test runs and inspection and repairs of the tender, running gears and air brakes. However, the hoped for amount was not reached, and the locomotive was to remain at the Virginia Museum of Transportation until the $3.5 million goal was reached.
On November 22nd, 2013, Norfolk Southern announced that they were donating $1.5 million of the proceeds from an auction of a Mark Rothko painting to the Fire Up 611! campaign.[6] In February of 2014, several key appointments were made by the Fire Up 611 committee to the locomotive's mechanical team, and the following month, a formal agreement was made with the North Carolina Transportation Museum for restoration. On April 1st, 2014, it was announced that after raising $2.3 million, the locomotive would move to North Carolina on May 24th, 2014. 611 arrived in Spencer on May 25th and took part in the Streamliners at Spencer event the following weekend. Restoration work on the 611 began on June 2nd, 2014. Restoration was done with the help of volunteers, including several from the Age of Steam Roundhouse. Due to the generally good condition of the locomotive, restoration was complete within a year.
On March 31st, 2015, 611 was fired up for the first time in over 20 years for a test fire, and on May 9th, it ran under its own power as part of the first round of post-restoration testing and it was also the day when N&W 2-8-8-2 Y6a 2156 left the St. Louis Museum of Transportation[7] for Roanoke to welcome back the 611.[8] On May 21, 2015, 611 made a brief test run from Spencer to Greensboro, N.C., pulling the "Powhatan Arrow" passenger cars. On May 30, 2015, 611 pulled its first excursion from Spencer, North Carolina to Roanoke, Virginia.[9]
The locomotive is scheduled to run several excursions during the summer of 2015.[10]
The first set of these excursions (3 trips) operated by the Virginia Museum of Transportation, Fire Up 611, and in coordination with Norfolk Southern, was hosted on the former Southern Railway B-Line (East/West) from Manassas, Virginia B0.0 to Riverton Junction B50.9 (Front Royal, Virginia) on June 6th and 7th, 2015. This included a climb up the Linden grade, a grade over 1% for more than 3 miles in either direction.
The second set of excursion (2 trips) are scheduled for June 13th and 14th, 2015 from Lynchburg, Virginia to Petersburg, Virginia. This is a 260 mile round-trip on the former Norfolk & Western main line historically served by the Class J locomotive.
The third set of excursions and last announced for 2015 are scheduled for July 3rd through 5th. This event includes 3 morning trips from Roanoke, Virginia to Lynchburg, Virginia over the historic Norfolk and Western Blue Ridge grade. Also offered are 3 afternoon trips from Roanoke, Virginia to Radford, Virginia which will traverse both the Montgomery tunnel and the Christiansburg grade. Both follow former Norfolk and Western mainlines that were historically served by the Class J locomotives
08/10/2012. Campaigners from the World Development Movement protest outside Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham, calling on George Osborne to support regulation to stop bankers betting on food prices. Food speculation has been blamed for exacerbating recent spikes in food prices.
In 2011 the Norfolk Southern brought back their steam program, under the name 21st Century Steam, leading to speculation among some about a possible restoration of 611. On February 22nd 2013, the Virginia Museum of Transportation announced that they were forming a committee to conduct a feasibility study with the goal of returning the 611 to active service. The committee is known as "Fire Up 611."[4]
On 23 May 2015, #611 sits on the turntable at the North Carolina Transportation Museum, between back-and-forth runs around the facility.
Norfolk and Western class Y6a #2156, class J #611, and class A #1218 on display at the "Big Three" celebration at the Virginia Museum of Transportation in Roanoke, VA, on May 31, 2015.
On June 28th, 2013, the "Fire Up 611" committee announced that 611 would be restored to operating condition in time for Norfolk Southern's 2014 steam excursion season, if $5 million was raised by October 31st, 2013 .[5] If the money was raised, 611 would be restored at the North Carolina Transportation Museum roundhouse in Spencer, NC. The sum of $5 million was sought, comprising: $1 million for locomotive restoration, $2 million for a dedicated maintenance shop in Roanoke, and the balance for an endowment and other items. Restoration requirements included repairs of the engine truck, the preparation of a tool car and an auxiliary water tender, application of new safety appliances such as in-cab signals and an event recorder, installation of new flues, boiler work, hydro and fire testing, test runs and inspection and repairs of the tender, running gears and air brakes. However, the hoped for amount was not reached, and the locomotive was to remain at the Virginia Museum of Transportation until the $3.5 million goal was reached.
On November 22nd, 2013, Norfolk Southern announced that they were donating $1.5 million of the proceeds from an auction of a Mark Rothko painting to the Fire Up 611! campaign.[6] In February of 2014, several key appointments were made by the Fire Up 611 committee to the locomotive's mechanical team, and the following month, a formal agreement was made with the North Carolina Transportation Museum for restoration. On April 1st, 2014, it was announced that after raising $2.3 million, the locomotive would move to North Carolina on May 24th, 2014. 611 arrived in Spencer on May 25th and took part in the Streamliners at Spencer event the following weekend. Restoration work on the 611 began on June 2nd, 2014. Restoration was done with the help of volunteers, including several from the Age of Steam Roundhouse. Due to the generally good condition of the locomotive, restoration was complete within a year.
On March 31st, 2015, 611 was fired up for the first time in over 20 years for a test fire, and on May 9th, it ran under its own power as part of the first round of post-restoration testing and it was also the day when N&W 2-8-8-2 Y6a 2156 left the St. Louis Museum of Transportation[7] for Roanoke to welcome back the 611.[8] On May 21, 2015, 611 made a brief test run from Spencer to Greensboro, N.C., pulling the "Powhatan Arrow" passenger cars. On May 30, 2015, 611 pulled its first excursion from Spencer, North Carolina to Roanoke, Virginia.[9]
The locomotive is scheduled to run several excursions during the summer of 2015.[10]
The first set of these excursions (3 trips) operated by the Virginia Museum of Transportation, Fire Up 611, and in coordination with Norfolk Southern, was hosted on the former Southern Railway B-Line (East/West) from Manassas, Virginia B0.0 to Riverton Junction B50.9 (Front Royal, Virginia) on June 6th and 7th, 2015. This included a climb up the Linden grade, a grade over 1% for more than 3 miles in either direction.
The second set of excursion (2 trips) are scheduled for June 13th and 14th, 2015 from Lynchburg, Virginia to Petersburg, Virginia. This is a 260 mile round-trip on the former Norfolk & Western main line historically served by the Class J locomotive.
The third set of excursions and last announced for 2015 are scheduled for July 3rd through 5th. This event includes 3 morning trips from Roanoke, Virginia to Lynchburg, Virginia over the historic Norfolk and Western Blue Ridge grade. Also offered are 3 afternoon trips from Roanoke, Virginia to Radford, Virginia which will traverse both the Montgomery tunnel and the Christiansburg grade. Both follow former Norfolk and Western mainlines that were historically served by the Class J locomotives
Balthasar de Monconys (1611-1665) was a French physicist and judge, born in Lyon. In 1618, Monconys' parents sent him to a Jesuit boarding school in Salamanca, Spain, as a plague had broken out in Lyon. Monconys was deeply interested in metaphysics and mysticism, and studied the teachings of Pythagoras, Zoroastrism, and Greek and Arab alchemists. From a young age, he dreamed of travelling to India and China. However, he returned to Lyon after finishing his studies. At the age of thirty-four years old he was finally able to leave behind the safety of his library and the theoretical speculation of the laboratory, and become a tireless traveller in Europe and the East.
Monconys travelled to Portugal, England, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Istanbul and the Middle East with the son of the Duke of Luynes. Even in his very first journey to Portugal, it is obvious that in each city Monconys is very soon able to connect with mathematicians, clergymen, surgeons, engineers, chemists, physicians and princes, to visit their laboratories and to collect “secrets and experiences”.
After Portugal, Monconys travelled to Italy, and finally departed to the East, to study the ancient religions and denominations, and meet the gymnosophists. In 1647-48 he was in Egypt. Seeking the Zoroasters and followers of Hermes Trismegistus, he reached Mount Sinai. In Egypt, the 17th century European was lost in a labyrinth of small and winding streetlets, and discovered different cults and religions, the diversity of ethnicities and their customs: Turks, Kopts, Jews, Arabs, Mauritans, Maronites, Armenians, and Dervishes. He followed several superstitious suggestions and discovered marvellous books of astronomy in Hebrew, Persian and Arabic. Later on, after his pilgrimage to the Holy Land, he crossed Asia Minor and reached Istanbul, from where he planned to travel to Persia. For once more in his life however, the plague forced him to change his course; he left for Izmir, and returned to Lyon in 1649.
Fron 1663 to 1665 Monconys travelled incessantly between Paris, London, the Netherlands and Germany. He visited princes and philosophers, libraries and laboratories, and maintained frequent correspondence with several scientists. Finally, after consequent asthma attacks he passed away before his travel notes could be published.
His travel journal (1665-1666) was edited and published by his son and by his Jesuit friend J. Berchet. The journal is enriched by drawings which testify to the wide scope of Monconys' interests. Monconys collected a vast corpus of material which includes medical recipes, chemistry forms, material connected to the esoteric sciences, mathematical puzzles, questions of Algebra and Geometry, zoological observations, mechanical applications, descriptions of natural phenomena, chemistry experiments, various machines and devices, medical matters, the philosopher's stone, astronomical measurements, magnifying lenses, thermometres, hydraulic devices, drinks, hydrometres, microscopes, architectural constructions and even matters connected to hygiene or the preparation of liquors.
The third volume includes a hundred and sixty-five medical, chemical and physics experiments with their outcomes as well as a sonnet on the battle of Marathon. There are five detailed indexes for the classification of the material. At the same time, this three-volume work permits the construction of a list of names (more than two hundred and fifty) of scholars, physicians, alchemists, astrologists, mathematicians, empirical scientists and other researches. From Monconys' text and correspondence a highly interesting network emerges, as it is possible for specialists of all disciplines to reconstruct the contacts between scientists and scholars of Western Europe, for a period spanning more than a decade in the mid-17th century.
Monconys' work is written in a monotonous style, but nevertheless possesses a perennial charm, as it is a combination of a travel journal and a laboratory scientist's workbook. The drawings accompanying the text make up a corpus of material unique in travel literature.
Written by Ioli Vingopoulou
Fransız asıllı fizikçi ve yargıç Balthasar de Monconys (1611-1665) (okunuş: Baltazar dö Monkoni) Lyon şehrinde doğar. Yaşadığı kentte 1618 yılında veba salgını baş gösterince, ailesi onu Salamanka şehrine bir Cizvit yatılı okuluna gönderir. Metafizik ve gizemcilik (mistisizm) için yoğun ilgi duyan Monconys, Pythagoras öğretilerini, Zerdüştlüğü, hatta Yunan ve Arap simyacıların eserlerini okur. Daha küçük yaştan beri Hindistan ve Çin'e kadar ulaşmayı düşlemesine karşın eğitimini tamamladıktan sonra Lyon'a geri döner ve nihayet 34 yaşındayken kütüphane güvenliğini ve teorik laboratuvar bilgilerini terkedip kararlı bir biçimde Avrupa ve Doğu'ya seyahat etmeye başlar.
Monconys, Luynes dükünün oğluyla birlikte Portekiz, İngiltere, Almanya, İtalya, Alçak Ülkeler (Hollanda), İstanbul ve Orta Doğu'ya seyahat eder. Daha ilk yolculuğundan (Portekiz'de) uğradığı her şehirde kısa zamanda matematikçi, rahip, cerrah, mühendis, kimyager, doktor ve prens gibi çeşit çeşit insanlarla bağ kurup laboratuvarlarını ziyaret ederek "sır ve tecrübeler" derler. Yazdığı metinde bu süreci izlemekteyiz. Portekiz'den sonra ilk kez olarak İtalya'ya gider ve nihayet çeşitli dogmaları, eski dinleri ve "gymnosophist"leri (çıplak bilgeler) incelemek üzere Doğu'ya doğru yola çıkar. 1647-48 yıllarında Mısır'da bulunmaktadır; Zerdüştçüler ve Hermes-Thot (Hermes Trismegistus) müritleriyle karşılaşmak için Sina dağına kadar ulaşır. Mısır'da 17. yüzyılın bu Batı Avrupalısı daracık sokakların oluşturduğu labirent içinde yitip, türk, kıptî, yahudî, arap, moritanyalı, maruni, ermeni, derviş gibi binbir çeşit dogma ve mezhep, milliyet ve kültürel adet keşfeder. Batıl inançlara uyar, ibranice farsça yada arapça dillerinde yazılmış şahane gökbilim kitapları keşfeder. Kutsal Yerlere hacılık ziyaretinin ardından Anadolu'yu boydan boya geçip İstanbul'a varır. Buradan İran'a gitmeyi planlar. Ancak veba salgını bir kez daha onu kaçmaya zorlar; İzmir'e geçip oradan 1649 yılında Lyon'a döner.
Monconys 1663'ten 1665'e kadar hiç ara vermeden Paris, Londra, Hollanda ve Almanya arasında mekik dokuyup prens ve filozoflarla konuşur, çeşitli kütüphane ve laboratuvarları ziyaret eder ve birçok bilim adamıyla yoğun bir mektuplaşma sürdürür. Ancak sonunda üstüste geçirdiği astım krizlerinden sonra seyahat notlarının kitap olarak basılmış halini göremeden ölür.
Sözkonusu yayın (1665-1666) Monconys'nin oğlu ve dostu Cizvit rahip J. Berchet tarafından hazırlanmıştır. Monconys'nin geniş bir ilgi alanına sahip oluşu günlüğünü tamamlayan desenlerle kanıtlanmaktadır. Derlemiş olduğu çeşitli ve zengin malzeme içinde: ilâç reçeteleri, kimyasal formüller, gizli ilimlerle ilgili malzeme, matematik bilmeceleri, cebir ve geometri problemleri, zoolojiye (hayvan bilimi) ilişkin gözlemler, mekanik uygulamalar, doğa fenomenleri betimlemeleri, kimyasal deneyler, makineler, tıp konuları, felsefe taşı, astronomi ölçümleri, büyüteçler, termometreler, su tesisatıyla ilgili cihazlar, içkiler, hidrometreler, mikroskoplar, mimarî yapılar, hijyen ve likör yapımı gibi konular var.
Kitabın üçüncü cildinde işlenen konular arasında 165 tane fizik kimya ve tıp deneyi ve sonuçları, ve Maraton muharebesi hakkında bir sone yer almaktadır. Bu içeriğin sınıflanması için kitaba beş tane ayrı çözümlemeli dizin eklenmiştir. Aynı zamanda, Monconys'nin üç ciltlik eserinden upuzun bir isimler katalogu da (250'den fazla isim) elde edilebilir. Bu isimler yazar ve düşünür, doktor, simyacı, astrolog, matematikçi, deneyci ve çeşitli uzman araştırmacılara aittir. Monconys'nin metninden ve mektuplaşmalarından, 17. yüzyıl ortalarında özellikle batı Avrupa'da, 20 yıldan fazla bir süre için, tüm bilim uzmanlarının yeniden birleştirebileceği son derece ilginç bir bilimler arası ilişki ağı ortaya çıkmaktadır.
Monconys'nin yazış uslubu tekdüze olmakla birlikte, bir laboratuvar araştırmacısının seyahat günlüğü ile gözlem defterini bir arada bulundurması açısından eşsiz bir cazibeye sahiptir. Metne eşlik eden desenler seyahat edebiyatı yayınlarında rastlanan ender türden bir malzeme oluşturmaktadır.
Yazan: İoli Vingopoulou
...There has been some speculation about where I actually work. Well here it is. I work in a boutique advertising/design studio called Stand Alone Design, and not in an Art Gallery or Museum as has been suggested. This is a series of seven photos loosely stitched together in Photoshop, showing a 180º Panorama. SAD is a rather unfortunate acronym for Stand Alone Design.
The history of the Jemison Center, often strangely called "Old Bryce," seems to be mired in half-truths and speculation on the internet. The earliest information found dates back to when the land was a plantation, called Crab Orchard back in the 1820s, due to the many crab apple trees located on the property. It was owned by William Jemison, who then passed it down to his son, Robert Jemison Jr., a successful politician and businessman. The 4,000 acre tract in Northport was later known as Cherokee Place, where Robert would live until his new home was completed in Tuscaloosa in 1862. Jemison was a major advocate for the establishment of a hospital for the insane in Alabama, and is considered a major influence to select the area as the site for the first asylum in the state - the Alabama State Hospital for the Insane (Bryce Hospital).
By the 1920s the asylum had become severely overcrowded, and satellite institutions were created nearby to relieve the pressure, such as the Alabama Home for Mental Defectives (later known as Partlow State School). In 1939, the site of the Cherokee Plantation was purchased and transformed into the State Farm Colony for Negroes (the old Bryce Hospital grounds only housed white patients during the Jim Crow era). The former plantation house on the hill was razed and in its place the state of Alabama constructed the Jemison Institute, a three-story brick institution with detached heating plant for $161,000.
History seems to fade from there; it's assumed the Jemison Center operated as a state work farm, where able-bodied African American patients would work the fields to produce food for the hospital, as well as performing other kinds of labor (weaving, mending, etc). Desegregation orders from the government and changes in labor laws seemed to put an end to the Jemison Center; all farming operations at Bryce ceased in 1977. A mid-19th century structure was also erected on the property, called the S.D. Allen Intermediate Care Facility; it was used as a nursing home until it closed in 2003.
Info taken from - opacity.us/site245_jemison_center.htm
Recently, there has been much speculation and conjecture as to the demise of Big Game Photographer Steve Courson. Reports of his tragic ending at the hands of the Pygmy Killer Heron ( www.flickr.com/photos/earl_reinink/5098110498/ ), while on a photographic expedition in Jurrasic Park, appear to have been premature. It has been passed on to me by good authority that Courson is in fact at this moment, pursuing the elusive Northern Dwarf Joker Owl. In an effort to dispel these rumours, I have decided to post his most recent sighting. Chief Mega Pixel, fearless leader of the Great North Foto Clan, has forwarded me this image. While unconfirmed, the equipment and stringy gray hair appears to be that of Courson's. The fact that the above noted photographer appears to be totally oblivious to the danger he is in, is also a good indicator that said subject could in fact be Courson.
I would request that anyone having information as to his whereabouts, kindly post requested information ASAP. Angelina has indicated that she is ready to move back in with me, pending Courson's return.
On 4th September 2013, EU negotiators met to agree new rules on food speculation. On the morning of this crucial meeting, WDM campaigners joined up with other European campaigners (Friends of the Earth Europe, Oxfam Germany, SOS-Faim, CNCD, Fairfin) to perform a comedic street theatre production to call on decision makers to remove loopholes in legislative proposals. The key members of the European parliament came to hear our demands and were presented with some of the barrier tape to remind them of the 35k people who have signed up to call for an end to bankers betting on hunger.
In 2011 the Norfolk Southern brought back their steam program, under the name 21st Century Steam, leading to speculation among some about a possible restoration of 611. On February 22nd 2013, the Virginia Museum of Transportation announced that they were forming a committee to conduct a feasibility study with the goal of returning the 611 to active service. The committee is known as "Fire Up 611."[4]
On 23 May 2015, #611 sits on the turntable at the North Carolina Transportation Museum, between back-and-forth runs around the facility.
Norfolk and Western class Y6a #2156, class J #611, and class A #1218 on display at the "Big Three" celebration at the Virginia Museum of Transportation in Roanoke, VA, on May 31, 2015.
On June 28th, 2013, the "Fire Up 611" committee announced that 611 would be restored to operating condition in time for Norfolk Southern's 2014 steam excursion season, if $5 million was raised by October 31st, 2013 .[5] If the money was raised, 611 would be restored at the North Carolina Transportation Museum roundhouse in Spencer, NC. The sum of $5 million was sought, comprising: $1 million for locomotive restoration, $2 million for a dedicated maintenance shop in Roanoke, and the balance for an endowment and other items. Restoration requirements included repairs of the engine truck, the preparation of a tool car and an auxiliary water tender, application of new safety appliances such as in-cab signals and an event recorder, installation of new flues, boiler work, hydro and fire testing, test runs and inspection and repairs of the tender, running gears and air brakes. However, the hoped for amount was not reached, and the locomotive was to remain at the Virginia Museum of Transportation until the $3.5 million goal was reached.
On November 22nd, 2013, Norfolk Southern announced that they were donating $1.5 million of the proceeds from an auction of a Mark Rothko painting to the Fire Up 611! campaign.[6] In February of 2014, several key appointments were made by the Fire Up 611 committee to the locomotive's mechanical team, and the following month, a formal agreement was made with the North Carolina Transportation Museum for restoration. On April 1st, 2014, it was announced that after raising $2.3 million, the locomotive would move to North Carolina on May 24th, 2014. 611 arrived in Spencer on May 25th and took part in the Streamliners at Spencer event the following weekend. Restoration work on the 611 began on June 2nd, 2014. Restoration was done with the help of volunteers, including several from the Age of Steam Roundhouse. Due to the generally good condition of the locomotive, restoration was complete within a year.
On March 31st, 2015, 611 was fired up for the first time in over 20 years for a test fire, and on May 9th, it ran under its own power as part of the first round of post-restoration testing and it was also the day when N&W 2-8-8-2 Y6a 2156 left the St. Louis Museum of Transportation[7] for Roanoke to welcome back the 611.[8] On May 21, 2015, 611 made a brief test run from Spencer to Greensboro, N.C., pulling the "Powhatan Arrow" passenger cars. On May 30, 2015, 611 pulled its first excursion from Spencer, North Carolina to Roanoke, Virginia.[9]
The locomotive is scheduled to run several excursions during the summer of 2015.[10]
The first set of these excursions (3 trips) operated by the Virginia Museum of Transportation, Fire Up 611, and in coordination with Norfolk Southern, was hosted on the former Southern Railway B-Line (East/West) from Manassas, Virginia B0.0 to Riverton Junction B50.9 (Front Royal, Virginia) on June 6th and 7th, 2015. This included a climb up the Linden grade, a grade over 1% for more than 3 miles in either direction.
The second set of excursion (2 trips) are scheduled for June 13th and 14th, 2015 from Lynchburg, Virginia to Petersburg, Virginia. This is a 260 mile round-trip on the former Norfolk & Western main line historically served by the Class J locomotive.
The third set of excursions and last announced for 2015 are scheduled for July 3rd through 5th. This event includes 3 morning trips from Roanoke, Virginia to Lynchburg, Virginia over the historic Norfolk and Western Blue Ridge grade. Also offered are 3 afternoon trips from Roanoke, Virginia to Radford, Virginia which will traverse both the Montgomery tunnel and the Christiansburg grade. Both follow former Norfolk and Western mainlines that were historically served by the Class J locomotives
The Bara Gumbad, or "big dome," is a large domed structure grouped together with the Friday mosque of Sikander Lodi and a mehman khana (guesthouse), located in New Delhi's Lodi Gardens. The buildings were constructed at different times during the Lodi era and occupy a common raised platform. Formerly an outlying area of Delhi, the Lodi Gardens are a British-planned landscaped garden which includes a number of monuments (primarily tombs) from the Sayyid and the Lodi dynasties. Originally called Willingdon Park, the gardens were located in the former village of Khairpur, now on the edge of Lutyen's Delhi, the colonial capital built by the British in the early 20th century. The gardens, which cover approx. 70 acres, have come to be surrounded by institutional buildings and some of contemporary Delhi's most expensive real estate.
Although they were built under the same dynasty, each of the three structures was undertaken separately. The Bara Gumbad, completed in 1490, is considered to have the first full dome constructed in Delhi. Its original purpose is contested; although it appears to be a freestanding tomb, it contains no tombstone. This causes the speculation that the building might have been intended as a gateway for the Friday mosque; however, their respective placements, stylistic differences, and construction dates do not support this theory. The Friday mosque, completed in 1494, is the first example of the new mosque type that developed during the Lodi era. Characterized by a relatively simple five bay prayer hall building adjacent to a simple open courtyard, this type was an important precedent for mosque architecture in the Lodi and Mughal eras.
The complex can be accessed from various points along the roads bordering the Lodi Gardens, with the access from the Lodi road towards the south most prominent. The buildings are situated at a distance of about 300 meters from Muhammad Shah's tomb towards the south and about 380 meters from Sikander Lodi's tomb towards the north. Another prominent structure, the Shish Gumbad, is located facing the Bara Gumbad at a distance of about seventy-five meters towards the north. The area surrounding the buildings is landscaped with manicured grass lawns. Few trees are planted in the immediate vicinity, leaving the view of the structures unobscured. The path winding through the Lodi Gardens approaches the buildings axially from the north, although the building plinth is accessible all from all sides.
The buildings are sited on a three-meter-high platform, measuring approximately 30 meters (east-west) by 25 meters (north-south). The Friday mosque is located along the western edge of the platform; the guesthouse is sited opposite it, occupying the eastern edge, while the Bara Gumbad is located along the southern edge. Stone masonry walls, about six meters high, connect the three structures along the southern edge. The northern edge is provided with staircases for accessing the platform. A centrally located straight flight comprising of eight steps, about ten meters wide, connects the ground to a generous mid landing. Another 'C' shaped flight of eight steps wraps around the landing, creating an amphitheatre-like space and reaching the top of the platform. The current arrangement of steps appears to be more recent, and the remains of walls adjoining the southern face of the guesthouse and the mosque indicate that the northern edge might have originally been walled. In the center of the raised court, with its southern edge along the staircase, are the remains of a square shaped platform, 8 meters wide, which appears to be a grave.
Friday mosque:
The Friday mosque is a single aisled, rectangular building, approx. 30 meters (north-south) by 8 meters (east-west). The mosque is organized in five unequal bays, which correspond to the five arched doorways on the eastern (entry) elevation. The width of the arched doorways decreases from the center towards the sides. The arches span across grey granite piers. The central arch is framed within a projecting rectangular portal, measuring about 8 meters in height by 6 meters wide. The piers of the rectangular frame are cased in dressed granite and have three shallow arched niches in red sandstone, occurring vertically above the springing point of the arch, on either side. The doorway itself is described by four receding planes of ogee arches, the outermost one being in line with the external face of the rectangular portal. The doorways immediately to the side of the central portal are about 5 meters wide, while those at the two ends are approx. 1.5 meters wide with two receding planes of ogee arches, adding to the prominence of the central doorway. The apex of each innermost arch is constant, measuring approx. 5 meters from the top of the platform. Each arch is finished in plaster and embellished with intricate carved Arabic inscriptions. The spandrels are also heavily carved with geometric motifs, and their the corners are adorned with round inscribed plaster medallions. Red sandstone eaves (chajjas) on stone brackets top the arches, interrupted only by the central projecting portal that extends above them. There is a blank plastered frieze above the eaves, followed by the projecting horizontal bands of the cornice that is topped by a blind masonry parapet adorned with petal shaped crenellations with inscribed plaster medallions.
The interior of the prayer hall reflects the five bay division of the eastern elevation. It is a rectangular space, measuring about 27 meters (north-south) by about 7 meters (east-west). Additional arches spanning between the piers on the eastern elevation and the engaged piers of the western wall emphasize the demarcation of the interior space into bays. These internal ogee arches reach a height of about five meters. They are finished in plaster and profusely decorated with carvings of Arabic inscriptions. The piers are unornamented, dressed gray granite.
The qibla (western) wall of the prayer hall is a blind wall divided into five unequal bays expressed as recessed ogee arched niches, reflecting the arched openings on the eastern wall. The two bays adjacent to the central bay have three equal niches carved out from the portion below the springing line of the main arch. These niches are separated by granite piers, which have smaller arched niches in the top third of their elevation. The three niches are made of two layers of ogee arches framed by the piers. The external layer is in gray-yellow granite, while the interior arch is made of red sandstone. The central niche is mildly distinguishable from the others because its arched portion is curved and the imposts are engraved, while those of the adjacent arches are plain. The innermost rectangular portion of the central niche is blank, while that of the adjoining niches has the carving of a vase and flora inscribed in it. The tympanum of the main outer arch is finished in plaster and has an additional niche directly above the central niche which is embellished heavily with plaster carvings of Arabic inscriptions. A band of similar inscriptions runs along the interior perimeter of the arch and around the upper niche in a closed loop. The voussoirs of the outer arch are plastered and embellished with another layer of carvings. The central bay of the western wall also has three niches, each made of four recessed planes of alternating rectangular and arched profiles. The central mihrab niche is taller and wider. It is also shallower and the innermost plane is blank, while the other two niches are deeper set with relief work. A stone minbar with three steps has been provided abutting the northern pier of the central niche.
Hemispherical domes cover the three central bays, while the terminal bays are covered by low flat vaulted ceilings. The square plan of the three central bays transitions into an octagonal drum through the application of corbelled pendentives at the corners. The corbelling occurs in four layers, which increases in width from the bottom up. The layers are further embellished with curved niches set into rectangular frames, which also increase in number, the lowest corbel having one and the last corbel having five such niches. The last layers of the pendentives form alternate edges of the octagonal drum; the remaining edges being formed by the extension of the walls and are also provided with similar curved niches. The octagonal drum transitions into a hexadecagon, followed by a thirty-two-sided polygon by the provisions of small struts. Each face of the hexadecagon is provided with shallow niches, while the thirty-two-sided polygon is described by a projecting band of red sandstone, followed by a band of inscriptions finally topped by the hemispherical dome. The dome is finished in plain plaster. The voussoirs of the arches, the pendentives and the tympanum are all covered by intricate stucco Arabic inscriptions. The central dome is relatively higher that the other two domes.
The northern and southern walls of the mosque are punctured by ogee arch doorways below the springline of the main arch. Each opening leads to a projecting balcony, comprising of red sandstone posts supporting a tiered roof. The balconies protrude out from the faade and are supported on red sandstone brackets, whose profiles and carvings are characteristic of Hindu architecture. An elaborately carved arched niche is provided above each opening on the interior wall. It is set into a rectangular frame embossed with Arabic text.
The plasterwork on the external northern and southern walls of the mosque has fallen off, exposing the stone masonry, while that on the western wall has survived. The central bay of the western wall projects out and is marked by two solid towers at the corners. These towers are divided vertically into four layers; the first two layers from the bottom are orthogonal, while the third layer has alternating curved and angular fluting; the top layer, extending over the parapet of the mosque, has a circular section. The corners of the mosque are marked by similar tapering towers, which are divided into four layers. Each layer is circular in plan except the third layer, which is described by alternating curved and angular fluting. All the towers have the remains of finials at their apex. The central projecting wall has four red sandstone brackets in its upper third portion, which may have supported a projecting balcony similar to those on the north and south elevations.
The plasterwork on the walls of the plinth is now gone, exposing the rubble masonry construction below. The western face of the plinth is punctured by five ogee arch openings set into rectangular frames, one in the center and two each on the sides. These openings provide access to the basement within the plinth.
The roof has three domes corresponding to the three central bays of the prayer hall and the three central arches on the eastern elevation. The extrados of the domes are finished in plaster. The octagonal drums supporting the domes protrude out over the roof level, above which the circular bases of the domes are decorated with blind crestings having floral motifs. The central dome is marginally larger than the adjacent domes and all three have the remains of lotus finials at their apex.
Bara Gumbad:
Square in plan, the Bara Gumbad measures approx. 20 meters per side. Set on a plinth 3 meters high, it joins the common plinth on the north and projects beyond it to the south. Its plinth is decorated on the east, south, and west with ogee arch openings set into rectangular frames. These provide access to a basement.The walls of the Bara Gumbad are approx. 12 meters tall, above which a hemispherical dome on a hexadecagonal drum extends another 14 meters from the roof level, for a total building height of 29 meters above ground level.
Each of its elevations is nearly identical and divided into 2 horizontal sections. A projecting portal composed of an ogee arch set in a rectangular frame (approx. 8 meters wide), is centered in each elevation and rises approximately 75 cm above the parapet line of the building. The 1.5 meter wide frame is made of dressed gray granite. Each vertical pier of the frame has six shallow red sandstone niches arranged atop one another at varying heights; nine niches continue in a line along the horizontal portion of the frame. The portal is described by two receding planes of grey granite ogee arches; the spandrels are cased with black granite with a thin projecting edge of red sandstone. Two round plaster medallions adorn the spandrels. The lower layer of the portal has a central doorway, spanned by two red sandstone brackets that form a trabeated arch supporting a black granite lintel. These brackets are supported on grey granite posts. An intricately carved red sandstone frame adorns the brackets and the lintel; it starts at the springing point of the arch and frames the lintel of the doorway. The entire composition is set in a rectangular yellow sandstone frame. An ogee arch window has been provided above the trabeated entrance. The portal is crowned by the arched crenellations of the blind parapet. Solid turrets mark the projecting corners of the portal.
The remainder of the elevation, that flanking the central portal on either side and recessed behind it, is divided vertically into two equivalent parts by projecting horizontal bands of stone. Each part is described by two equal arched panels set into rectangular frames. Both the panels of the upper part on either side of the portal are blind and filled with granite masonry. The lower panels located adjacent to the portal are windows, while the lower panels at the edges are filled in. The parapet, like the portal, is decorated with arched crenellations, and the roof has solid turrets at each corner.
A single hemispherical dome surmounted on a sixteen-sided drum crowns the building. Each face of the drum is described by an ogee arched niche set in a rectangular frame. The voussoirs of the arches are gray granite, while the spandrels are clad with red sandstone. The top edge of the drum is decorated with a band of arched crenellations, similar to those on the roof parapets, running above a projecting band of stone that surrounds the drum. Below this projection is band of leaves carved in relief. The extrados of the dome are finished in smooth plaster. The lotus base, possibly for a vanished calyx finial, is still extant.
The structure can be entered either from the raised courtyard via the north elevation or from a double flight of steps located on the western elevation. Inside, the square building measures about seven meters per side. An 80 cm high, 45 cm wide solid seat runs continuously along the interior perimeter of the building. Light streams in from all four walls, which are punctured by the openings of the doorway at the ground level and the ogee arch window above. The interior surfaces of the Gumbad are unornamented and finished in dressed granite. The square plan of the room transitions into an octagon via squinches, which then support the thirty-two-sided drum and the dome. The apex of the dome has two bands of floral inscriptions; otherwise, the dome is finished in plaster. The absence of historical inscriptions has contributed to the confusion over the original purpose of the Bara Gumbad.
Mehman Khana:
The third structure in the group is rectangular in plan, measuring about 27 meters (north-south) by 7 seven meters (east-west). Located along the eastern edge of the common plinth, it faces the mosque and is connected to the Bara Gumbad by a masonry wall along its northern face. The structure is believed to have either been a mehman khana, (guesthouse) or a majlis khana (assembly hall).
The building is accessed from the common plinth through its western wall, which is divided into five bays, mirroring the eastern elevation of the mosque opposite it. The three central bays are considerably larger and have ogee arch doorways, giving access to the interior, while windows puncture the smaller end bays. The arches are set in rectangular frames, which are recessed from the face of the elevation. Each opening is composed of two recessed planes of arches. The spandrels are clad in red sandstone, contrasting with the gray granite of the elevation, and are decorated with round plaster medallions with lotus motifs. The window openings have an additional tie beam or lintel at the springline. The tympanum of the window towards the south has been filled with stone, while that of the window towards the north has been left open. A continuous chajja, supported on equidistant stone brackets, projects from the western wall above the rectangular frame. The cornice is unornamented and is topped by the projecting horizontal band of the parapet, which reaches a height of approximately five meters from the top of the raised plinth. The roof of the structure is flat. The exterior of the building lacks decoration and is finished in dressed granite.
The interior is divided into seven chambers occurring from north to south; the central chamber is the largest, measuring about 5 meters (north-south) long. It is abutted by relatively narrow chambers (approx. 2.5 meters long). The outside chambers which flank the 2.5 meter wide chambers on either side are approximately the size of the central chamber, and correspond to the arched openings in the western wall. The chambers are separated from each other by gray granite walls, punctured by simple ogee arched doorways set in rectangular frames. Square in plan, the outer rooms are separated from the adjacent chambers by stone walls with rectangular door openings with blind ogee arches and rectangular frames. Each doorway has shallow rectangular recesses on either side, as well as a small arched window set into a rectangular recess and a stone jali screen set above the doorway within the tympanum of the main arch. The eastern wall of the building has blind ogee arches, occurring as two successive planes, reflecting the arched openings of the western elevation.
The roof of the central chamber is flat and supported on arches located on four sides; flat stone brackets appear at the corners. The two adjacent rooms are covered by shallow domes supported on squinches. The interior domes are finished in plaster with carved concave fluting. The exterior of the domes has been filled to blend with the flat roof of the central room.
Certain stylistic continuities are recognizable in the three buildings; each was constructed with (local) gray granite and lime mortar. However, the degree and type of embellishment, both interior and exterior, on the mosque differs substantially from that found on the other two, relatively unadorned, buildings.
Apart from the grouping of the three structures and their stylistic similarities, the buildings do not appear to have been planned as a complex. The Friday mosque is the first example of the panchmukhi building type, where "panch" (five) and "mukhi " (facade) characterize a five-bay prayer hall. This approach was influential in both the Lodi and the Mughal periods. The Bara Gumbad is significant for having the first complete hemispherical dome in Delhi.
The differences in the surface ornament of the buildings suggest that the buildings were constructed at different times, with the Bara Gumbad and the guesthouse being similar in style and decoration, without the multilayered arches of the Friday mosque. The function of the Bara Gumbad is still unknown; its geometry and form aligns with the predominant tomb architecture of the period (like the neighboring Shish Gumbad). However, there is no grave or cenotaph in the building, and rather than being blank, its qibla wall (like its other walls) is punctured by an entrance. While the continuous stone bench in the interior is also found in gateway architecture, (as in the Alai Darwaza at the Quwat-ul-Islam Mosque in Mehrauli), the size of the Bara Gumbad vis-a-vis the Friday mosque does not support this conjecture. Some scholars surmise that the structure might have been a gateway to the larger complex of tombs within the Lodi Gardens.
Lodi Dynasty
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The Lodi dynasty in India arose around 1451 after the Sayyid dynasty. The Lodhi Empire was established by the Ghizlai tribe of the Afghans. They formed the last phase of the Delhi Sultanate. There were three main rulers in the history of Lodi dynasty. All three of them have been discussed in detail in the following lines. So read on about the Lodi dynasty history.
Buhlul Khan Lodi
Buhlul Khan Lodi (1451-1489) was the founder of the Lodi dynasty in India and the first Afghan ruler of Delhi. He was an Afghan noble who was a very brave soldier. Buhlul Khan seized the throne without much resistance from the then ruler, Alam Shah. His territory was spread across Jaunpur, Gwalior and northern Uttar Pradesh. During his reign in 1486, he appointed his eldest son Barbak Shah as the Viceroy of Jaunpur. Though he was an able ruler, he really couldn't decide as to which son of his should succeed him as the heir to the throne.
Sikandar Lodi
After the death of Buhlul Khan, his second son succeeded him as the king. He was given the title of Sultan Sikander Shah. He was a dedicated ruler and made all efforts to expand his territories and strengthen his empire. His empire extended from Punjab to Bihar and he also signed a treaty with the ruler of Bengal, Alauddin Hussain Shah. He was the one who founded a new town where the modern day Agra stands. He was known to be a kind and generous ruler who cared for his subjects.
Ibrahim Lodhi
Ibrahim Lodhi was the son of Sikander who succeeded him after his death. Due to the demands of the nobles, his younger brother Jalal Khan was given a small share of the kingdom and was crowned the ruler of Jaunpur. However, Ibrahim's men assassinated him soon and the kingdom came back to Ibrahim Lodhi. Ibrahim was known to be a very stern ruler and was not liked much by his subjects. In order to take revenge of the insults done by Ibrahim, the governor of Lahore Daulat Khan Lodhi asked the ruler of Kabul, Babur to invade his kingdom. Ibrahim Lodhi was thus killed in a battle with Babur who was the founder of the Mughal dynasty in India. With the death of Ibrahim Lodhi, the Lodhi dynasty also came to an end.
08/10/2012. Campaigners from the World Development Movement protest outside Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham, calling on George Osborne to support regulation to stop bankers betting on food prices. Food speculation has been blamed for exacerbating recent spikes in food prices.
We've now heard no end of speculation about how the tinsley towers were dropped, ranging from aliens hitting them from outer space with high energy particle beams to them being knocked over by hijacked aeroplanes ...
Apologise to the 8,24 truthers, if we sound cynical, but i've seen loads of controlled demolitions, and given that the debris from the towers landed pretty well in their own footprints, then it will take something other than wild, nay almost childish theories to convince us that the official story is not the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth ...
Having said that though, we will debunk here and now, one particularly pernicious rumour that is currently circulating; the one that states that whilst explosives may have been responsible for crumbling the towers' concrete skins, explosives could not have possible taken out the towers' numorous internal fixtures and fittings ...
To this WE say:
# i. the english heritage (listing) adviser's report, dated 10 march 2008 clearly states that:
# "All bar one pipe in one of the towers has been stripped out from the cooling towers" [1]
# We have no problem with believing this -- we think jacqui spliff is on to something when she suggests that poverty may lead to larceny ... and given what thatcher and macgregor did to this area, we find it very difficult to believe that even one pipe was left, unless of course, it was made of plastic
# ii. Even if the internal structure of the towers' had been composed of 47 steel box columns and designed to withstand all kinds of loads, bends and sheers, then it still doesn't matter does it, one can design blasting patterns, with staggered detonation, to cut and burn and collapse all the internals out of the way [cf 2] ...
In conclusion, we will try our uppermost to keep an open mind as to how and why the towers were dropped, but we will take no truck from any idiologue no matter what political persuasion or inside leg measurement, and shall submit my final report to the powers that be within seven years of the date of the incident in question
Painted in 1645 when Rembrandt was thirty-nine, the painting has always been the subject of speculation and conflicting interpretations. A frequently quoted account by the French art theorist and early owner of the work, Roger de Piles (1635-1709), of passers-by seeing it in a window and mistaking it for a real flesh and blood girl, is probably more of a general comment on Rembrandt's ability to seduce his viewers with an illusion than a strictly factual anecdote. The identity of the girl has also been shrouded in uncertainty, with suggestions including servant (the most universally accepted), family member, courtesan and historical figure. Falling somewhere between genre and portraiture, the painting remains mysterious and full of ambiguities. More than three hundred and fifty years after she was painted - Rembrandt's ability to conjure up the sense of a living being out of paint can still astound, while the warmth and humanity in the girl's unsentimental gaze continues undiminished. During the recent conservation of the painting, the discoloured varnish was carefully removed, revealing an astonishingly bold mixture of colours in the model's face that would not seem out of place in a twenty-first century portrait. Cleaning also permitted a clearer appreciation of Rembrandt's confident sweeps of the brush and thickly applied 'impasto' paint (see, for example, the smeared areas laid on around the girl's left eye and temple).
Labor's reward for years of labour for the ALP.
The ALP has developed a reputation for terminating their leaders who are struggling at the polls. Speculation is that Anna Bligh the Queensland Premier may suffer the same fate.
Sample of "Orbs" caught in night sky Australia as researched, these particular orbs cannot be justified as "DUST or Pollen" but caught on camera by similar methods but no skepticism attached.
Remember to view in Orig size here ---- right click on image, "orig size" for closer look.
Speculation only but one could say multiple coloured existences of plasma entities and also note the "unseen" dark matter ones in the mix?
Science actually theorises with molecular beings possibility of existence in a giant gas planet as Jupiter in Carl Sagan's book 'Cosmos' (see pages 29-30) with 'sinkers' and 'floaters' being possibly compiled of gaseous organic molecules, from very small to huge (the size of cities)....... What he fails to include is that they also may be out of humans visible spectrum and also here on and around Earth............ Maybe science should start looking at home before venturing too far into the Cosmos?
ADDED Dec 24 2011 for further reading:-
Night imagery of what is commonly called "orbs" and deciphered to content entities, as also seen in the infrared dimension and also in Earths sky in our realm, visible to some.
"orbs" are light anomalies that appear on photographs and video as spherical balls of light but as flashes of light to the naked eye because of their rapid speed of motion. They exhibit intentional behavior - suggesting some consciousness or awareness of the environment.
Orbs often travel in groups or clusters i.e. they exhibit swarm behavior - also a characteristic of particles in plasma - a characteristic observed by Bohm . Orbs also can dart back and forth rapidly like amoebic life-forms in a Petri dish. The balls can be transparent, translucent or in a bright solid form. These are signature features of magnetic plasma which has the natural property of being able to change its degree of opacity when internal frequencies change. Magnetic plasma would also allow orbs to change their output of light or luminosity. Looking at these balls in close-up reveals that they possess an onion-like layered structure i.e. they have concentric shells - a signature feature of plasma crystals. Danelek says, "...'true orbs' do not reflect light the same way a dust particle or flying insect does, but are instead generally more opaque and, in some cases, even appear to have rings within them."
Experienced ghost hunter Joshua Warren (in his excellent book How to Hunt Ghosts) says, "Often, orbs appear to have a nucleus, just like a cell. The nucleus might be surrounded by 'bands' - concentric circles emerging from it. In fact, it might appear like an onion that's been chopped in half." All these characteristics are identical to plasma crystals generated in the laboratory.
Orbs resemble plasma spheres in many ways. However, while plasma spheres generated in the laboratory are composed of standard particles (i.e. the particles described in the physicists' Standard Model currently), orbs are composed of super (i.e. supersymmetric) collisionless dark matter particles. This allows orbs to pass through objects and walls (just like said ghosts).
Dark matter in the physical-etheric universe can only interact with ordinary matter if their energy levels temporarily fall and ordinary matter condenses around them. Warren believes that since 'ghosts' have an electrostatic field, it makes sense that particles from the atmosphere would be trapped in the field. This would form a tiny clump of particles that betrays the presence of the 'ghost'. He says that, based on readings on electromagnetic meters during paranormal investigations, paranormal orbs carry a charge of static electricity. Dr Michael Persinger, a lab-based parapsychologist, and his colleagues demonstrated a link between strong or varying electromagnetic fields and orb activity. Orbs are also said to travel along Birkeland currents (i.e. ley or energy lines). This is another characteristic of their electromagnetic nature - which suggests that they are composed of magnetic plasma which is a good generator of electromagnetic fields and a good radiator of electromagnetic waves. ......[ Dark Plasma Theory ]
On 4th September 2013, EU negotiators met to agree new rules on food speculation. On the morning of this crucial meeting, WDM campaigners joined up with other European campaigners (Friends of the Earth Europe, Oxfam Germany, SOS-Faim, CNCD, Fairfin) to perform a comedic street theatre production to call on decision makers to remove loopholes in legislative proposals. The key members of the European parliament came to hear our demands and were presented with some of the barrier tape to remind them of the 35k people who have signed up to call for an end to bankers betting on hunger.
View of Speculation Place, Concord, late 1960s (TWAM ref. 5417/409/4).
2014 marks the 50th anniversary of the creation of Washington New Town. It was officially established on 24 July 1964 and since then the area has witnessed massive changes. Old pit terraces have been replaced with modern housing, thousands of new jobs have been created, great new shopping and leisure facilities have been built and a derelict industrial landscape has been reclaimed and transformed.
To celebrate this anniversary Tyne & Wear Archives has brought together a set of images of Washington as it was 50 years ago. These were commissioned by Washington Development Corporation, which was responsible for planning, designing and building the New Town.
The images are an important reminder of Washington's past. They reflect how much of the town has changed beyond recognition. The town will continue to evolve over the next fifty years and we must make sure that the memories continue to be preserved.
(Copyright) These images are Crown Copyright. We're happy for you to share these digital images within the spirit of The Commons. Please cite 'Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums' when reusing. Certain restrictions on high quality reproductions and commercial use of the original physical version apply though; if you're unsure please email info@twarchives.org.uk.
The history of the Jemison Center, often strangely called "Old Bryce," seems to be mired in half-truths and speculation on the internet. The earliest information found dates back to when the land was a plantation, called Crab Orchard back in the 1820s, due to the many crab apple trees located on the property. It was owned by William Jemison, who then passed it down to his son, Robert Jemison Jr., a successful politician and businessman. The 4,000 acre tract in Northport was later known as Cherokee Place, where Robert would live until his new home was completed in Tuscaloosa in 1862. Jemison was a major advocate for the establishment of a hospital for the insane in Alabama, and is considered a major influence to select the area as the site for the first asylum in the state - the Alabama State Hospital for the Insane (Bryce Hospital).
By the 1920s the asylum had become severely overcrowded, and satellite institutions were created nearby to relieve the pressure, such as the Alabama Home for Mental Defectives (later known as Partlow State School). In 1939, the site of the Cherokee Plantation was purchased and transformed into the State Farm Colony for Negroes (the old Bryce Hospital grounds only housed white patients during the Jim Crow era). The former plantation house on the hill was razed and in its place the state of Alabama constructed the Jemison Institute, a three-story brick institution with detached heating plant for $161,000.
History seems to fade from there; it's assumed the Jemison Center operated as a state work farm, where able-bodied African American patients would work the fields to produce food for the hospital, as well as performing other kinds of labor (weaving, mending, etc). Desegregation orders from the government and changes in labor laws seemed to put an end to the Jemison Center; all farming operations at Bryce ceased in 1977. A mid-19th century structure was also erected on the property, called the S.D. Allen Intermediate Care Facility; it was used as a nursing home until it closed in 2003.
Info taken from - opacity.us/site245_jemison_center.htm
The history of the Jemison Center, often strangely called "Old Bryce," seems to be mired in half-truths and speculation on the internet. The earliest information found dates back to when the land was a plantation, called Crab Orchard back in the 1820s, due to the many crab apple trees located on the property. It was owned by William Jemison, who then passed it down to his son, Robert Jemison Jr., a successful politician and businessman. The 4,000 acre tract in Northport was later known as Cherokee Place, where Robert would live until his new home was completed in Tuscaloosa in 1862. Jemison was a major advocate for the establishment of a hospital for the insane in Alabama, and is considered a major influence to select the area as the site for the first asylum in the state - the Alabama State Hospital for the Insane (Bryce Hospital).
By the 1920s the asylum had become severely overcrowded, and satellite institutions were created nearby to relieve the pressure, such as the Alabama Home for Mental Defectives (later known as Partlow State School). In 1939, the site of the Cherokee Plantation was purchased and transformed into the State Farm Colony for Negroes (the old Bryce Hospital grounds only housed white patients during the Jim Crow era). The former plantation house on the hill was razed and in its place the state of Alabama constructed the Jemison Institute, a three-story brick institution with detached heating plant for $161,000.
History seems to fade from there; it's assumed the Jemison Center operated as a state work farm, where able-bodied African American patients would work the fields to produce food for the hospital, as well as performing other kinds of labor (weaving, mending, etc). Desegregation orders from the government and changes in labor laws seemed to put an end to the Jemison Center; all farming operations at Bryce ceased in 1977. A mid-19th century structure was also erected on the property, called the S.D. Allen Intermediate Care Facility; it was used as a nursing home until it closed in 2003.
Info taken from - opacity.us/site245_jemison_center.htm
In 2011 the Norfolk Southern brought back their steam program, under the name 21st Century Steam, leading to speculation among some about a possible restoration of 611. On February 22nd 2013, the Virginia Museum of Transportation announced that they were forming a committee to conduct a feasibility study with the goal of returning the 611 to active service. The committee is known as "Fire Up 611."[4]
On 23 May 2015, #611 sits on the turntable at the North Carolina Transportation Museum, between back-and-forth runs around the facility.
Norfolk and Western class Y6a #2156, class J #611, and class A #1218 on display at the "Big Three" celebration at the Virginia Museum of Transportation in Roanoke, VA, on May 31, 2015.
On June 28th, 2013, the "Fire Up 611" committee announced that 611 would be restored to operating condition in time for Norfolk Southern's 2014 steam excursion season, if $5 million was raised by October 31st, 2013 .[5] If the money was raised, 611 would be restored at the North Carolina Transportation Museum roundhouse in Spencer, NC. The sum of $5 million was sought, comprising: $1 million for locomotive restoration, $2 million for a dedicated maintenance shop in Roanoke, and the balance for an endowment and other items. Restoration requirements included repairs of the engine truck, the preparation of a tool car and an auxiliary water tender, application of new safety appliances such as in-cab signals and an event recorder, installation of new flues, boiler work, hydro and fire testing, test runs and inspection and repairs of the tender, running gears and air brakes. However, the hoped for amount was not reached, and the locomotive was to remain at the Virginia Museum of Transportation until the $3.5 million goal was reached.
On November 22nd, 2013, Norfolk Southern announced that they were donating $1.5 million of the proceeds from an auction of a Mark Rothko painting to the Fire Up 611! campaign.[6] In February of 2014, several key appointments were made by the Fire Up 611 committee to the locomotive's mechanical team, and the following month, a formal agreement was made with the North Carolina Transportation Museum for restoration. On April 1st, 2014, it was announced that after raising $2.3 million, the locomotive would move to North Carolina on May 24th, 2014. 611 arrived in Spencer on May 25th and took part in the Streamliners at Spencer event the following weekend. Restoration work on the 611 began on June 2nd, 2014. Restoration was done with the help of volunteers, including several from the Age of Steam Roundhouse. Due to the generally good condition of the locomotive, restoration was complete within a year.
On March 31st, 2015, 611 was fired up for the first time in over 20 years for a test fire, and on May 9th, it ran under its own power as part of the first round of post-restoration testing and it was also the day when N&W 2-8-8-2 Y6a 2156 left the St. Louis Museum of Transportation[7] for Roanoke to welcome back the 611.[8] On May 21, 2015, 611 made a brief test run from Spencer to Greensboro, N.C., pulling the "Powhatan Arrow" passenger cars. On May 30, 2015, 611 pulled its first excursion from Spencer, North Carolina to Roanoke, Virginia.[9]
The locomotive is scheduled to run several excursions during the summer of 2015.[10]
The first set of these excursions (3 trips) operated by the Virginia Museum of Transportation, Fire Up 611, and in coordination with Norfolk Southern, was hosted on the former Southern Railway B-Line (East/West) from Manassas, Virginia B0.0 to Riverton Junction B50.9 (Front Royal, Virginia) on June 6th and 7th, 2015. This included a climb up the Linden grade, a grade over 1% for more than 3 miles in either direction.
The second set of excursion (2 trips) are scheduled for June 13th and 14th, 2015 from Lynchburg, Virginia to Petersburg, Virginia. This is a 260 mile round-trip on the former Norfolk & Western main line historically served by the Class J locomotive.
The third set of excursions and last announced for 2015 are scheduled for July 3rd through 5th. This event includes 3 morning trips from Roanoke, Virginia to Lynchburg, Virginia over the historic Norfolk and Western Blue Ridge grade. Also offered are 3 afternoon trips from Roanoke, Virginia to Radford, Virginia which will traverse both the Montgomery tunnel and the Christiansburg grade. Both follow former Norfolk and Western mainlines that were historically served by the Class J locomotives