Norfolk and Western 578 is a preserved

4-6-2 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of four leading wheels on two axles, six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles and two trailing wheels on one axle. The locomotiv ...

"Pacific" type

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...

. Built by

ALCO The American Locomotive Company (often shortened to ALCO, ALCo or Alco) was an American manufacturer of locomotives, diesel generators, steel, and tanks that operated from 1901 to 1969. The company was formed by the merger of seven smaller locomo ...

's Richmond Works in 1910, No. 578 was assigned to pull premiere

passenger train A passenger train is a train used to transport people along a railroad line. These trains may consist of unpowered passenger railroad cars (also known as coaches or carriages) hauled by one or more locomotives, or may be self-propelled; self pr ...

s for the

Norfolk and Western Railway The Norfolk and Western Railway , commonly called the N&W, was a US class I railroad, formed by more than 200 railroad mergers between 1838 and 1982. It was headquartered in Roanoke, Virginia, for most of its existence. Its motto was "Precisio ...

before it was downgraded to secondary passenger service. It was retired from revenue service altogether in 1958, and it was subsequently donated to the

Ohio Railway Museum The Ohio Railway Museum is a railway museum that was founded in 1948. It is located in Worthington, Ohio, near Columbus, Ohio. History Established in 1948 and incorporated August 22, 1950, it is one of the oldest organization involved with ...

Worthington Worthington may refer to: People * Worthington (surname) * Worthington family, a British noble family Businesses * Worthington Brewery, also known as Worthington's * Worthington Corporation, founded as a pump manufacturer in 1845, later a dive ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

. The Ohio Railway Museum used No. 578 to pull some tourist trains on their trackage, until it was sidelined as a result of mechanical problems in the early 1970s. As of 2023, No. 578 remains on static display next to the Ohio Railway Museum's

depot Depot ( or ) may refer to: Places * Depot, Poland, a village * Depot Island, Kemp Land, Antarctica * Depot Island, Victoria Land, Antarctica * Depot Island Formation, Greenland Brands and enterprises * Maxwell Street Depot, a restaurant in ...

History

Revenue service

In the early 1910s, the

(N&W) ordered a fleet of

"Pacific" type locomotives from the

American Locomotive Company The American Locomotive Company (often shortened to ALCO, ALCo or Alco) was an American manufacturer of locomotives, diesel generators, steel, and tanks that operated from 1901 to 1969. The company was formed by the merger of seven smaller locomo ...

(ALCO) in order to expand their passenger locomotive fleet. Sixteen E2 class 4-6-2s were built at ALCO's former

Richmond Locomotive Works Richmond Locomotive Works was a steam locomotive manufacturing firm located in Richmond, Virginia. It began operation in 1887, and produced upward of 4,500 engines during its 40 years of operation. The Richmond Locomotive Works was the largest and ...

plant in

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

in March 1910, being numbered 564-579, and No. 578 was the second-final member of the class. Two years later, in 1912, No. 578, along with the rest of the E2 class locomotives, was modified with

superheated A superheater is a device used to convert saturated steam or wet steam into superheated steam or dry steam. Superheated steam is used in steam turbines for electricity generation, steam engines, and in processes such as steam reforming. There are ...

flues, and it was reclassified as an E2a. The N&W initially assigned their fleet of 4-6-2's to pull the railroad's high-priority

s on their mainline throughout

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...

, and

. Between 1917 and 1944, No. 578 was primarily used to pull passenger trains throughout the Scioto Division out of

Columbus, Ohio Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, and t ...

. As time progressed, No. 578 and the rest of the N&W's 4-6-2s were reassigned to pull short-distance passenger trains, as well as communiter trains on branchlines, when the K class

4-8-2 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of four leading wheels, eight powered and coupled driving wheels and two trailing wheels. This type of steam locomotive is commonly known as t ...

"Mountain" types and J class

4-8-4 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of four leading wheels on two axles, eight powered and coupled driving wheels on four axles and four trailing wheels on two axles. The type w ...

"Northerns" were built and assigned to pull the high-priority trains. Towards the end of the 1940s, No. 578's original tender was replaced with a larger tender with the same coal and water capacity as a K1 class 4-8-2. The locomotive subsequently spent the remainder of its revenue career pulling local passenger trains on the N&W’s Norton Branch between

Norton Norton may refer to: Places Norton, meaning 'north settlement' in Old English, is a common place name. Places named Norton include: Canada *Rural Municipality of Norton No. 69, Saskatchewan *Norton Parish, New Brunswick **Norton, New Brunswick, a ...

, Virginia and Bluefield, West Virginia alongside some of its remaining classmates. The locomotive completed its final revenue passenger run in December 1958 before it was removed from the N&W's active list.

Preservation

While the rest of the N&W's fleet of 4-6-2's were sold for

scrap Scrap consists of Recycling, recyclable materials, usually metals, left over from product manufacturing and consumption, such as parts of vehicles, building supplies, and surplus materials. Unlike waste, scrap Waste valorization, has monetary ...

, No. 578 was donated to the Central Ohio Railfan Association of

Worthington, Ohio Worthington is a city in Franklin County, Ohio, United States, and is a northern suburb of Columbus. The population in the 2020 Census was 14,786. The city was founded in 1803 by the Scioto Company led by James Kilbourne, who was later elected to ...

in 1959. Upon arrival in Worthington, No. 578 was still in operational condition, so beginning in 1960, the association decided to use the locomotive to pull their own short-distance tourist trains for five times a year. This lasted until 1966, when the locomotive's flue time expired. Volunteers subsequently spent the next four years repairing No. 578's boiler in order to return the locomotive to service. Restoration work was completed in 1970, and the locomotive pulled a few more tourist trains on the now slightly extended line for the Association, which recently changed their name to the Ohio Railway Museum (ORM). Shortly afterward, however, it was discovered that No. 578 had a broken spring hanger, which was deemed too expensive to repair or replace. A decision was subsequently made to further remove No. 578 from service and keep her as a permanent static display piece. As of 2023, No. 578 remains on static display on ORM's property.

References

{{reflist 4-6-2 locomotives

578 __NOTOC__ Year 578 ( DLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 578 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar ...

ALCO locomotives Individual locomotives of the United States Preserved steam locomotives of Ohio Passenger locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1910 Standard gauge locomotives of the United States

History

Revenue service

Preservation

See also

References