Norfolk and Western Railway class J (1941)
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The Norfolk and Western class J was a class of fourteen 4-8-4 "Northern"
streamlined Streamlines, streaklines and pathlines are field lines in a fluid flow. They differ only when the flow changes with time, that is, when the flow is not steady. Considering a velocity vector field in three-dimensional space in the framework of ...
steam locomotives 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 the Norfolk and Western Railway (N&W) at its Roanoke Shops in
Roanoke, Virginia Roanoke ( ) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. At the 2020 census, the population was 100,011, making it the 8th most populous city in the Commonwealth of Virginia and the largest city in Virginia west of Richmond. It is ...
, from 1941 to 1950. They were operated in revenue service until the late 1950s. These locomotives were built to pull the ''
Powhatan Arrow The ''Powhatan Arrow'' was one of the named passenger trains of the Norfolk and Western. Its route ran from Norfolk, Virginia, to Cincinnati, Ohio. Train 25 left Norfolk at 7:00 am,N&W October 27, 1957 Timetable, p. 14 and made the 565 mile ...
'', the ''
Pocahontas Pocahontas (, ; born Amonute, known as Matoaka, 1596 – March 1617) was a Native American woman, belonging to the Powhatan people, notable for her association with the colonial settlement at Jamestown, Virginia. She was the daughter of ...
,'' and the ''
Cavalier The term Cavalier () was first used by Roundheads as a term of abuse for the wealthier royalist supporters of King Charles I and his son Charles II of England during the English Civil War, the Interregnum, and the Restoration (1642 – ) ...
'' passenger trains on the N&W main line between Norfolk, Virginia, and
Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wi ...
; they also ferried the Southern Railway's '' Birmingham Special'', '' Pelican'', and ''
Tennessean Tennessean refers to someone or something of, from, or related to the state of Tennessee, including: * ''The Tennessean'' newspaper * Tennessean (train) See also * List of people from Tennessee * Tennessine Tennessine is a synthetic chemic ...
'' between Monroe, Virginia, and
Bristol, Tennessee Bristol is a city in the State of Tennessee. Located in Sullivan County, its population was 26,702 at the 2010 census. It is the twin city of Bristol, Virginia, which lies directly across the state line between Tennessee and Virginia. T ...
. The class Js, along with the class A and Y
freight Cargo consists of bulk goods conveyed by water, air, or land. In economics, freight is cargo that is transported at a freight rate for commercial gain. ''Cargo'' was originally a shipload but now covers all types of freight, including tran ...
locomotives, formed the N&W's "Big Three": locomotives considered the pinnacles of steam technology. Only one class J locomotive survives. No. 611 was retired in 1959 from revenue passenger service and moved to the
Virginia Museum of Transportation The Virginia Museum of Transportation is a museum devoted to the topic of transportation located in Downtown Roanoke, Virginia, US. children under two years do not to buy tickets and students can get a discounted $10.5 ticket. History The Virg ...
(VMT) in 1962. It has been restored twice: once as part of the Norfolk Southern Railway's steam program in 1982, and again as part of the VMT's ''Fire up 611!'' campaign in 2015.


History


Design and construction

The N&W's aging E class 4-6-2 "Pacifics" and K class 4-8-2 "Mountains" could not handle the rising passenger traffic at the outbreak of
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, so the railroad sought a more powerful passenger steam locomotive... Its Mechanical Department originally considered a class N 4-8-4 type in the mid 1920s, but deemed its driving wheels inadequate for the N&W's railway grades. N&W mechanical engineer H.W. Reynolds redesigned the drivers'
diameter In geometry, a diameter of a circle is any straight line segment that passes through the center of the circle and whose endpoints lie on the circle. It can also be defined as the longest chord of the circle. Both definitions are also valid fo ...
to a design that could be counterbalanced against wheel slippage and gave more power at the drawbar at .. N&W Tool Supervisor Franklin C. Noel proposed a streamlined design to give the locomotive smoothness and beauty along with speed, power, and dependability. After experimenting with four or five concepts, Noel developed the bullet-nosed design. His wife Louise suggested painting the Js black with a
Tuscan red Tuscan red is a shade of red that was used on some railroad cars, particularly passenger cars. The color is most closely associated with the Pennsylvania Railroad, which used it on passenger cars and on its TrucTrain flatcars. It also was used ...
stripe wrapped with golden yellow linings and letterings. The first 10 class J locomotives (Nos. 600–610) had 275 pounds per square inch (psi)
boiler A boiler is a closed vessel in which fluid (generally water) is heated. The fluid does not necessarily boil. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications, including water heating, centr ...
s and Timken
roller bearing In mechanical engineering, a rolling-element bearing, also known as a rolling bearing, is a bearing which carries a load by placing rolling elements (such as balls or rollers) between two concentric, grooved rings called races. The relative m ...
s on all axles, rods, pistons, crossheads, valve gear, and wrist pins. After 1945, the boiler pressure was raised to . Calculated tractive effort was – the most powerful 4-8-4 without a booster. The driving wheels were small for a locomotive that was able to pull trains at more than . To overcome the limitation, the wheelbase was made extremely rigid, lightweight rods were used, and the counterbalancing was precise – so precise that it could theoretically allow the locomotives to reach speeds up to without the rail damage that could have occurred with conventional designs. One drawback of this highly engineered powertrain was sensitivity to substandard track. While on loan in 1945, No. 610 hauled a 1,015-ton passenger train with 11 to 15 cars at speeds of more than over a section of flat, straight track known as the "racetrack" in the Pennsylvania Railroad's Fort Wayne Division. The class J locomotives were built with automatic lubricators at 220 points, allowing them to operate up to between refills. Despite their comparatively small driving wheels, they rode very smoothly at all speeds: the Pennsylvania Railroad's inspector stated that it rode better than any of their own steam locomotives except for the
6-4-4-6 A 6-4-4-6 steam locomotive, in the Whyte notation for describing locomotive wheel arrangements, is one with six leading wheels, two sets of four driving wheels, and six trailing wheels. Other equivalent classifications are: * UIC classificat ...
class S1. They also steam very well due to the large grate. The first five locomotives (Nos. 600–604) were outshopped between October 1941 and January 1942, costing the railroad $167,000 apiece. The second batch of six locomotives (Nos. 605-610) was delivered in 1943 at a cost of $168,550 each without streamlined casings and lightweight side rods, due to the limitations on the use of certain materials during the war; classifying them as the J1s.. When World War II ended in 1945, the N&W were allowed to reclassified the J1s as Js with the lightweight rods and streamlined shrouding added. The last batch of three locomotives (Nos. 611–613), rolled out in summer 1950, were marked as the last steam passenger locomotives built in the United States.. In the mid 1950s, N&W engineers replaced the class J's duplex (two)
coupling rods A coupling rod or side rod connects the driving wheels of a locomotive. Steam locomotives in particular usually have them, but some diesel and electric locomotives, especially older ones and shunters, also have them. The coupling rods transfer ...
between the main (second) and third drivers (tandem rods) with a single coupling rod.


Revenue service

The class Js pulled the N&W's prominent passenger trains, such as the ''Powhatan Arrow'', the ''Pocahontas'', and the ''Cavalier'' between Norfolk, Virginia, and Cincinnati, Ohio, as well as ferrying Southern Railway's the ''Birmingham Special'', the ''Pelican'', and the ''Tennessean'' between Monroe, Virginia, and Bristol, Tennessee. Because of their power and speed, the class Js were among the most reliable and efficient engines, running as many as per month, even on the mountainous and relatively short route of the N&W. When N&W received a new president name Stuart T. Saunders in the late 1950s, they began purchasing first-generation diesel locomotives, experimenting with fuel and maintenance cost. They leased several sets of EMD E6s, E7s, and E8s from the Atlantic Coast Line and Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroads, before receiving their new fleet of
EMD GP9 The EMD GP9 is a four-axle diesel-electric locomotive built by General Motors' Electro-Motive Division between 1954 and 1959. The GP9 succeeded the GP7 as the second model of EMD's General Purpose (GP) line, incorporating a new sixteen- cylin ...
s to replace their class Js from passenger service... The class Js were given doghouses on their tenders to accommodate the head-end brakemen when they were reassigned to freight service. They were retired and scrapped in 1958 and 1959, except for No. 611.


Accidents and incidents

* On June 12, 1946, No. 604 hauled the eastbound ''Powhatan Arrow'' after departing Cincinnati, Ohio, at 8:10 a.m. for Norfolk. At 3:18 p.m., the locomotive derailed four miles west of
Powhatan, West Virginia Powhatan is an unincorporated community in McDowell County, 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 Geographe ...
, due to excessive speed at 56 mph, killing the engineer and fireman. These injuries included 23 passengers, three dining car employees, and one train service employee. * On February 20, 1948, No. 607 derailed near
Franklin Furnace, Ohio Franklin Furnace is a census-designated place (CDP) in Scioto County, Ohio, United States, along the Ohio River. The population was 1,660 at the 2010 census. Franklin Furnace's post office has the ZIP code of 45629. History Franklin Furnace wa ...
, while hauling the ''Powhatan Arrow'', killing its fireman. The cause of the accident was failure to obey an automatic block-signal and entering a turnout at an excessive speed of 77 mph. * On October 30, 1953, in Bristol, Virginia, No. 613 rear-ended a timed freight, injuring 56 people. The accident was blamed on the fast passenger train for failing to heed warning signals. The loco was repaired and remained in service until 1959. * On January 23, 1956, No. 611 derailed along the
Tug River A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, su ...
near
Cedar, Mingo County, West Virginia Cedar is an unincorporated community located in Mingo County, West Virginia, United States. Its post office is closed. Geography Cedar is located in the Appalachian Mountains The Appalachian Mountains, often called the Appalachians, (fren ...
, while pulling the ''Pocahontas''. The engineer ran the engine at an excessive speed around a curve and its high
center of gravity In physics, the center of mass of a distribution of mass in space (sometimes referred to as the balance point) is the unique point where the weighted relative position of the distributed mass sums to zero. This is the point to which a force ma ...
caused it to flip on its side. The loco was repaired and continued revenue passenger service. * On May 18, 1986, No. 611 was at the head of a Norfolk Southern employee appreciation train from Norfolk with Robert Claytor at the throttle. One of the passenger cars failed to negotiate a
switch In electrical engineering, a switch is an electrical component that can disconnect or connect the conducting path in an electrical circuit, interrupting the electric current or diverting it from one conductor to another. The most common type of ...
on the main line through the
Great Dismal Swamp The Great Dismal Swamp is a large swamp in the Coastal Plain Region of southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina, between Norfolk, Virginia, and Elizabeth City, North Carolina. It is located in parts of the southern Virginia indepe ...
, causing it and 12 other cars of the 23-car train to derail. 177 of nearly 1,000 employees and their family members were injured; some of the more seriously injured had to be airlifted to hospitals in nearby Norfolk for treatment.


Preservation

One locomotive, No. 611, has been preserved. Its survival was in part due to its excellent condition after its 1956 derailment and subsequent repair, and also in part to the efforts of attorney and railfan W. Graham Claytor Jr., who offered to spare the locomotive from the scrap line.. The No. 611 locomotive was donated to the Roanoke Transportation Museum in 1962, where it sat on static display for two decades. Since then, it has had two excursion careers: from 1982 to 1994, after Norfolk Southern Railway restored the locomotive, and from 2015 onwards by the VMT.


See also

* Southern Pacific class GS-4 * Norfolk and Western Railway class A


Notes


References


Bibliography

* * * * * * *


External links

{{Commons category, Norfolk and Western Railway class J (1941)
Class J. No. 611
– Virginia Museum of Transportation 4-8-4 locomotives J3 Passenger locomotives Railway locomotives introduced in 1941 Roanoke, Virginia Standard gauge locomotives of the United States Steam locomotives of the United States Streamlined steam locomotives Preserved steam locomotives of Virginia