Norfolk and Western Class J (1941)

The Norfolk and Western J class was a class of 14 4-8-4 "Northern" streamlinedsteam locomotives built by the Norfolk and Western Railway (N&W) at its Roanoke Shops in Roanoke, Virginia, between 1941 and 1950. The most powerful 4-8-4 locomotives ever produced in the U.S. and among the most powerful in the world, the J class were part of the N&W's "Big Three" (along with the class A and Y6freight locomotives) that represented the pinnacle of U.S. steam technology.

They were built to pull N&W's named passenger trains on the N&W main line between Norfolk, Virginia, and Cincinnati, Ohio; they also ferried the Southern Railway's passenger trains between Monroe and Bristol, Virginia, until these trains were taken over by diesel locomotives in the summer of 1958. The class J locomotives were subsequently reassigned to haul local freight trains; all but one were retired and scrapped by the end of October 1959.

The lone exception was No. 611, which was donated to the Virginia Museum of Transportation (VMT) in 1962. It has been restored twice: once as part of the Norfolk Southern Railway's (NS) steam program in 1982, and again as part of the VMT's Fire up 611! campaign in 2015.