- We are going to ride into the past and into the future on a train pulled by a coal-fired locomotive.

Surely you remember the clouds of steam, the lonely fetching whistle, and the moving parts like the mussels of a thoroughbred.

We'll ride into the past on the Norfolk and Southern's restored train.

It's locomotive, the six 11, and we'll talk about the future of coal fired locomotives.

And yes, indeed, they may have a future.

We'll talk with Hobart Scott, vice President and Chief Mechanical Officer with Norfolk Southern all abort.

Many of you perhaps have had the chance to ride on Norfolk Southern's six 11.

We'll look back at that train first and at its restoration.

Mr.

Scott, you had a great deal to do with that as well as as your work with now the, now the future train, which we'll talk about later.

You had a great deal to do work with the restoration of the six 11, didn't you?

- Well, to some extent actually, when I came to work for Norfolk and Western, one of the subsidiaries of Norfolk Southern, we were still building steam locomotives in Roanoke shops and the six 11 was one of the, one of the last passenger locomotive.

And I think the, the film will show off all of its grandeur and splendor.

- The number, the six 11, where does that come from?

What does that mean?

What does that signify?

- Actually it was just a series of, of locomotives.

This particular series ran from the 600 through the six 13.

There were 14 of these 4 8, 4 pasture type locomotives built.

- And what do you mean when you say four eight?

- 4 4 8 4.

That's four pony trucks or four small wheels leading.

And then the eight big drivers, and then four trailing wheels are the trailing truck back under the cab of the locomotive.

- Now what happened to coal trains?

- Well, actually technology caught up with them and, and, and displaced them.

Certainly Norfolk and Western at that time had an alternative to diesel fuel.

It simply just was not an economical alternative.

And so with the advent of visualization and our failure at that time to develop another more efficient, more economical, coal fired locomotive, either a gas turbine or a steam turbine, both of which we tried, we liked the other railroads, were forced to, to switch to diesels to remain competitive.

- Alright, we're gonna be talking about the possible future again of coal fired locomotives.

After we see I, what I think is a very attractive film called Going Home.

It's about the Norfolk Southern's restoration of the six 11 going home.

- Six 11 gonna moon.

- She is been silent for nearly a quarter of a century.

Her splendid voice stilled by progress, but in the Blue Ridge mountains of Virginia where this graceful giant was born.

They still remember - Jay being alive, of course, is the greatest joy that we true real fans have had in many, many years.

- Well, it was so pretty, it just kept me in awe to look at him and then to think of getting to run it.

It really did do something for a fella.

- Now this streamlined Thoroughbred is running free and proud once again.

Her old friends in the Blue Ridge have waited a long time to hear her familiar call and the wait is nearly over.

Number six 11 is going home.

- Everything was - Perfect N and w, they built them good.

Norfolk and Western designed and built its own steam locomotives at its headquarters in Roanoke, Virginia.

Although the railway built its reputation as a coal carrier, its most famous locomotive design remains the sleek simplicity chosen for a class of passenger engines known simply as the J, the most powerful 4 84 Northern design steam locomotives ever built.

Between 1941 and 1950, Norfolk and Western built 14 of these race horses, beginning with number 600 right from the start.

They were a special breed.

They were quite simply the ultimate in steam design.

The Jays pulled America's last fine steam train, the power tan arrow daily between Norfolk, Virginia and Cincinnati, Ohio with each locomotive often rolling up 15,000 miles a month with a minimum of maintenance.

- Mr.

Walker was a road foreman and when that 600 came outta East End Shop, all the engineers was nervous about getting the runner.

And he told 'em finally, he says, well boy, just go on out there and run like you run all the rest of them.

- Steam engines changed the face of this nation and then vanished.

But for more than a century, those tireless workhorses were such a familiar site that the design of a railroad's locomotives often became its identifying trademark.

But even a J couldn't outrun progress.

- The roundhouse foreman told me, he said, this is the last trip it'll be used, you'll bring it back.

But when we got to Bluefield, then they cut the six 11 off and that's the last pageant train they'd ever run on.

Well, I hate to see it go 'cause we loved those engines.

- Number six 11 escaped the fate of her 13 sisters.

Instead of falling victim to the cutting torch and the scrap heap, she took a place of honor in the Roanoke Transportation Museum.

She sat and silently waited.

22 years later, her weight ended - When the decision was made to restore the six 11.

I was fortunate enough to cover the story when the engine was towed out of the Roanoke Transportation Museum.

- That - Was especially fortunate for me because in addition to being a journalist, I've been a rail fan myself for a number of years.

I remember it was a beautiful October morning when they began the activities to tow the engine outta the museum.

About 200 people were on hand.

There was one man there from Colorado, I believe.

Another one had driven all night from Florida just to be there.

And then the thing that I remember most prominently when they actually began the towing was the sound that the engine made of the big pistons drawing air in and out through the cylinders.

It sounded just like a person gasping for breath.

And really, if you think about it, that's what the locomotive itself was doing.

And of course the tracks just creaked under the weight of the thing.

And when they actually began to pull it out of the museum grounds, a lot of the people that were there seemed to be just mesmerized by what was happening.

And they began to follow along behind the engine almost as if it was some kind of gigantic pied piper.

And these grown men and women were just little children - In Birmingham, Alabama Southern Railway operates the nation's only remain remaining full-time steam locomotive facility.

And it is fitting that six 11 has come here to be reborn.

In the 1940s, Norfolk and Western and southern jointly operated passenger trains over their rails.

And these cracked streamlined trains were often pulled by the power of Jake Glass locomotives.

Now the two giant railways have consolidated to form the Norfolk Southern Corporation, one of the nation's largest and most modern railways.

And the rebirth of the J is one of the first examples of the spirit of cooperation that exists between these two great partners.

- Some of these threads are lefthand on these watercolor parts.

So that looked like a lefthand thread beating.

Just put it right on there and pull it back at you.

Now watch it, see if this comes or if the nut moves.

I can't tell.

- I wanted to show you the damage we found to this hot water pump here.

Fellas got it off the engine and got it cleaned up.

We've got a crack right in here and we've been - That.

That's almost impossible to weld.

- Runs around right into the cylinder.

- We can use it for parts.

- Yes we can.

We're - Gonna be finding another pump.

That's the whole property.

- Well, there's a few other engines in Roanoke Museum.

They might have this size.

I know they have the same type of equipment.

- This all have to be sandblasted whole.

Well, we take that thing off, change all this equipment.

Of course we're gonna have to drain these, drain these boxes and be sure that they're clean and the plugs and all are tight and all that sort of thing.

Sure.

We're gonna have to run electrical connections back now because we're gonna have to have this red light on the back and we, we can just run it through from the engine through here.

Put a red light on the back of the trailer tank and a red light on the back of this in case we ever run the engine.

You could run run a con grid underneath the tender, right?

Yeah.

That, that's the idea.

That's the idea.

- I expect to find a lot of water and rust pitted bands and everything.

Amazing how it condition they were in when - Where they war excessively right along in here is where the engine works most of the time.

- Where they cut off coming.

- That's right.

- Get it out so the machinist can get a figure on it.

Seats look pretty good.

- On August 14th, 1982, number six 11 moved under steam for the first time in 22 years, 10 miles down the track, she stopped.

- We think we could have gotten some off.

Go screw that out.

And determined that - Hole was open.

A mechanical lubricator wasn't oiling properly, it was a minor problem, quickly solved and the only one encountered after that.

She ran so smoothly that the scheduled 10 hour test trip to Chattanooga, Tennessee was completed in five hours.

- All the sweat and blood and everything else, it was worth it.

It was worth it.

After 10 minutes in that left hand seat, the most fun I've had and six months of working down here.

Yeah, running to Chattanooga and by - And the next day she turned in a flawless run back to Birmingham.

- We all in Campton purposes, she's the same locomotive now as she would've been con out of the NW shop.

- It was built to do it and it it still can do it.

- I think all the men here deserve a lot of credit.

They did a job.

- All taste soup.

In my opinion, it is the best steam locomotor running a North American continent today.

- I think to be this like yesterday, I have to be little different.

Reaching up and cutting out waterfall bone.

- All the throttle you'd hear the intermittent puffs of the exhaust.

The fire would brighten up smoke and steaming pump from the staff and that's where the rear romance railroading is in a same locomotive.

- One week after her test run, the Jay begins the final leg of her journey home.

Behind her lies a reminder of her past gls, a sleek streamlined train filled with excited passengers ahead of her crowds of people, many of whom have never seen a steam train, wait to wish her well.

- People used to flock from hundreds of vials away outlying points just to make a short trip to ride the train and look at it and go back through to the diner and have a meal.

- And in the Blue Ridge, her old friends, remember - It was the greatest passenger engine ever made Today, I would say it would be sort of like the Columbia going up and flying around that.

That's the greatest thing in space.

And we always felt like if the J was the greatest thing we could run on the rail boat.

- But there's a fire flood, right dead.

- And I've had them told them to get the fire hose wreck out there.

Alright, on the Norfolk division that's west of Norfolk, it got up to a speed of 110 miles an hour with a 15 car, 1,025 ton train.

That is remarkable performance for any locomotive.

- Well, we come out lake port one night he walked down his little boy down there, he said, son, as that pretty train went by yet talking about the power down there.

- There were good riding engines.

Yeah, there was never, there was never engine built that rolled into easier than they did.

- The engine was a sweep running engine and no question about it.

And with teamwork, I said, if you work together, you could, you could pull a lot of cars and you could handle smooth paint.

- A steam engine is like a human being.

It's not like a streetcar.

No.

It's what you can get out now.

Somebody might be able to get more outta you than I could.

You see what I mean?

Persuasion and so forth and so on.

But the same thing goes for a steam engine.

Yes.

And you listen to the exhaust and watch the coal you consume and the water she's taking in a something up here that is hard to explain.

It takes place to become an engineer.

- Running a steam is a full time business, is no time for conversation.

- Is arc run running the steam engine now and you think you're doing all it's going to do and you can get the fool with it and you can make it do more.

- And they'd even get in the roads that run right beside the track and just go with you and try to raise you and get you to raise them.

Oh, it was great.

But we come down to Jug neck and saw all those beautiful mountains and I looked over at my firemen and I says, pat, just thank they paying us to do this - Tooke on time today.

- We have - Arrived.

Oh, she ran like a clock.

If we'd had as many people as this come into the station in the days we ran passenger trains, we'd still be running 'em.

Great crowd.

Well good afternoon, fellow Roan Oakers, fellow railroaders and fellow rail enthusiasts.

I'm gonna introduce to you an old citizen of Roanoke.

Roanoke born Roanoke bred and Roanoke proud.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you N and W's class J number six, 11 - Few of man's creations have captured the imagination and spirit of so many people in a way that the steam locomotive has.

They write songs about them, follow them in daredevil pursuits and invest them with human qualities.

And why we wonder, is it a living link with history, a nostalgic reminder of an era almost forgotten, a rekindling of the fires of our youth?

Perhaps.

Perhaps it is that complex or maybe it is something infinitely more simple and meaningful.

- Well used to think at number four coming out of Williamson with 15 cars with a lights going in the col in the baggage car with put this train.

I ever saw - That same train, the six 11 visits here sometimes during the year.

Keep in touch with the newspapers if you wanna ride it.

I know there's gonna be a trip down in North Carolina.

Comes spring.

Mr.

Hobart Scott, vice President and Chief Mechanical Officer of Norfolk Southern is with me now.

Mr.

Scott, you all are now examining the possibility of using a new coal fired train.

What is it you're doing and what is what, what is the direction this research is taking?

- Well, the present phase of the research is, is actually being carried on by the General Electric Company.

- Do you commission ask them to do that?

- They were involved in some research and development that they made us aware of and we were impressed.

And recently, in fact, this past November, we made the announcement that we have made available to them a million dollars to, to continue this research.

This phase of the study is merely to, to determine in the light of present technology, the coal-fired locomotive concept that is most likely to be successful, economically successful back in the early fifties as a last effort to, to keep coal on, on the railroads as its primary locomotive fuel.

The Norfolk Western, one of the subsidiary companies of Norfolk Southern, Engaged with some other railroads and tried to develop a coal fired gas turbine locomotive.

That effort failed because of technical difficulties.

The technology was just not available to, to make that a success following that venture, then the Norfolk and Western entered into an, an agreement with Westinghouse Electric and Babcock and Wilcox Company.

And we actually built a coal-fired steam turbine locomotive, which was technically a success.

It, it operated.

We, we hauled trains with it for about three years, but it was simply too high an initial cost, too high maintenance costs.

The, the fuel savings would not offset those other two strikes.

Again against it.

It was not an economic success in that locomotive was scrapped.

- Why is it different now?

What makes you think the technology has - Caught up?

Well, in, in the, in the early fifties, the the coal-fired gas turbine that we, that we built with, with the other parties was a single shaft turbine.

And we built it so that the products of combustion all went through the turbine.

The products of combustion going through the turbine, eroded the turbine blades severely about 400 hours, and you needed a new set of blades in addition to that, because of the single shaft, the, the no load fuel consumption was about 60% of full load fuel consumption.

Just something that you could not live with today.

With the, with the so-called double shaft or twin shaft gas turbines that no load fuel consumption has been reduced to about 10% of, of full load fuel consumption.

So with the, with the improved blade material, with the improved heat exchangers and, and some new concepts on what's known as beneficiated fuel or coal, that's finally divided.

And practically all of the ash and sulfur remove removed mechanically leads us to believe that now is the time to try to, again, to develop a, a coal-fired locomotive for our use.

- Is it your idea that you may possibly build a prototype - Eventually?

Yes.

- What is your hope?

When might this happen?

- Well, I think the, the earliest timetable that we could, we could think about would be a prototype in four to five years.

And, and that would be with everything going extremely well.

- This will be a very different train though, say from the six 11, won't it?

- Oh yes.

- A different in appearance and everything.

- Yes.

It'll, it'll look more like the, the present diesel locomotives.

A a coal-fired gas turbine as an example.

If that's what it turns out to be.

It is simply a, a turbine as you now know on a, on a jet aircraft, but with a, with a shaft instead of driving a propeller drives a generator.

And this makes the locomotive and electric drive, which is far superior to the reciprocating drive of the, of the old steam locomotives.

- Well, I wish you well, I hope this works out.

I know coal is very much in your history.

Norfolk and Western and Southerns.

That's - Right.

We're both large - Coal haulers.

They're both large coal haulers.

And so I can see why you're ter very interested in this kind of thing and I wish you well, and thank you very much for being on the program with me.

Thank you.

And thank you for watching.