Full steam ahead to Lynchburg

Historic 611 steam locomotive pays visit to city to educate and inspire

ALL ABOARD — The 611 steam locomotive pulled into Lynchburg April 9. Photo credit: Hayden Robertson

ALL ABOARD — The 611 steam locomotive pulled into Lynchburg April 9. Photo credit: Hayden Robertson

After being in Spencer, North Carolina for more than a year, the 611 steam locomotive finally finished restoration and is back on the tracks.

The 611 made its way to Lynchburg Saturday, April 9.

Norfolk and Western’s pride steam locomotive, the 611, was the first passenger steam train to be completed when it was finished May 29, 1950.

This was one of the first homemade steam engines made from Norfolk and Southern.

After the diesel engines emerged in the 1950s, the J class locomotives from Norfolk and Western numbers 600-613 were retired.

The 611 was retired in 1959 and given to a city park in 1963. In 1981, the 611 was restored and ran from 1982-1994.

After finishing its second run in 1994, the 611 was officially retired until 2013 when the FireUp611 project began.

In 2014, the 611 was delivered to the roundhouse in Spencer, North Carolina to be restored for a second time and be put back on the tracks.

Since leaving Spencer, the 611 has made numerous stops on the way including one in Lynchburg.

Since 1994, the engine had a third chance to finally get back on the tracks.

With the 611 being the prime locomotive for Norfolk and Southern, the project took a great deal of time to make sure all restoration was completed and done properly.

The North Carolina Transportation Museum came out with a small magazine detailing the restoration process and what actually happened to the train.

After sitting for 19 years, the process to restore it was lengthy.

“The jacket and insulation were removed, and an engineering survey of the boiler was performed as a part of the Federal Railroad Administration mandated 1472-day inspection,” the Museum of Transportation wrote. “A full repaint and lettering job was done following the reassembly of the locomotive.

At the end of the year-long project, the streamlined 4-8-4 breathed again in May 2015 after being dormant since December 1994.”

With this long process of restoration, the Museum of Transportation needed more help and found it in volunteers who worked on and off the train.

Many of these volunteers have worked for years on the 611, and some had just recently started on the process of restoring the 611.

One of the aspects that the volunteers enjoy is working on an actual piece of history.

“It’s fantastic,” dining car volunteer Phillip Retcho said. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing.”

Volunteer worker Megan Kegley said that the train is an amazing experience and something people do not see everyday.

“It really is a wonderful experience,” volunteer worker Sara Kammeraad said. “Especially to see kids of all ages as their eyes light up.”

Retcho said he had not been with the 611 that long, but he and the women do the fall excursions every year.

They all appreciated the experience of volunteering on the 611.

“Everybody that volunteers is different,” Kegley said. “It just depends on how long you have been volunteering.”

Kegley said she had been with the volunteer program since 2008, and she stuck with the program even before the train was sent to be restored.

She said she has enjoyed this and also is glad she is a part of the team that helped bring the 611 back to service.

“I’ve only officially been car hosting just for this year,” Kammeraad said. “Like (Kegley) said, there are lots of ways to volunteer.

Even if you can’t be there physically, you can raise awareness online or even help raise funds.”

As the train travels from station to station seeing a great number of people, many of the volunteers have a favorite part of the trip.

“Just seeing everybody’s face getting to enjoy a meal on a train — that’s exciting all in itself,” Retcho said.

“When it comes to car hosting, my favorite part is dealing with the kids — when I see the kids’ eyes light up and they say, ‘Aw, there’s a choo choo,’ or teach them all about the train (that) catches their imagination,” Kammeraad said.

“One of the best things about working on these excursions is seeing everybody smile,” Kegley said. “It does not matter what kind of engine is on the front, but seeing everybody happy and making sure everybody is safe is the big thing that makes these trips worth it.”

For more information about the 611 restoration or excursions, please visit www.nctrains.org or www.VMT.org.

Robertson is a news reporter.

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