The Norfolk and Western 1218, The Powerful Class A 2-6-6-4

(Please note that the latter two images here feature sister locomotive, #611, a Class J 4-8-4.)

The Norfolk and Western 1218 was part of the railroad's "Class A" 2-6-6-4 steam locomotives. These steamers had no formal name although aside from the N&W's three other railroad's used the 2-6-6-4 locomotives including the Seaboard Air Line, Erie, and Pittsburgh & West Virginia. However, the N&W's were unique in that all were custom built by the railroad's shop forces in Roanoke, Virginia who were master steam locomotive builders. As such, they were the most powerful 2-6-6-4s ever built and featured one of the most powerful tractive efforts of any steam locomotive ever built. Today, Norfolk and Western 1218 is the sole surviving 2-6-6-4 and is preserved in excellent condition at the Virginia Museum of Transportation in Roanoke.

First and foremost the railroad always made sure its physical plant was in top-notch condition, pouring millions annually into maintenance programs. Likewise the N&W was meticulous about keeping its locomotive fleet and equipment in good running order. Most notable here was the railroad’s legendary steam locomotive fleet. With plenty of online fuel for its locomotives and initially unimpressed with diesel’s advantages, the N&W maintained a healthy steam roster until the late 1950s and built its last new steamers as late as 1955 (S-1a 0-8-0s)! Because of this dedication to steam (especially long after almost all other Class I railroad had given up in favor of diesels) the Norfolk and Western obviously had the most technologically advanced geared locomotives in the country, which included things such as rolling bearings on wheels and high-capacity boilers.

Basically the N&W ran three classes of steamers towards the end, which included the A, J, and Y6; the A-class 2-6-6-4 locomotives carried the railroad’s time-sensitive freights across the system, especially the eastern mountainous divisions; the J-class 4-8-4s are perhaps the most famous because of their sleek streamlining applied to carry the railroad’s premier passenger trains (as fast as 110-mph in some cases); and finally there was the legendary behemoth 2-8-8-2 Y6-class which were built essentially for one purpose, to haul those black diamonds over the rough mountainous grades.

During the latter half of the 1930s the Norfolk & Western was in need of more modern and efficient steam locomotives to pull their heavy coal trains along their rugged main line in western Virginia, and southern West Virginia. What they developed was a four-cylinder simple articulated steam locomotive with a 2-6-6-4 wheel arrangement. However, the design wasn't new at the time. Two other railroads, including the Erie and P&WV, were already operating similar designs although the N&W's first two models, #1200 and #1201 were much more powerful.

Following the N&W's original two 2-6-6-4s it had its shops construct eight more in the late 1930s. By the time the railroad was finished with Roanoke building these locomotives, with the final order of eight arriving around 1950, it owned some 43 2-6-6-4s. The Norfolk and Western 1218 was part of twenty-five built during World War II and all of the Class A models featured comparable boiler pressures, driver sizes, and tractive efforts. For more information about N&W's Class As please refer to the chart below.

Norfolk & Western's Class A 2-6-6-4s

Ironically, Norfolk and Western 1218 probably would not have been saved had it not been for the locomotive being purchased by Union Carbide for use as a static boiler in one of its plants in 1960. However, five years later it arrived a better fate when it was purchased by Nelson Blount for part of his steam collection at his new railroad museum in Scranton, Pennsylvania known as Steamtown. Here it remained for several years before being pulled, cold back to Roanoke for use in a temporary exhibit at the Virginia Museum of Transportation.

As the story goes, the museum came to believe it had rightful ownership of Norfolk and Western 1218. In 1985 Norfolk Southern entered the fray when it wanted to overhaul N&W 1218 for use in excursion service as part of its steam program. As such the railroad essentially refused to return the locomotive to Steamtown even though the organization held title to it. With no way to get back the locomotive Steamtown settled on a trade, receiving Nickel Plate Road GP9 #514 and Wabash SW8 #132.

Despite the N&W 1218 returning under its own power in 1987 its excursion service, with sister #611, lasted just four years. It went in for an overhaul in 1992 and before the work could be completed Norfolk Southern management cancelled the steam program in late 1994. Interestingly, Norfolk Southern again decided to restart its steam program in the summer of 2010 using locomotives from the Tennessee Valley Railroad (two Southern steamers, a 2-8-2 and 2-8-0, and a former Army 2-8-0). mIn any event, with this renewed program and the #611 and #1218 in such excellent condition one cannot help but wonder if one or both of the locomotives will also be part of program at some point in the future. For more information about Norfolk and Western 1218 and the rest of the 2-6-6-4 Class As please click here.

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