Virginian Railway's 2-6-6-6 Locomotives (Class AG)

Published: October 18, 2026

The Virginian Railway’s class AG was eight 2-6-6-6 locomotives, Nos. 900–907, built by Lima in 1945. The Second World War had brought a need for faster freight power on the east end, and these were the engines obtained for it. They were duplicates of the Chesapeake & Ohio’s Alleghenies. The Virginian billed them as the heaviest of the type, at 753,000 pounds. They held that title until the Chesapeake & Ohio’s original 2-6-6-6s were found to weigh 778,000 pounds, the figure E. W. King, Jr., identifies with the heaviest reciprocating steam locomotives ever built. The class was scrapped in 1960. The Norfolk & Western had absorbed the company on December 1, 1959.

Virginian Railway 2-6-6-6 No. 903, class AG, on display at the NRHS convention in Roanoke in the summer of 1957

2-6-6-6 No. 903, class AG, on display at the National Railway Historical Society convention in Roanoke in the summer of 1957. Fred Byerly photograph. American-Rails.com collection.

On this page: At a glance · The east end · The 900s, used twice · 753,000 pounds · Roanoke in the summer of 1957

At a glance

Item	Detail
Railroad	Virginian Railway. Class AG. In the company’s letters, A is an articulated and the second letter is the series
Whyte	2-6-6-6
Numbers	900–907. Eight locomotives
Builder	Lima, 1945
Service	Faster freight power for the east end, bought during the Second World War
Engine weight	753,000 pounds, the figure at which the class was billed. The Chesapeake & Ohio’s original 2-6-6-6s weighed 778,000 pounds
Scrapped	1960. The Norfolk & Western absorbed the Virginian on December 1, 1959

Class, weight, billing, and scrapping are E. W. King, Jr., in George H. Drury’s Guide to North American Steam Locomotives, revised edition, p. 322, and the grid on p. 323. The east-end grade is p. 320.

The east end

East of Roanoke the Virginian followed the Roanoke River. The ruling grade on that stretch was 0.2 percent. The Norfolk & Western’s line beside it was 1.2 percent. One class MC Mikado could take 100 loads, 7,500 tons, from Roanoke to Norfolk. That is the east end in King’s account. The war, he writes, brought the need for even faster power there, and the eight Lima 2-6-6-6s of 1945 were the locomotives the Virginian obtained.

Clark’s Gap is a different piece of railroad. It runs thirteen miles east out of Elmore, crooked 2 percent, with a maximum of 2.07 percent. By 1925 the line from Roanoke to Elmore was electrified. The motors on that mountain ran at 14 miles an hour and doubled the speed the class AE 2-10-10-2s had been making there. The grades, and the electric zone, are on the company page. King’s sentence on the 2-6-6-6s is about the east end.

The 900s, used twice

During federal control in the First World War the Virginian was assigned five United States Railroad Administration 2-8-8-2s, already lettered 900–904. The railroad refused them. They could not do the work of the class AE engines. They were sold to the Norfolk & Western, which classed them Y-3 and numbered them 2000–2004, the first of fifty. The Norfolk & Western steam roster carries that class. In 1945 the Virginian used 900–907 again, for the Lima 2-6-6-6s that are class AG.

753,000 pounds

King calls the eight engines duplicates of the Chesapeake & Ohio’s Alleghenies. The weight he gives the Virginian locomotives is 753,000 pounds, the figure at which they were billed as the heaviest of the type, and the title they held until the original Chesapeake & Ohio engines were found at 778,000 pounds. That 778,000-pound figure is the one he identifies with the heaviest reciprocating steam locomotives ever built. The Chesapeake & Ohio class is the Allegheny article. The two 2-6-6-6s that were preserved, 1601 and 1604, are Chesapeake & Ohio engines.

Roanoke in the summer of 1957

No. 903 was on display at the National Railway Historical Society convention in Roanoke in the summer of 1957. Fred Byerly’s photograph is the picture above. The Norfolk & Western absorbed the Virginian on December 1, 1959. King’s grid dates the scrapping of 900–907 to 1960. Lima’s five class BA 2-8-4s, Nos. 505–509, built in 1946, were a separate class and were scrapped in that same year. Some of the class MC Mikados and the class PA Pacifics lasted to 1960 as well. No. 902, with a train of empties over the Elizabeth River at Norfolk in December 1954, is on the steam roster.

Sources

E. W. King, Jr., “Virginian,” in George H. Drury, Guide to North American Steam Locomotives, revised edition, pp. 320–323. Page 320 for the east-end grade, 0.2 percent against the Norfolk & Western’s 1.2 percent, and the 100-load, 7,500-ton MC assignment, and for Clark’s Gap. Page 322 for the eight Lima 2-6-6-6s, the billing at 753,000 pounds, the Chesapeake & Ohio originals at 778,000 pounds, the refused engines lettered 900–904, and the class AE’s mountain speed after the 1925 electrification. Page 323 for the grid row: class AG, 900–907, eight, Lima, 1945, scrapped 1960. The BA row on that grid is 505–509, Lima, 1946, scrapped 1960.
Photograph of No. 903: Fred Byerly, National Railway Historical Society convention, Roanoke, summer 1957. American-Rails.com collection.

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