Virginian Railway Diesel Roster (All-Time)
Published: October 16, 2026
By: Adam Burns
The Virginian bought 66 diesel locomotives, and it bought them late. Forty Fairbanks-Morse H16-44s and twenty-five H24-66 Train Masters arrived between 1954 and 1957 and took over the road jobs the steam locomotives had been doing. One General Electric 44-tonner, No. 6, had already been on the property since 1941. On December 1, 1959, the Norfolk & Western absorbed the railroad. The 65 Fairbanks-Morse units took Norfolk & Western numbers. No. 6 did not. The electrics, including the ten EL-C locomotives, stay on the company page and on the EL-C page. The steam classes are the steam roster.
Virginian Railway H16-44 #36 heads westbound as it crosses the Norfolk & Western's triple-track main line at South Norfolk, Virginia in 1956. C.R. Huff photo.
On this page: At a glance · Fairbanks-Morse · The 44-tonner · Roster
At a glance
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Railroad | Virginian Railway. Reporting mark VGN. Absorbed December 1, 1959 |
| All-time diesels | 66. Forty H16-44s, twenty-five H24-66s, and one 44-tonner |
| Norfolk & Western numbers | The 65 Fairbanks-Morse units. H16-44s 10–49 became 110–149. H24-66s 50–74 became 150–174 |
| Outside that 65 | No. 6, General Electric 44-tonner, serial 13100, December 1941. Built as New Haven 0806 |
| Electrics | Off this roster. Ten EL-Cs, 301–310, are on the class page |
Fairbanks-Morse
The H16-44 is a 1,600-horsepower B-B road-switcher, and the H24-66 Train Master is a 2,400-horsepower C-C. Both use Fairbanks-Morse’s opposed-piston engine. The Virginian’s 40 H16-44s, Nos. 10–49, were built from June 1954 through October 1957. The 25 Train Masters, Nos. 50–74, came in two groups: Nos. 50–68 in the spring of 1954, and Nos. 69–74 in May and June 1957. Nos. 48 and 49, the last H16-44s, were also the last new diesels, built in October 1957.
The Norfolk & Western renumbered them in order. Virginian 10 became 110, and Virginian 49 became 149. Virginian 50 became 150, and Virginian 74 became 174. Those two blocks are on the Norfolk & Western diesel roster, which is where the later dispositions belong. Norfolk & Western slugs 9900–9919 were built from former Wabash and Virginian H24-66s. The slug roster is on that page.
The builder numbers below are the Fairbanks-Morse serials, the 16L series for the H16-44s and the 24L series for the Train Masters. Nos. 17–27, serials 16L921–16L931, were built from December 1954 through February 1955. Nos. 33 and 34 are separate rows because No. 33 was built in February 1955 and No. 34 in October 1955.
The 44-tonner
No. 6 is a General Electric 44-tonner, serial 13100, built in December 1941 as New York, New Haven & Hartford 0806. It is the same locomotive on the 44-tonner roster. The Virginian used it as a light switcher. In 1960 it was sold to Eastern Gas & Fuel Associates. It is the one Virginian diesel that did not take a Norfolk & Western road number in the merger.
Roster
The H16-44 rows total 40. The H24-66 rows total 25. No. 6 is the sixty-sixth locomotive.
| Model | Road numbers | Qty | Serial | Order | Built | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| H16-44 | 10–15 | 6 | 16L866–16L871 | June 1954 | To Norfolk & Western 110–115 | |
| H16-44 | 16 | 1 | 16L932 | March 1955 | To Norfolk & Western 116 | |
| H16-44 | 17–27 | 11 | 16L921–16L931 | December 1954–February 1955 | To Norfolk & Western 117–127 | |
| H16-44 | 28, 29 | 2 | 16L963, 16L964 | December 1954 | To Norfolk & Western 128, 129 | |
| H16-44 | 30 | 1 | 16L920 | January 1955 | To Norfolk & Western 130 | |
| H16-44 | 31, 32 | 2 | 16L933, 16L948 | February 1955 | To Norfolk & Western 131, 132 | |
| H16-44 | 33 | 1 | 16L960 | February 1955 | To Norfolk & Western 133 | |
| H16-44 | 34 | 1 | 16L975 | October 1955 | To Norfolk & Western 134 | |
| H16-44 | 35–39 | 5 | 16L988–16L992 | October 1955 | To Norfolk & Western 135–139 | |
| H16-44 | 40–47 | 8 | 16L1132–16L1139 | November–December 1956 | To Norfolk & Western 140–147 | |
| H16-44 | 48, 49 | 2 | 16L1177, 16L1178 | October 1957 | To Norfolk & Western 148, 149 | |
| H24-66 | 50–57 | 8 | 24L807–24L814 | March 1954 | To Norfolk & Western 150–157 | |
| H24-66 | 58–68 | 11 | 24L838–24L848 | April–May 1954 | To Norfolk & Western 158–168 | |
| H24-66 | 69–73 | 5 | 24L1037–24L1041 | May–June 1957 | To Norfolk & Western 169–173 | |
| H24-66 | 74 | 1 | 24L1048 | June 1957 | To Norfolk & Western 174 |
| Model | Road number | Qty | Serial | Order | Built | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 44-ton | 6 | 1 | 13100 | December 1941 | Built as New Haven 0806. Sold to Eastern Gas & Fuel Associates, 1960. No Norfolk & Western number |
Related Reading
- Virginian Railway
- Virginian steam roster
- Norfolk & Western diesel roster
- GE 44-tonner
- EL-C electrics
- New Haven
Sources
- Fairbanks-Morse H16-44 and H24-66 production lists, and the Virginian Railway diesel roster, compiled by John Komanesky, thedieselshop.us. Builder serials and dates for Nos. 10–49 and 50–74, the later Norfolk & Western numbers, and No. 6’s sale to Eastern Gas & Fuel Associates in 1960. Those lists do not give a Fairbanks-Morse order number for these locomotives.
- GE 44-tonner roster on this site. New Haven 0806, one locomotive, serial 13100, December 1941.
- Norfolk & Western diesel roster on this site. The 65 Virginian diesels that took Norfolk & Western numbers on December 1, 1959, and slugs 9900–9919, built from former Wabash and Virginian H24-66s. The ten EL-C electrics, 301–310, are outside that diesel count.
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