Mainline Steam Spectacular (No diesels!)

Mainline steam is just a shadow of its former self. It’s hard to find mainline trips today that aren’t run with diesel helpers for security, if you can find a mainline steam trip that is. In this show we have assembled some exciting steam action with 3 engines running on the mainline without diesel helpers. In some cases these were the last time, or last year they ran on the mainline period? Our coverage spans 2011 to 2017. This is all on Norfolk Southern trackage. In November 2011 we see southern 2-8-0 running from Chattanooga to Knoxville and return. During the stay in Knoxville we see 630 on the Knoxville to Alco trips plus a trip on the same line with Southern 2-8-0 number 154, which is an added engine to our 3-engine show. During July 2012 630 is back in Knoxville to handle a Norfolk Southern employee trip to Alco. 630 stars on one more weekend in September of 2013 as it runs 2 trips a day from Chattanooga to Cleveland, Tennessee. Thats 4 trips total which were the last time 630 ran without diesel help on mainline trackage. This is great steam action as 630 storms along trying to keep the schedule of 2 trips in one day. These trains were a nice 8 and 6 car consists, so they looked and sounded great.

Southern 2-8-2 number 4501 is seen in September of 2015 repeating the trips done by 630 the previous year. Two trips were made to Cleveland on Saturday, and only one on Sunday, due to some bad coal for 4501. The engine looks and sounds great with a 7-coach train, and a round-end obs car on the rear. After each trip we caught it at Citico junction where it was turned near Chattanooga. This line to Cleveland features some nice grades, and spirited running for both 630 the year before and 4501 on these 2015 trips. We had 2 camera coverage for this 4501 weekend and there are some really nice views as we covered the action pretty well. You will enjoy this steam for sure.

Last but surely not least is Norfolk and Western 4-8-4 number 611. The class J operates a weekend of trips from Greensboro, NC to Roanoke, VA in April of 2017. While the weather wasn’t great 611 still put on a nice show with a long consist of passenger cars each day. We get it climbing the grade from Danville each day, along the ex-Southern mainline, and on the former Virginian line into Roanoke. There are some favorites here that are sure to please those hard-core steam fans. We even show a couple of scenes after dark, including one working up the grade from Danville towards Greensboro. 611 is always a crowd pleaser and always gets the job done. 611 did not run any mainline excursions in 2018 or 2019.

This video is quite rare considering the options for steam today. None of these engines has run any mainline trips since 2017 and who knows when they might operate on a mainline once again. If they do, they might have diesel helpers, but not in this show. Get true steam enjoyment of only the engine working, and knowing it is doing all the work. Savor the experience!