1958 - N&W Men Bemoan Steam's Departure

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Roanoke Times - July 19, 1958

N&W Men Bemoan Steam's Departure

"I was on this engine when it first came out back in 1940." Harry J. 
Walrond, Norfolk and Western engineer remarked last night as he sat 
in the cab of No. 602, a Class J steam locomotive.

   Walrond felt blue, because it was the last night - perhaps forever 
- for steam locomotives to pull passenger trains on the N&W.
   The N&W announced Thursday that it is leasing diesels from two 
other railroads, and is taking out of passenger service 14 
streamlined Class J steam locomotives. They are not being retired, 
but they are out of passenger service for the present.
   Walrond was waiting in the hot, black cab of No. 602 - waiting for 
the Powhatan Arrow to arrive from Bluefield. Then he would hook on to 
the Arrow, No. 26, and pull it to Crewe, 130 miles away on the line to Norfolk.

   "I don't believe there's a railroad in the country that ever had a 
locomotive to compare with one of these in steam." Walrond remarked. 
"I hate to see'em go. If they'd keep these up, there's not a diesel 
that would stand a chance."

   Walrond said he's been railroading 32 years. He was fireman on No. 
602 when it was young back in 1940.
   Walrond's fireman, Berkeley Breedlove of Blue Ridge, didn't have 
much to say. He's a youngster in railroading, been firing only 32 months.

   But A. M. Via, conductor of the Powhatan Arrow on its run to Crewe 
last night, felt sad, too.
   "Well, like everybody else," he observed just before he waved to 
the engineer, "I'm sorry to see'em go. Railroading doesn't seem like 
railroading without steam." Via added that he thinks railroaders 
would get used to diesels and like them when they know them better.
   The Atlantic Coast Line's purple and silver locomotives look odd 
on the N&W right-of-way. N&W railroaders have already coined a name 
for the ACL color scheme: They call it "polkberry juice".
   A foreman said they had quite a job mixing paint to simulate the 
ACL purple, but they finally did. They painted out "Atlantic Coast 
Line" and painted over it in silver letters "Norfolk & Western".
   The Pocahontas that pulled out for Radford last night was the 
first passenger train on the N&W main line to be pulled all the way 
from Norfolk to Cincinnati by diesel.
   J. L. Bradley was the engineer. He's been operating diesels 
before, but the ACL engine was unfamiliar one to him, and he looked a 
bit skittish as he yanked on the control and big "polkberry" colored 
machine began to rumble.
   Steam will continue to pull many of the freight trains on the N&W 
for perhaps two and a half years. Then it will be the end of the line 
for them. The N&W announced in June it would buy 268 diesel units in 
the next 30 months. They are to begin arriving in the fall at the 
rate of 12 to 15 a month.


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- Ron Davis, Roger Link
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