Nickel Plate S-2 Berkshire 759 pulls an excursion from Roanoke on the former Virginian Railway trackage. This locmotive is appropriate here where the Virginian's own Lima 2-8-4s used to roam.
The Van Swearingen Brothers standarized freight power for their railroads with nearly identical 2-8-4 Berkshires. Two of these engines are still in excursion service.
just as the 1970s were a good era in virginia railroading, the 1950s and 1960s were just as colorful as the 1970s were. this a tribute to the days of simple railroading and why it served as a basis of what it is today.