"Steel Horizon": The jointed rails across "The Flats" of the Strasburg Rail Road beamed as Norfolk & Western #611 raced west on the morning of October 5, 2019. With every turn of her 70 inch drivers, #611 picked up speed and began to shake the ground till in a split ear-piercing second she flew by and reminded the onlookers, including myself, that C.E. Pond and the rest of the N&W engineers in Roanoke, VA designed some of the best pieces of motive power in the history of American railroading.
It was a truly once-in-a-lifetime experience to have witnessed such a morning scene as this...