With half of the Blue Ridge Special excursion in the books, fireman Cheri George and engineer Scott Lindsay appear all smiles as the train backs towards the loading area.

Norfolk Southern Steam Excursion 957 Steams South through Ruffin, NC. At the last light of day as they head back to The North Carolina Transportation Museum in Spencer, NC. After making a run Nort... (more)

Norfolk & Western 611 exits Point Tunnel at the tail end of the loops as it approaches the small town of Old Fort, NC

After stopping to address radio issues on the head end, the Blue Ridge Special starts back underway as it crosses the Catawba River.

The famed Norfolk And Western 611 splits the Southern Railway-era intermediate signals at Lawyers Station on the return trip to Spencer, North Carolina.

Norfolk and Western 4-8-4 J Class #611 leads an excursion from Spencer, North Carolina to Lynchburg, Virginia. She is pictured here storming past the silos in Ruffin, NC.

Doing what she does best, 611, the Queen of Steam attracts a large crowd of onlookers at Morganton, NC. The J has not passed through here in 22 years, making this round-trip over the Southern Loop... (more)

Running nearly two hours behind schedule the 611 passes on the south side of Ruffin, NC in beautiful last light on it's return trip to Spencer.

Running nearly two hours behind schedule the 611 led "Virginian" screams through the signals at "Cox" on it's return trip to Spencer. I'm sure the passengers are growing weary... (more)

It's like we have stepped back into a different time period. But in all reality it was 4-10-2016. N&W 611 leads the excursion train into Old Fort with the beautiful Blue Ridge Montanans in the bac... (more)

The Queen of Steam, the only surviving J Class from a roster of 14 units stands during the early hours of April 10, 2016 with a full head of steam in Spencer, North Carolina and is ready for it's ... (more)

After missing the entire 2015 611 schedule, I finally laid eyes on the 611 after driving all morning from Cincy to follow the train back from Lynchburg. It was 22 years after the last time I saw h... (more)

The consist for the "Virginian" excursion to Lynchburg rests at the NCTM as anticipation builds for the next day's run.

The ground shake as the legendary Norfolk & Western J-Class 611 pounds the high iron at track speed through Elmwood,NC (MP S18.0 Elmwood). Amazingly the two diesel that was assisting the 611 was r... (more)

She's back folks! This legendary locomotive along with NS's Southern Heritage unit GE ES44AC #8099, and NCTM's SOU EMD FP7 #6133, is heading south to Spencer, NC on it's first excursion in 2016 ca... (more)