Norfolk & Western J #611 prepares to do a run-by at today's festivities.

Newly renovated 611 gets a bath on her 65th birthday in preparation for her historic homecoming run to Roanoke the following day

The Queen and the Pride of Roanoke stands at the North Carolina Transportation Museum only two hours before it's maiden voyage begins from Spencer, North Carolina to it's home city of Roanoke, Vir... (more)

Her adoring fans line the guardrails along the Jefferson Street Bridge in Spencer as 611 departs the museum in grand style while P88 (217) streaks by on the mainline.

The Queen and the Pride of Roanoke stands at the North Carolina Transportation Museum just hours before it's maiden voyage.

The Queen and the Pride of Roanoke stands at the North Carolina Transportation Museum just hours before it's maiden voyage.

Newest addition to the NS fleet is the 911 locomotive. Here it sits after switching around the consist for 611's run to Roanoke, VA the following morning.

N&W 611 sends a plume of smoke soaring into the morning sky while P88 finishes a run to Linwood from the Charlotte Regional Intermodal Facility. The last time No. 611 was on the mainline, the D9-4... (more)

Crews from Norfolk Southern and Fire Up 611! gather around the Norfolk and Western Class J No. 611 as it prepares for the long anticipated return to its home in Roanoke, Virginia after a year long... (more)

611 sits quietly at the NCTM the night before its big return home.

Two miles into its first excursion of the millennium, N&W Class J 611 puts on a show as it crosses the Yadkin River bridge at the south end of Linwood Yard on the ex-Southern.

The Norfolk and Western J611 takes the track to go around the shops for the next portion of the photo charter and passes the newly painted First Responders Locomotive parked for everyone to view. ... (more)

On freight train.

The newly rebuilt J class steam locomotive looks great moving under its own power in a scene that could very well have taken place in the 1950s.

The Norfolk Southern First Responders engine glistens under the lights with a purple North Carolina thunderstorm in the background.