Farewell to Steam on the N&W

[NW Mailing List]

I've often wondered how Stuart Saunders really felt about steam locomotives.
Obviously he wanted to "modernize" the N&W, but did he actually despise
steam power, or was he just impatient to get the N&W dieselized ASAP to
catch up with the rest of the country?

Mike Weeks
Charlotte NC



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Subject: Farewell to Steam on the N&W

Roanoke Times - June 27, 1958

Editorial

Farewell to Steam on the N&W

    Steam locomotives are nearing the end of the line on the Norfolk 
and Western Railway. It was generally recognized that their days were 
numbered after the railroad placed six diesel units in operation on 
its Durham line in 1955. Since then the N&W jas acquired 192 
additional diesels.
    Now comes an announcement by N&W President Stuart T. Saunders 
that the railroad will buy 268 new diesel locomotives at an estimated 
cost of $50 million which will enable the road to dieselize 
completely its operations to present traffic levels.
   What will happen to the steam locomotives now in use along the N&W 
lines? Mr. Saunders says 202 of the 262 steam units now owned by the 
road will be "retired" by the end of 1960. The remaining 60, which 
will still have what the N&W calls "serviceable mileage," will be 
used to meet demands during peak levels of traffic and in emergencies.
    The N&W is the last major railroad in the nation to succumb to 
the diesels. Some of the finest steam locomotives in the world have 
been produced in the N&W's shops in Roanoke. Wedded to coal and steam 
for scores of years, the road found it difficult - for sentimental as 
well as other reasons - to part company.
    It's going to be difficult for the thousands who live and work 
along the N&W's some 4,600 miles of line to become accustomed to 
railroading without steam. But progress must be served.

-----------------------------------

- Ron Davis, Roger Link


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