1958 - N&W Passenger Trains To Use Rented Diesels

[NW Mailing List]

Roanoke Times - July 18, 1958

N&W Passenger Trains To Use Rented Diesels

   All of the Norfolk & Western Railway's passenger steam locomotives 
are being replaced by diesel units leased temporarily from two other railroads.
   Announcement was made yesterday that the N&W is leasing four 2,250 
horsepower diesels from the Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac 
Railroad and eight 2,000 horsepower units from the Atlantic Coast 
Line Railroad.

   They are replacing 14 streamlined Class J locomotives which will 
be stored. Most of the Class J engines have been pulling passenger 
trains. They are not as big or powerful as the N&W's Y6 and Class A 
steamers used for freight and coal trains.
   Six of the leased diesels came to Roanoke yesterday and were take 
to the shops to have the N&W symbol painted on. The first pulled the 
westbound Powhatan Arrow into Roanoke at 11:45 a.m.
   The remaining six diesels will be turned over the N&W at 
Petersburg, the junction of the ACL and the N&W.

   All the Class J steam engines were built by the N&W in the Roanoke 
Shops. Eleven which were built between 1941 and 1943 have traveled 
more than two million miles each. Three built in 1950 have run one 
million miles.

   In late June, the N&W announced it will buy 268 diesel units in 
the next two and a half years. Their delivery will mean complete 
dieselization of the railway.
   They are scheduled to being arriving in October and continue at 
the rate of 12 to 15 a month. Some of these general purpose units 
will be equipped for passenger operation. They will cost about $50 million.
   Several longtime followers of steam railroading have bemoaned the 
changeover to diesels.

   "This really hits my hard," one steam fan said.

   Ben B. Dulaney, N&W public relations representative, has this 
description of the steam locomotive: It's "a human thing - its alive 
. . . You can see the power, the wheels moving, the smoke coming out, 
the steam coming out. And the whistle is a beautiful sound."
   The steam locomotive, he said has an element of romance. "And the 
smell of a steam engine is pleasant to most people.".


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- Ron Davis, Roger Link