1958 - N&W Men Bemoan Steam's Departure

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The engineer Harry J. Waldron, mentioned in this Roanoke Times article, is 
pictured on the 2184 in my revised edition of N&W: Giant of Steam on page 3.

Bud Jeffries

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Sent: Friday, July 18, 2008 10:44 PM
Subject: 1958 - N&W Men Bemoan Steam's Departure



> Roanoke Times - July 19, 1958

>

> N&W Men Bemoan Steam's Departure

>

> "I was on this engine when it first came out back in 1940." Harry J.

> Walrond, Norfolk and Western engineer remarked last night as he sat

> in the cab of No. 602, a Class J steam locomotive.

>

>   Walrond felt blue, because it was the last night - perhaps forever

> - for steam locomotives to pull passenger trains on the N&W.

>   The N&W announced Thursday that it is leasing diesels from two

> other railroads, and is taking out of passenger service 14

> streamlined Class J steam locomotives. They are not being retired,

> but they are out of passenger service for the present.

>   Walrond was waiting in the hot, black cab of No. 602 - waiting for

> the Powhatan Arrow to arrive from Bluefield. Then he would hook on to

> the Arrow, No. 26, and pull it to Crewe, 130 miles away on the line to 

> Norfolk.

>

>   "I don't believe there's a railroad in the country that ever had a

> locomotive to compare with one of these in steam." Walrond remarked.

> "I hate to see'em go. If they'd keep these up, there's not a diesel

> that would stand a chance."

>

>   Walrond said he's been railroading 32 years. He was fireman on No.

> 602 when it was young back in 1940.

>   Walrond's fireman, Berkeley Breedlove of Blue Ridge, didn't have

> much to say. He's a youngster in railroading, been firing only 32 months.

>

>   But A. M. Via, conductor of the Powhatan Arrow on its run to Crewe

> last night, felt sad, too.

>   "Well, like everybody else," he observed just before he waved to

> the engineer, "I'm sorry to see'em go. Railroading doesn't seem like

> railroading without steam." Via added that he thinks railroaders

> would get used to diesels and like them when they know them better.

>   The Atlantic Coast Line's purple and silver locomotives look odd

> on the N&W right-of-way. N&W railroaders have already coined a name

> for the ACL color scheme: They call it "polkberry juice".

>   A foreman said they had quite a job mixing paint to simulate the

> ACL purple, but they finally did. They painted out "Atlantic Coast

> Line" and painted over it in silver letters "Norfolk & Western".

>   The Pocahontas that pulled out for Radford last night was the

> first passenger train on the N&W main line to be pulled all the way

> from Norfolk to Cincinnati by diesel.

>   J. L. Bradley was the engineer. He's been operating diesels

> before, but the ACL engine was unfamiliar one to him, and he looked a

> bit skittish as he yanked on the control and big "polkberry" colored

> machine began to rumble.

>   Steam will continue to pull many of the freight trains on the N&W

> for perhaps two and a half years. Then it will be the end of the line

> for them. The N&W announced in June it would buy 268 diesel units in

> the next 30 months. They are to begin arriving in the fall at the

> rate of 12 to 15 a month.

>

>

> -----------------------------------

>

> - Ron Davis, Roger Link



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