Brings back memories. Was passenger on a train pulled by old 611 back in 1956.Went from Beuna Vista Virginia to Staunton Virgina. Next to big Boy , she is my second all time favorite.

6 years later and I still get goosebumps. Excellent work!

I got to enjoy two trips on this beautiful girl in the early 90s as a kid. Both trips hold a special place in my heart and is one of my fondest memories with my grandfather. The 2nd trip (from Birmingham AL to Columbus GA) was great, but the first trip (from Bham to Chattanooga) taught me 2 great life lessons after I didn't listen to my grandfather. 1. Trains are amazing pieces of engineering, but there is nothing like a steam engine. 2. Don't stick your head out the window and look towards the head of a coal fired locomotive while in motion. 😂

What a thing of priceless, ageless, historical beauty...seeing all the people loving it makes me love it even more!

70 years old, but still kicking it, this old girl

A very enjoyable and nicely-done video. One item of note is the people lined up in the rail yard and at the railroad crossings, proving that even in a modern age, people still want to see these magnificent locomotives in action.

August 30th,1979, I was at the Roanoke museum and went up into the cab of 611. This was 2 months before they pulled her out for the restoration.

33:20 "Dude. Best. Day. At. Work. Ever!"

At 23:50, the series of steps in the mini storage roofs show the grade she is on.

The sound is tremendous. You can't get that anywhere but the old 'Steamer'.

Beautiful sounds and incredible Vibes from 611. Look at her do her thing.

The sole survivor of her class, and proud of it!

The plot of this movie was a little slow at first, but all the required elements were there. Sure, there were some slips in the production, but it eventually picked up speed and really delivered in the end. 4/5 stars.

I donated a bunch to her restoration, I could just listen to this for hours. add some rain sounds with this in the background, and you have a great zen video!

There were so many people lined up just to see this beautiful piece of American machinery and boy I wish I could see more of them.

7:00 tht sound, with earbuds/headphones, it sounds like a giant drum or a slow firing machine gun, it's such an awesome sound to listen to

The 611 passed through Dublin Virginia years ago, i got to see it pass. Such a beautiful train

While listening to this with earbuds/headphones, u can actually hear n feel the power of 611 in not just ur eardrums, but also in ur chest

i loved that train when i was a little kid and i'm still a fan of the 611 today

That’s me standing next to the tracks at 9:42!

If only you could include the smell of working steam!! I worked on two UPRR excursions 20 years ago in Iowa and Illinois with the 844.. seeing the fans from the Railroad perspective chasing, was an experience. I also rode behind the 611 in the mid 1990s from Chicago to Ft Wayne IN on a Chicago Chapter NRHS trip. That was a fun trip!

HOW DOES HE DO IT? gets on every famous mainline train

Excellent footage of the wheels

I love, love this channel👍🏻❤️🚂. Feels like real railroading to me. Coming from an L&N family ( my great, grandfather & great uncle) I appreciate the work all the contributors put in… it shows👊🏻 & made me a railfan once again. The ride-alongs make me feel like an engineer. My great uncle let me take a very short hand at an L&N switcher in 1974👍🏻keep up the GREAT work!

Beautiful piece of American machinery!

The ultimate steampunk ride. If you ever need a spare cameraman let me know.

I was a passenger on this excursion. We went from Spencer NC to Asheville NC and back. What the video didn't show you was the "helper" diesel engine behind the 611. Leaving Spencer, when we got on the Asheville siding a defect detector misfired and the dispatcher let us continue. But on the way back, this same defect detector misfired again and that time the dispatcher made us stop for an inspection before we pulled onto the mainline.

I took the opportunity to ride in the cab in Strasburg, PA when they were doing the in cab experience. There are absolutely no regrets, only glad that I did it. I highly recommend it if you get the opportunity. It is well worth the price.

This is awesome. I saw it in Strasburg when I went to their train museum. I just put the video about it up on my channel. I was so excited to see it in Strasburg that I put it on my thumbnail for my video. Thanks for sharing.

Very cool! I took my kids to the NCTM to see the 611 this past Saturday. Might be my new favorite locomotive!

Imagine this Beautiful Engine on the NS Sunbury Line here in PA!

No finer whistle that the one on the 611!

I enjoyed the video, but was hoping you had some cab footage as well. I drove steam here in Queensland Australia for QR, and absolutely loved seeing the huge Locomotives over there in the US. Unfortunately I never got to see J611, what a beautiful sounding engine. I imagine she's a pleasure to drive and fire. Cheers Adrian

Awesome video. You really know what you are doing.

Great video for sure! It's nice to be able to hear the engine working instead of the usual crossing videos where all you hear is the whistle and you get to see the same 13 passenger cars go by. :) it's like riding on the locomotive itself! Nicely done.

Amazing machine

My Father, two brothers, and nephew, are all in this video. Haha

thank you for everything you do, it means the world to me!

Great video of an awesome locomotive!! Can't beat the quality and would love to see some of the drone footage

33:19 you gotta love that, even The NS Crew Wanted to see 611

34:15 Imagine you were standing at this crossing to photograph, but you were on the left side and the NS train blocked your view

Did anyone notice the wheel slip? haha

Awesome video, super idea, I love it.

Unique video of a cab on 611.

i enjoy the hole trip

Freaking awesome video Drayton! You caught some insane wheel slip in the footage too. Very interesting that NS (or NCTM) would allow you to apply GoPros to 611. Thanks for sharing, keep up the great work, -Josh RSP

Well I realy enjoyed that thank you very much!

awesome videos somebody will allways have something bad to say over look those kinda people thanks for the great video

there's a Facebook page with a short article about reviving the 1218 that is where I heard about it

33:21 Locomotive: "Why, hello there unfamiliar engine!"

I have seen that train in NC and it was awesome cause it was the first actual steam train i saw that was in use

28:01 Locomotive: "Well well well, what do we have here?! A Party?!"

Amazing video!

Next year should be even bigger and better for alot of 21st Century Steam excursions in the future.

Incredible footage!

Very nice steam ride. :D

Hi-def, cool angles...looking forward to seeing more videos!

I love this video ☺️☺️☺️☺️☺️

BEAUTIFUL!!!😀😃💗💛💚💙👍👍👍👍

Glad to see the Norfolk cars don't have graffiti on them.

Super amazing video I enjoyed!!!

She is carrying the correct Hancock Longbell 3 chime whistle, It is off another J. The Claytor whistle left when Preston left, which I believe was because of disagreements over the Spirit of Roanoke stickers on her cab....maybe other concerns also...who knows. To my eyes they shouldn't be on there, but to have the 611 operating again it's really an insignificant point.

awesome, thanks for the upload. very enjoyable.

awesome video, thanks!

Very Well Done!!!

Fantastic video!!! Thank you for the post!

Really would like to see this locomotive in action going on down the tunnels here in oldfort and the loops

i wonder what the faces of the people were when they saw 611 come over I-240

American industrial might in action!

this video just got you an instant subscriber!

Man these ScaleTrains locomotives are getting more and more realistic. I love that synchronized ESU loksound. But the trackside scenery around Morganton could have been done better.

Daaaang D.I.B back at it again with the "chooch" cams

would be nice of we could get a 30 minute shot of the connecting rods

Before you posted the video, I did happen to notice the gopros on the 611 as I was editing some photos I took. I thought that was pretty strange. Was this all the footage you got from the gopros?

Amazing! Wish I could do that.

this is my favorite one of these you have done so far, i like how you fix the camera on the front of the train near the top i hope you do more of these in the future peace out

Very cool!

Pretty sweet😎

3:55 that's me in the blue hoodie

I'm daydreaming about a future where there's high demand for high speed electrified rail transport, like they have in Japan. However there's just one problem in this hypothetical future: a severe shortage of copper, making electrical motors uneconomical to meet the demand. With the situation desperate, engineers contemplate revisiting the designs of the streamliner era of steam, but of course it's out of the question due to emissions requirements. Then it hits them -- there was the answer, calling out to them from history -- the SFB E 3/3 8522! YEs! Electric power could be used to fire a steam boiler! The railway engineers hastily re-implemented the most effective designs from the peak of the steam streamliner era, retrofitted with electric boilers fed from pantographs grabbing overhead lines, just like on the fastest bullet trains....thus ushering in a new era of steam champions

It’s alive!

12:31 looks like the 611 passed by the Home Depot!

看到至今仍保存良好的 強力機關車還拉著20節左右奔馳在廣大的美國真令人感動 !

Very nice 😊😊😊😊

Sometimes, there is a slow rhythm that isn't always there. I wonder if it is either the stoker or a water pump.

I'm happy to report a possible revival of the 1218 it was only a rumor but I think 1218 May be by 611's side if the rumors prove true and if they are I'll bet O Winston Link would be cheering in his own grave if the 1218 comes back to life

Cool

Certainly not a thrilling excursion, except for the whistle I enjoyed each time, and there were lots of times.

Any footage like this of 611 going down the loops to Old Fort??

I'm in the video!!!!

That Locomotive is capable of 100 MPH. Just curious as to why the engineer only had it at 30% throttle. Maybe speed restrictions on that line. Loved the video. :-)

How did you convince them to let you put Multiple GoPro's on the locomotive.

Love the video. Only thing that is wrong is way too much shots of the wheels. This needs more on top footage.

The 611 whistle sounds like SP 4449 not like the whistle it had from 1982 until 1994 they need to bring the Claytor whistle back these videos are awesome keep them coming

Norfolk and Western 611 10:49 [train chugging]

Hey, I really enjoy your videos.. but, 36 seconds seems awfully long for an intro. It really drags out. I would try to trim it down to 10 seconds or less.

HE WON'T CLOSE THE CYLINDER COCKS Edit: I realised it is a big loco and every bit of the condensation in the cylinders need to be removed so they are not damaged

at 25, that's a bad place for a mobile home park

what was the highest speed 611 went on this excursion? When is it in the video?

Strut ur wheels 611!