N&W M2c No. 1151 is the only surviving Roanoke-built M2c 4-8-0, and one of the Lost Engines of Roanoke.
History[]
The 1151 was built on June 6, 1911 for the N&W Railway as a later refinement of the M class 4-8-0 design. A major modification included on the M2c's was a Type A Superheater, which made the M2c's the first superheated locomotives on the N&W.
The 1151 enjoyed a long career for the N&W, mostly on freight service, before being retired from service, and sold to the Virginia Scrap Iron and Steel Yard in 1950. It languished in the yard with an assortment of equipment and two of its M class Siblings, 1134 and 1118 for 59 years. Eventually, in 2009, they were moved from their site and moved to museums across the south. 1134, having fared relatively well condition-wise, has been restored cosmetically and paired with a large, ex N&W tender, most likely from a Y Class Mallet. 1151 was in, arguably, the worst condition of the lost engines.
As of 2021, 1151 as been donated to the Virginia Museum of Transportation, and there are currently no plans to cosmetically restore it.
Trivia[]
- N&W No. 475 was nearly a part of the Lost Engines of Roanoke, but got sold to Strasburg, still in its Western Guise with a Balloon Stack, before the near abandonment of the rest of the locomotives 'Hid' them.
- No. 1151 along with Norfolk and Western No. 917 and Norfolk & Western No. 1134 had cameo appearances in the opening credits of the 2000 children's film 587: The Great Train Robbery playing the non operational engines that were sitting in the scrap yard.