Norfolk and Western No. 1218

Norfolk And Western No. 1218
Technical specifications
Serial number(s)	340
Manufacturer(s)	N&W's Roanoke Shops (East End Shops)
Build date	June 2nd, 1943 (Build date) 1985-1987 (Rebuild date)
Classification	A
Wheel arrangement	2-6-6-4
Rail gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Valve gear	Baker
Cylinders	Four, simple articulated
Boiler diameter	106 in (2,692 mm)
Boiler pressure	300 lbf/in2 (2.07 MPa)
Bore stroke	24 in × 30 in (610 mm × 762 mm)
Firegrate area	122 sq ft (11.3 m2)
Fuel type	Coal
Fuel capacity	29.9 t (29.4 long tons; 33.0 short tons)
Heating area	2,703 sq ft (251.1 m2)
Performance figures
Maximum speed	70+ mph
Tractive effort	114,000 lbf (507.10 kN)
Factor of adhesion	3.8
Service information
Running numbers	1218
Disposition details
Retired	July 1959 (revenue service) November 1991 (excursion service)
Disposition	On static display at the Virginia Museum of Transportation

Norfolk and Western No. 1218 is a 2-6-6-4 type steam locomotive built in 1943 by the N&W Roanoke Shops.

History

Norfolk & Western used 1218 and the other class A locomotives primarily for fast freight trains, but they also pulled heavy coal trains on the flatter districts of the Norfolk & Western system, and reportedly even pulled heavy passenger trains at times.

After Norfolk & Western retired 1218 in 1959, Union Carbide bought it to use as a backup boiler in an industrial plant. In 1965 steam preservationist F. Nelson Blount bought 1218 for his Steamtown collection, which today the National Park Service operates. According to Steam Over Scranton: The Locomotives of Steamtown by Gordon Chappell, "Eventually, the transportation museum at Roanoke, Virginia, had obtained 1218 on loan from the Steamtown Foundation in Vermont for temporary exhibit. Over a period of years that museum came to regard the locomotive as its property, not a loan, and the Norfolk and Western (Norfolk Southern) eventually got into the matter when it desired to overhaul the locomotive for operation for publicity purposes, railfan excursions, and other special events. While the Steamtown Foundation apparently had a clear title to the locomotive and the Roanoke museum did not, the N&W put further pressure on the Steamtown group by indicating it would never allow the locomotive to move over its rails out of Roanoke, effectively the only way Steamtown could get it back. Since Steamtown had no answer to this stand, and was by then in the process of moving to Scranton, Pennsylvania, the Steamtown Board decided to accept two diesel- electric locomotives from the Norfolk and Western, which by then had come under the corporate umbrella of the Norfolk Southern, in exchange for giving the Norfolk Southern clear title to No. 1218."Norfolk Southern offered two diesel locomotives - Nickel Plate GP9, No. 514, and former Wabash SW8, No. 132 - in exchange for 1218.

Chappell continues, "In 1982, Norfolk & Western merged with Southern Railway to become today's Norfolk Southern Railway, and Norfolk & Western president Robert B. Claytor became the first president of Norfolk Southern. Bob Claytor's brother W. Graham Claytor, Jr. had started a steam excursion program at Southern Railway when he had been an executive, and then its president, in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Both Claytor brothers were great rail preservationists and champions of maintaining some historic steam operations. Bob Claytor had Norfolk Southern restore 1218 for its steam program. On May 10, 1985, Norfolk Southern pulled 1218 from its park display for restoration, on January 16, 1987, it was fired up, and on March 26, 1987, 1218 ran a break-in run from the steam shops at Irondale, Alabama to Wilton, Alabama. It then entered excursion service and pulled many excursion trains until the end of the 1991 season when it went for an overhaul. This overhaul was in progress and was to have been completed in time for the 1996 season when Norfolk Southern unfortunately cancelled its steam program in late 1994."

After the cancellation of the Norfolk Southern steam program in 1994, 1218 was stored in the former steam shops in Irondale, AL. In 1996, 1218 was towed back to Roanoke and stored at the Norfolk Southern's East End Shops. Then, in 2001, Norfolk Southern donated the 1218 to the City of Roanoke, clearing the way for the engine to once again be put on display at the Virginia Museum of Transportation. In June 2003, the museum completed its new Claytor Pavilion and along with it, the 1218 was ready to put back on display. After a cosmetic restoration by Norfolk Southern, the 1218 was towed to the Virginia Museum of Transportation on June 11, 2003, and pushed into place in his new home next to Norfolk & Western 611. As of 2023, 1218 is still on permanent display at the Virginia Museum of Transportation while 611 was restored back to operating condition for excursion service in 2015. Due to several missing parts from its uncompleted 1991-1996 overhaul, 1218 is not likely to ever run under steam again anytime soon, unless if someone has the money and facility to afford it.

Trivia

• 1218 was featured in Articulateds UP 3985 vs N&W 1218, St. Louis Steam Spectacular, Rails to Roanoke - The 1987 NRHS Convention, Nickel Plate 759 & The Last N&W Pocahontas, and Huntington 1991 Convention Highlights along with "Steam People", "Shining Time Station", "Grandpa Worked On The Railroad", and "Running a Steam Locomotive Vol. 3" and Sounds of Trains, Volume 2".
• The engine also has brief cameo appearances in Pocahontas Glory Volumes 1 and 5, Articulated's: America's Biggest Steam, and in Lots and Lots of Trains Volume 1 at the end of the Smokin The Rails music video.
• 1218 is the sole survivor of the Norfolk and Western's class A locomotives and is also the only surviving 2-6-6-4 steam locomotive in the world.

See also

• Videos
• Whistles

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