Norfolk & Western No. 917 is the only surviving member of the Norfolk and Westerns Class W2 2-8-0 steam locomotives and is one of the Lost Engines of Roanoke.
History[]
It was built in 1903 for the Norfolk and Western Railroad by the Baldwin Locomotive Works. Although the W2's were built with inside Stephenson's valve gear, it appears that at some point that No. 917 was rebuilt with a Baker valve gear.
In 1950 Norfolk & Western locomotives 917, 1118, 1134, and 1151 had been sold for scrap. For nearly sixty years these four little-known survivors of the steam era awaited their fate hidden among the creepers at the Virginia Scrap Iron and Metal Co. yard on South Jefferson Street in Roanoke, Virginia and were later accompanied by vintage Baldwin diesels Chesapeake Western 662 and 663 among other rolling stock.
In 1997 the website The Lost Engines of Roanoke was launched as a call to action to save the four steam engines that time forgot. Today, the locomotives are no longer lost, with all of the locomotives and rolling stock from the Roanoke scrapyard having found new homes in preservation.
In 2008, No. 917 was removed from the yard for cosmetic restoration. Nowadays No. 917 resides at their new home in Bellville, Ohio along with a 1926 baggage car and a 1940 caboose which have both been converted into railroad-themed restaurant called the Buckeye Express Diner.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- No. 917 along with Norfolk & Western No. 1134 and Norfolk and Western No. 1151 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.