Norfolk and Western 1218

Norfolk and Western 1218 is a preserved four-cylinder simple articulated 2-6-6-4 steam locomotive, built in June 1943 by the Norfolk and Western's (N&W) Roanoke (East End) Shops in Roanoke, Virginia as part of the N&W's class "A" fleet of fast freight locomotives. It was retired from regular revenue service in July 1959, and was later restored by Norfolk Southern for excursion service for their steam program, pulling excursions throughout the eastern United States from 1987 to 1991. It is currently on display at the Virginia Museum of Transportation in Roanoke, Virginia.

Historic significance
No. 1218 is the sole survivor of the Norfolk and Western's class A locomotives and the only surviving 2-6-6-4 steam locomotive in the world. While smaller than Union Pacific's famous and more numerous "Challenger" class of 4-6-6-4 locomotives, Norfolk and Western's design racked up unmatched records of performance in service.

During No. 1218's excursion career, it was the most powerful operational steam locomotive in the world, with a tractive effort of 114000 lbf, well above Union Pacific 3985, the next-strongest-pulling operational steam locomotive, with a tractive effort of 97350 lbf). Since May 2019, however, No. 1218 became the locomotive with the second highest tractive effort, after Union Pacific 4014, which has a tractive effort of 135375 lbf. Unlike diesel-electric locomotives of similar high tractive effort (for starting heavy trains) but typical for a steam locomotive, it could easily run at 70 miles per hour (113 km/h) and more.

Revenue service and preservation
No. 1218 was the ninth member of the second batch of fifteen class A locomotives (Nos. 1210–1224) built in June 1943 at the East End Shops in Roanoke, Virginia by the Norfolk and Western Railway (N&W). It was first assigned to haul troop trains during World War II. After the war ended, No. 1218 was reassigned to haul fast freight trains, heavy coal trains, and even heavy passenger trains on the N&W's Scioto Division, between Williamson, West Virginia and Columbus, Ohio, along with an occasional side trip to Cincinnati, Ohio. In the late 1950s, No. 1218 was moved to the Norfolk Division, running between Roanoke and Norfolk, Virginia.

In July 1959, No. 1218 was retired and purchased by the Union Carbide Co. in Charleston, West Virginia, where it was used alongside its sister locomotives Nos. 1202 and 1230 as stationary boilers at a chemical plant in South Charleston, West Virginia. In 1964, the Union Carbide Co. retired Nos. 1202 and 1230 for scrap, but No. 1218 was in fairly good condition as it was rescued by New England millionaire F. Nelson Blount for his private collection of steam locomotives at Steamtown, U.S.A. in Bellows Falls, Vermont a year later. Additionally, many of the parts on Nos. 1202 and 1230 such as the air pump, crosshead guide yokes, front side rods, and gauges were salvaged as donors for the No. 1218 locomotive.

In 1967, Blount died in an airplane crash, resulting in the Steamtown foundation running into financial trouble. As part of their effort to recoup their financial losses, the foundation put No. 1218 on a long-term lease to the Roanoke Transportation Museum, and the locomotive was cosmetically restored at the East End Shops in Roanoke, Virginia, the same place where the locomotive was built. Afterwards, it was put on display as a temporary exhibit at the Roanoke Transportation Museum in 1971.

Excursion service
In 1982, the N&W and Southern (SOU) railways were both merged to form the new Norfolk Southern Railway (NS). Additionally, No. 1218's feedwater pump was removed to replace the damaged one on ex-N&W J Class No. 611, which was restored to operating condition for excursion service on the NS steam program, which started in 1966 by the SOU. By the end of 1984, the NS steam program want to lease No. 1218 to pull the longer and heavier excursion trains along with assisting No. 611. After some subsequent disputes took place, NS and the Steamtown foundation settled on a trade where the former acquired No. 1218, and the latter received two EMD diesel locomotives in return.

On May 10, 1985, the No. 1218 locomotive was towed out of the museum and moved to the Norris Yard Steam Shop in Irondale, Alabama, where it would be restored to operating condition at a cost of roughly $500,000. No. 1218 presently received a replacement pump from one of the B&O Railroad Museum's steam locomotives. On January 15, 1987, No. 1218 underwent a stationary test fire. Two months later, on March 26, No. 1218 moved under its power for the first time in 28 years; it performed a break-in run between Irondale and Wilton, Alabama. On April 25, No. 1218 pulled its first public excursion for the NS steam program between Roanoke and Bluefield, West Virginia, but some heavy rain and flooding that day caused some mudslides and fallen trees to delay the trip's completion. The following day, No. 1218 pulled two more excursions between Roanoke, Lynchburg and Walton, without incident.

On May 4, No. 1218 pulled an empty 100-hopper car train to Crewe, unassisted. In August, during the 1987 National Railway Historical Society (NRHS) convention in Roanoke, No. 1218 pulled an empty 50-hopper car train, where it ran side by side with No. 611, who pulled a passenger excursion train from Roanoke to Radford, Virginia, in which the former was double-headed with the latter for the return trip later on. In July 1989, it performed a rare doubleheader excursion with Nickel Plate Road 587 from Salisbury to Asheville, North Carolina, for the Asheville Chapter of the NRHS convention. In June 1990, No. 1218 traveled to St. Louis, Missouri, where it met up with locomotives Cotton Belt 4-8-4 No. 819, Frisco 4-8-2 No. 1522, and Union Pacific 4-8-4 No. 844 to participate in another rare NRHS convention, which took place at the former Union Station.

On November 3, 1991, during Norfolk Southern's 25th Anniversary of their Steam Program, No. 1218 joined Southern Railway 4501 and N&W 611 to triple head a 28-car passenger excursion train from Chattanooga, Tennessee to Atlanta, Georgia. At Ooltewah, Tennessee, No. 4501 took a few coaches for a complete round trip, turning around at Cleveland, Tennessee. Afterwards, No. 611 and No. 1218 completed the rest of the trip to Atlanta.

Current disposition
At the end of the 1991 excursion season, after completing a round-trip excursion from Huntsville, Alabama to Chattanooga, Tennessee, No. 1218 returned to Irondale, Alabama for an extensive overhaul, where its flues need to be replaced and the portions of the firebox need to be repaired. There were originally plans to have the No. 1218 locomotive running again for the beginning of the 1996 excursion season, but NS chairman David R. Goode cancelled the steam program in 1994 due to serious safety concerns, rising insurance costs, the expense of maintaining steam locomotives, a yard switching accident involving nine passenger cars in Lynchburg, Virginia, and decreasing rail network availability.

In January 1996, the No. 1218 locomotive was partially reassembled and towed back to Roanoke to be stored at the East End Shops. In 2000, the locomotive was moved out of the East End Shops and put on the turntable for a nighttime photoshoot, hosted by photographer O. Winston Link. Link wanted No. 1218 to be exhibited near the former N&W passenger station in downtown Roanoke, which was planned to be converted into a museum that displayed Link's N&W photographs.

Link died on January 30, 2001, but plans for the museum were still carried on, and in June, Norfolk Southern agreed to donate No. 1218 to the City of Roanoke to honor Link's wishes. Preparations were subsequently made—including a cosmetic restoration by Norfolk Southern—to put the locomotive on display at the Virginia Museum of Transportation (VMT), formerly known as the Roanoke Transportation Museum. On June 11, 2003, during the 60th anniversary of No. 1218's 1943 construction date, No. 1218 was pushed into place at the VMT's Robert B. Claytor and W. Graham Claytor Jr. Pavilion shed next to No. 611.

In 2007, Nos. 1218 and 611 were both temporarily put on display at the East End Shops to commemorate its 125th anniversary. On April 2, 2012, the City of Roanoke officially donated both Nos. 1218 and 611 to the VMT. The No. 1218 locomotive continues to sit on display at the VMT, next to another former N&W steam locomotive, G-1 class No. 6, with the No. 611 locomotive restored to operating condition.