(The following column by Ned Jilton appeared on the Kingsport Times-News website on November 24 2009.)
KINGSPORT, Tenn. — Railroads are one of the linchpins of our history.
During the Civil War it was the railroad that brought an eccentric general named Thomas Jackson out of the Shenandoah Valley to the battlefield of First Manassas where he and his brigade would earn the nickname “Stonewall”. No railroad, no Stonewall Jackson and the war has a very different outcome.
Many cities in our region would not exist with out the railroads. Bristol Tennessee/Virginia is a good case in point.
The Virginia and Tennessee Railroad, coming out of Lynchburg, VA, ended at the state line. In 1848 the Rev. James King donated land for a depot there and then sold lots around it. Virginia and Tennessee Railroad trains would arrive at the depot, unload, and the goods and materials would then be carted across the state line to be loaded onto the East Tennessee and Virginia Railroad to continue its trip on to Knoxville and Chattanooga. Between the end of one railroad and the start of the other the cities of Bristol were born.
I remember when I was small I rode the train with my dad from Memphis to Johnson City Tennessee. It was an overnight trip, I think we went through Alabama but I’m not really sure. I just remember falling asleep while watching the lights pass by in the night and then eating breakfast in the dinning car the next morning.
Now you can see, touch, hear and even give you kids some of the thrills of those historic days thanks to the people at the Virginia Museum of Transportation in Roanoke, VA, and their collection of steam engines and early diesels.
We left my place in Boones Creek at 8:30 and arrived there just a little after eleven. After a stop at the O. Winston Link Museum to view the work of the photographer who documented the end of the steam engine era we grabbed a bite of lunch a few blocks away in downtown Roanoke and then headed for the Transportation Museum.
We were greeted by super friendly people from the time we entered the door until the time we left. We hurried through some of the inside exhibits and headed straight for the rail yard where the famous trains are kept. Including the Norfolk & Western Class J steam locomotive #611 and the Norfolk & Western Class A steam locomotive #1218.
The photo at the top of this post shows me, at about 6’1″, standing next to the wheels of the Class J #611, taken by my friend Ron, and an overall shot of the engine taken by me. The #611 is almost two stories tall and is one of 14 that were built around 1950 for passenger trains. In addition the #611 is one of the most powerful steam locomotives built and could pull a passenger train at speeds up to 110 mph on level ground.
After touring #611, including going up in the cab, we checked out another giant of the steam locomotive era on the next track, the Class A #1218 from 1943.
The Class A’s were fast freight or heavy passenger engines. They could pull large coal trains or during World War II they could move an entire tank division with the tanks on flatcars, equipment on boxcars and troops in Sleeping cars. Many consider the Norfolk & Western Class A Steam Locomotives the best ever built. The #1218 spent most of its service life pulling freight in Ohio and, like the #611, is the last of its class known to be in existence.
The rail yard is filled with many interesting items including an 1897 Norfolk & Western Class G-1 Steam Locomotive engine #6, (which is on the next track to #1218), a Panama Canal GE Electric Towing Locomotive #686 “Panama Mule” from 1914, (used to pull ships through the canal) early diesels and electric locomotives as well as cabooses and passenger cars that can be toured.
Back inside the museum we looked over an 1880 hand pumped “Velocipede Hand Car” which look sort of like a three wheeled bicycle that you rode on the tracks to inspect the rails, check the telegraph lines or transfer crews.
There is also a Norfolk Southern SD-40 Locomotive Cab, a large O-gauge model train layout and so much more. And I mean a LOT more.
This place is a transportation museum, not just a railroad museum, and there is a large collection of antique cars, trucks, fire trucks. There is an aviation gallery and even a Jupiter Rocket parked besides the building. This was the type rocket that launched monkeys into space during the early days of the U.S. space program in 1959.
All good things have to come to an end and sadly closing time for the museum is 5 pm. As we were getting ready to leave folks with the museum excitedly pointed out to a side track just outside the museum’s rail yard where an old rusty steam engine that they just rescued and are now planning to restore had recently been parked.
Another piece of history saved from the scrap heap thanks to a dedicated group of people who seem to really love what they do. Thank you.