Virginia Room Digital Collection

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The Virginia Room Digital Collection includes photographs, oral histories, books, pamphlets and finding aids to items in the Virginia Room. Continue to check back for new additions.

Browse Items (29 total)

RVNH40421.jpg
Class J-1 Engine No. 605 rolls out of the Norfolk & Western Shops. War rationing meant no streamlined cowling or roller bearings on the rods.

HNWR202.jpg
Two N&W locomotives prepare to pass one another heading to and from the West Virginia coal fields.

HNWR196.jpg
Engine No. 2146 pulls a load of coal. In the 1940s, N&W served the following seven coal districts: Kenova, Thacker, Tug River, Pocahontas, Clinch Valley 1 & 2, and Radford.

HNWR194.jpg
Norfolk & Western's passenger service ceased in 1971. Here is the Pocahontas on her last run, traveling eastbound at Blue Ridge, Virginia. An estimated 100,000 spectators lined the route to catch a glimpse of a passing era.

HNWR191.jpg
Engine No. 550 is a later example of the steam locomotive used by N&W. The crew poses for a picture in Roanoke.

HNWR182.jpg
This passenger train stops in Ivanhoe, Virginia. Passenger service would serve as a popular form of distance travel until the emergence of the automobile.

HNWR176.jpg
Freight Locomotive No. 1203 rests on the turntable at Shaffer's Crossing in Roanoke.

HNWR175.jpg
The old Class M engine was built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1883. N&W owned two of these engines, Nos. 94 and 95, as shown here.

HNWR174.jpg
Engine No. 93 was a small shifting engine used at Roanoke Machine Works. It was built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1883.

HNWR173.jpg
Engine No. 72 is another example of a Class U locomotive built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1892. This passenger locomotive weighed in excess of 132,000 pounds and was later converted to simple cylinders.

HNWR172.jpg
Passenger Engine No. 90 was an example of many engines purchased by N&W in its early years from Baldwin Locomotive Works. Engine No. 90 was a Class A engine.

HNWR167.jpg
Engine No. 102 rolls out of assembly at the Roanoke Shops and employees pose for the customary photograph of the engine.

HNWR166.jpg
This engine was a Class W-1, 2-8-0 type and was originally built by the Roanoke Shops in October 1900.

HNWR152.jpg
Engine No. 54 with her crew (from left): Engineer E.H. Jones, Fireman Guy Emery, and Conductor Lloyd Pugh. The train was running between Sardinia and Hillsboro branch, and the main line of the Cincinnati, Portsmouth, and Virginia Railroad.

HNWR151.jpg
Shop employees and crew of Engine No. 205 in Roanoke, shortly after the locomotives construction.

HNWR150.jpg
Class Q Engine No. 516 pulls into a depot at Nolan, West Virginia. The engine was originally put into service in April 1882. Crew members are servicing both passenger and express cars.

HNWR149.jpg
An early example of freight locomotives used by N&W was Engine No. 264.

HNWR148.jpg
The crew of Engine No. 19. This engine, like most of the engines used by N&W in its infancy, was built by Baldwin Locomotive Works.

HNWR139.jpg
Engine No. 382 runs the steepest grade of all - a sustained three percent grade to the summit at White Top Station. This run, affectionately known as the "Virginia Creeper", ran between Abingdon, Virginia and West Jefferson, North Carolina. Here,…

HNWR116.jpg
This photograph includes three types of modern, coal-burning steam locomotives designed and built by N&W. These represent the best elements of steam engine design: low initial investment, high utilization, low-cost operation and maintenence, and…

HNWR097.jpg
Engine No. 475 steams out of Roanoke. In 1946, the year considered to be the beginning of N&W's modern passenger service, an average ridership per train was 118. By 1971, when N&W discontinued passenger trains, the number had dropped to less than…

HNWR060.jpg
Steam Engine No. 130, a Class K-2A locomotive.

HNWR030.jpg
Locomotive No. 1212 pulls a load in a scene of the past: a steam engine at work. The N&W was the last major American railroad to abandon the steam engine in favor of the diesel engine. The designers and engineers of the N&W developed the steam…

HNWR011.jpg
This photograph of the crew of Engine No. 82 was taken when Goodwin, West Virginia was a western terminus. The engine was standing on the Wye track. Crew members are S.D. Clowers, engineer; R.S. Brown, engineer; James Emmons, fireman; George…

HNWR010.jpg
An N&W passenger train speeds between Roanoke and Christiansburg, Virginia. The N&W provided extensive passenger service through southwestern and southeastern Virginia, the Shenandoah Valley, West Virginia, and into parts of North Carolina. With…

Creasy16 Roanoke Transportation Museum.jpg
Replica of the "Best Friend of Charleston" at the opening of the Virginia Museum of Transportation (then Roanoke Transportation Museum) in Wasena Park.

Creasy15 Roanoke Transportation Museum.jpg
Replica of the "Best Friend of Charleston" at the opening of the Virginia Museum of Transportation (the Roanoke Transportation Museum) in Wasena Park.

Davis 645 Virginian 700.jpg
The Virginian 700 steam locomotive built by Baldwin Locomotive Works.

Davis 61.22 N&W Class Sia #244.jpg
N&W Class S1a #244 locomotive at Roanoke Shops. This was the last locomotive built in Roanoke and the last standard gauge locomotive built in the United States.
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