Farewell to Steam on the N&W

[NW Mailing List]

I can tell you that when the order came down to scrap the steam collection 
of the Virginian after the merger, Mr. Saunders kept a builder's plate off 
one of the AG's.  Seems almost perverse.  Maybe it's like cutting the ear 
off a bull you've just defeated in the ring.

Sam Putney

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "NW Mailing List" <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
To: "'NW Mailing List'" <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
Sent: Sunday, July 06, 2008 6:02 PM
Subject: RE: Farewell to Steam on the N&W



> I've often wondered how Stuart Saunders really felt about steam 

> locomotives.

> Obviously he wanted to "modernize" the N&W, but did he actually despise

> steam power, or was he just impatient to get the N&W dieselized ASAP to

> catch up with the rest of the country?

>

> Mike Weeks

> Charlotte NC

>

>

>

> -----Original Message-----

> From: nw-mailing-list-bounces at nwhs.org

> [mailto:nw-mailing-list-bounces at nwhs.org] On Behalf Of NW Mailing List

> Sent: Thursday, July 03, 2008 11:22 PM

> To: nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org

> Subject: Farewell to Steam on the N&W

>

> Roanoke Times - June 27, 1958

>

> Editorial

>

> Farewell to Steam on the N&W

>

>    Steam locomotives are nearing the end of the line on the Norfolk

> and Western Railway. It was generally recognized that their days were

> numbered after the railroad placed six diesel units in operation on

> its Durham line in 1955. Since then the N&W jas acquired 192

> additional diesels.

>    Now comes an announcement by N&W President Stuart T. Saunders

> that the railroad will buy 268 new diesel locomotives at an estimated

> cost of $50 million which will enable the road to dieselize

> completely its operations to present traffic levels.

>   What will happen to the steam locomotives now in use along the N&W

> lines? Mr. Saunders says 202 of the 262 steam units now owned by the

> road will be "retired" by the end of 1960. The remaining 60, which

> will still have what the N&W calls "serviceable mileage," will be

> used to meet demands during peak levels of traffic and in emergencies.

>    The N&W is the last major railroad in the nation to succumb to

> the diesels. Some of the finest steam locomotives in the world have

> been produced in the N&W's shops in Roanoke. Wedded to coal and steam

> for scores of years, the road found it difficult - for sentimental as

> well as other reasons - to part company.

>    It's going to be difficult for the thousands who live and work

> along the N&W's some 4,600 miles of line to become accustomed to

> railroading without steam. But progress must be served.

>

> -----------------------------------

>

> - Ron Davis, Roger Link

>

>

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