Jim Bacon, Paul Woodring and I found Norfolk & Western 4-8-4 No. 611 in Bedford, Virginia, on Sept. 6, 1982. It was pulling an Independence Limited excursion from Roanoke to Alexandria, Virginia. The J class locomotive had made its inaugural runs after being restored to operating condition the month before.
Photograph by Robert Farkas
It is July 3, 1972, in Brewster. I had just purchased my first single lens reflex camera, a Nikormat by Nikon, and was taking my first few rolls of Agfachrome slide film. In less than a year, I would move on to Kodachrome.
Back then a release was easy to get, and Brewster was filled with locomotives built by Fairbanks-Morse, Alco and the Electro Motive Division of General Motors.
I took this slide and have looked at it perhaps two or three times since 1972.
A few days ago, I discovered this slide in one of my boxes. Now I can appreciate the scene. It is not a far away FM H12-44 image as much as a portal into my past.
I’m looking east. The big building in the background is the Norfolk & Western office building which was built by the original Wheeling & Lake Erie and is now used as the main offices of the modern W&LE.
As long as I did not cross tracks, go into the shops, or wander into the yard, I was free to photograph where I wanted. I even had permission to cross tracks to photograph in the engine facility.
Such freedom is almost unheard of now. I can truly say that I have been blessed.
Article and Photograph by Robert Farkas
The wayback machine has landed us in the late 1960s at the Norfolk & Western engine facility in Brewster. Around the turntable can be found EMD F7As, EMD SDs, Fairbanks-Morse switchers, and a single FM road switcher. Second generation power can be seen behind these treasures.
Photograph by Robert Farkas
Here are two views of vintage Norfolk & Western motive at Gambrinus Yard near Canton. In the top image is the 2152, a Fairbanks-Morse H12-44 captured in February 1973. In the bottom photograph a pair of N&W locomotives await their next assignment on Oct. 11, 1980.
Photographs by Robert Farkas
If locomotives could talk, what would they talk about? The hard pulls they had to make? The engineers who abused them? Their favorite engineers? The places they’ve seen? The close calls at grade crossings?
They would probably discuss all of that and more.
This image was made in late 1968 or early 1969 at the Norfolk & Western engine facility in Akron.
There is still a mix of N&W and Akron, Canton & Youngstown locomotives to be seen, including three Alco switchers, two Fairbanks-Morse road switchers, and an EMD geep.
All too soon the FM’s would go on to other locations and any AC&Y lettered locomotives would be re-lettered or repainted into an N&W identity.
Photograph by Robert Farkas
Norfolk & Western Alco C425 No. 1004, G:P9 No. 746. SD9, No. 2350 and another EMD SD series locomotive are sitting outside the shops in Brewster on July 3,1972. The two SDs to the right are in the engine facility.
Photograph by Robert Farkas
Norfolk & Western No. 3597 is shown in Bellevue in June 1973. The former Wabash unit is an Alco-repowered Fairbanks Morse Train Master.
Photograph by Robert Farkas
Technically this is a Norfolk Southern train, but Norfolk & Western-painted SD40-2 No. 1634 and its train are in Frank, Ohio, on July 14, 1984, the Sandusky District.
Photograph by Robert Farkas
Norfolk & Western Alco RS11 No. 398 sits at the former Akron, Canton & Youngstown engine facility in Akron in mid-1974. The unit was built for N&W in 1959.
Photograph by Robert Farkas
The wayback machine has landed us in Brewster on Sept. 3, 1980. This was Norfolk & Western territory then after having been in the domain of the Nickel Plate Road for more than a decade and of the original Wheeling & Lake Erie for several decades before that. Laid out before us is a nice array of N&W motive power of the early 1980s. Note that this was during the transition between N&W heralds.
Photograph by Robert Farkas
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