Roanoke Shops

Roanoke Shops, also called East End Shops, was a 57+ acre complex in Roanoke where local residents designed and built the Norfolk and Western Railway’s steam locomotives, including the special Classes J, A, and Y. From 1927 through the end of the steam era in 1960, every new N&W steam locomotive was built there, with engineers and draftsmen creating plans in the Motive Power building and construction carried out in the shops. Beyond new construction, the shops rebuilt, repaired, and overhauled locomotives for the N&W and, during the Second World War, for a number of other railroads, while also doing machine work for war-related industries including the U.S. Navy. The facility also built freight cars and rebuilt and repaired passenger and freight cars for more than 100 years. Freight car construction was done outside until the freight car shop was put under roof in the early 1950s, and in that era the shops could produce 15–18 brand-new coal-carrying cars per eight-hour day. Norfolk Southern closed the car construction shop in 2000 and the locomotive shop in mid-2020, and Freight Car American also produced cars in Roanoke until late 2019.

Roanoke, Virginia · United States