Operation Fast Freight

Norfolk and Western’s Class A 2-6-6-4 was designed beginning in 1936 as the first of the railroad’s modern, powerful “Big Three” locomotives, built to haul freight at high speed while also handling heavy passenger trains. Before the arrival of the Class J passenger locomotives, two Class A engines worked the hilly Bristol line between Bristol and Radford, Virginia, expediting northbound and southbound passenger service. A total of 43 were designed and constructed at Roanoke Shops, and during World War II they hauled heavy troop trains without assistance, freeing the Class J for regular passenger duty. Class A locomotives generally handled fast freight across the Norfolk and Western, and their modern design and planning allowed quick servicing and turnaround at terminals, increasing the use of the railroad’s modern power. They continued to be built through and after World War II, with the last versions completed in 1950 as the “Super A” with roller bearing rods. Even so, they could not stop the rise of diesel locomotives, and their final service came on the Norfolk Division between Roanoke and Norfolk before they were scrapped by the summer of 1959. Only one survived: No. 1218, built in June 1943, which was sold as an auxiliary boiler at the end of steam service, escaped scrapping, returned to Roanoke in 1969, ran excursion service from 1987 to 1991, and joined No. 611 in retirement at the Virginia Museum of Transportation in 2004.

Roanoke, Virginia · United States