Norfolk & Western Class A #1218

Norfolk and Western Class A number 1218 was built at the Norfolk and Western Roanoke Shops in 1943 as one of 43 Class A steam locomotives, a series produced from the 1930s through the 1950s and designed to be powerful, low-maintenance, and among the most mechanically modern American locomotives of their time. Built in two weeks during the spring of 1943 with specific War Department approval at the height of World War II, it broke all prior shop records. The locomotive hauled coal trains between Roanoke and Norfolk, Virginia, and likely also moved troop trains and equipment trains during the war. When Norfolk and Western shifted from steam to diesel locomotives, the Class As were gradually retired from regular service between 1958 and 1959, and 1218 was retired in July 1959. That same month it was one of three locomotives sold to Union Carbide in Charleston, West Virginia, for use as stationary oil-fired boilers. In 1985 it was moved to Birmingham, Alabama, for restoration for passenger excursion service; after a two-year overhaul, it ran excursions from 1987 to 1991 and was officially retired from excursion service in 1994. It is the last remaining Class A and is no longer operational.

Roanoke, Virginia · United States