The Roanoke Shops of the Norfolk and Western Railway

Norfolk and Western Railway

The Norfolk and Western Railway , a US class I railroad, was formed by more than 200 railroad mergers between 1838 and 1982. It had headquarters in Roanoke, Virginia for most of its 150 year existence....

 (N&W) in Roanoke, Virginia

Roanoke, Virginia

Roanoke is an independent city in the Mid-Atlantic U.S. state of Virginia and is the tenth-largest city in the Commonwealth. It is located in the Roanoke Valley of the Roanoke Region of Virginia. The population within the city limits was 97,032 as of 2010...

 were founded in 1881 as the Roanoke Machine Works. It came under the control of the railroad in 1883. Locomotive production started in 1884 and 152 locomotives were built until production ceased at the end of 1893. All had been for the Norfolk and Western Railway; they later absorbed RMW, which then became N&W's Roanoke Shops. Production re-started in 1900 and a further 295 locomotives (and 2 re-boilerings) were manufactured until production ceased in 1953 with the final S1a-class 244. It was the last steam locomotive manufactured in the United States for domestic use.

Before 1881, the "Magic City" of Roanoke had been the sleepy farming community of Big Lick and a small stop on the Atlantic, Mississippi and Ohio Railroad

Atlantic, Mississippi and Ohio Railroad

Atlantic, Mississippi and Ohio Railroad was formed in 1870 in Virginia from 3 east-west railroads which traversed across the southern portion of the state. Organized and led by former Confederate general William Mahone , the 428-mile line linked Norfolk with Bristol, Virginia by way of Suffolk,...

 (AM&O). All that changed when the owners of the Shenandoah Valley Railroad

Shenandoah Valley Railroad

Shenandoah Valley Railroad refers to one of several railroads in the U.S. state of Virginia:*Shenandoah Valley Railroad , a current short line*Shenandoah Valley Railroad , predecessor of the Norfolk and Western Railway...

, building up the valley, purchased the AM&O, renamed it Norfolk and Western, and selected Big Lick as the new junction. The town grew rapidly as the new center of the combined railroads and changed its name, becoming a city in just a short time. The massive Roanoke Shops were built there and became the major employer in the Roanoke Valley for approximately 100 years.

At the Roanoke Shops, the N&W developed facilities and workers learned the skills needed to build its own steam locomotive

Steam locomotive

A steam locomotive is a railway locomotive that produces its power through a steam engine. These locomotives are fueled by burning some combustible material, usually coal, wood or oil, to produce steam in a boiler, which drives the steam engine...

s in-house. During the 1930s, they employed over 6,000 workers, who were producing 4 steam locomotives and 20 freight cars each day. Products included locomotives of all sizes and of increasingly better technology, from switching engines to the famed streamlined J-class passenger locomotives, the huge articulated Y5 and Y6-classes for low speed coal drags, and the A-class for fast freight service. A total of 447 locomotives were manufactured at Roanoke during a 70 year time span.

After the end of steam motive power on the N&W in 1960, J-class 611 and A-class 1218 were used in excursion train service from the early 1980s until the early 1990s. They are now on display near their birthplace in a specially constructed pavilion at the Virginia Museum of Transportation

Virginia Museum of Transportation

The Virginia Museum of Transportation is a museum devoted to the topic of transportation located in Downtown Roanoke, Virginia, U.S.A..- History :...

in downtown Roanoke.