Norfolk & Western 4-8-4 No. 611 was a member of the third group of fourteen class J locomotives constructed by the railroad's Roanoke Shops, rolling off the erecting floor in May 1950. Regarded as one of the outstanding steam locomotive designs of North America, the engines of class J sustained 300 p.s.i. of boiler pressure and had cylinder dimensions of 27x32 inches. All were streamlined in the smart "bullet-nose" style that made these locomotives famous (a wartime group was built without the shrouding, which was added later). As streamlined they weighed 494,000 pounds. Although their 70-inch drivers — low for a 4-8-4 type — gave them enough "dig" to exert the 80,000 pounds of tractive force needed for heavy passenger service in their mountainous territory between Norfolk and Cincinnati, these engines were so well balanced that they were capable of 110 miles per hour in level terrain. After pulling the N&W's last steam-powered passenger train in 1959, No. 611 was retired and donated to the Virginia Museum of Transportation, where I took this transparency in July 1970.