Steam Locomotive special. Western Maryland 1309, Strasburg Railroad 89 & Norfolk & Western 611

WMSR Western Maryland Scenic Railroad 1309 former Chesapeake & Ohio 1309 along with Strasburg Railroad 89 former Canadian National and Norfolk & Western 611 The "Queen of Steam" - "Spirit of Roanoke"
Locomotive 1309
On the last day of 2020, steam locomotive no. 1309 took its first steps under steam in 64 years! Go behind the scenes on this monumental effort to bring steam back to the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad.
Constructed in 1949 by the Baldwin Locomotive Works, Chesapeake & Ohio Railway steam locomotive no. 1309 was built to handle the railroad’s heaviest coal trains throughout Kentucky and West Virginia until it was retired in 1956.
64 years later, no. 1309 took her first steps under steam after a meticulous and extensive restoration to service. In her first season on the WMSR, the locomotive became an outstanding tourist attraction for Allegany County, operating trains between Cumberland and Frostburg, Maryland. The 1309 is now the largest regularly operating steam locomotive in the country.
Of all the strange plot twists in the story of steam’s final years, one of my favorites is the Chesapeake & Ohio’s decision in 1948 to buy 2-6-6-2s from Baldwin to shore up its operations in West Virginia coal country.
Think about that for a moment. That year, most American railroads were buying vast quantities of new diesels from Electro-Motive, Alco, and other manufacturers.
What emerged was an order for 25 2-6-6-2s in what was the new H-6 class. The order was soon cut back to 10 engines after labor unrest in Pocahontas country depressed mine production. Those final Mallets, delivered in 1949 and numbered 1300-1309, would be the last steam locomotives Baldwin would ever build for a North American railroad.
The story of these engines has currency because crews are hard at work bringing H-6 No. 1309 back to life for operation on the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad (WMSR). Based at Cumberland, Md., with a shop at nearby Ridgeley, W.Va., the tourist line acquired the 2-6-6-2 in 2014 after the locomotive spent decades at the B&O Railroad Museum in Baltimore. New as they were, the last C&O steam engines never got adequate maintenance, lengthening the list of work needed to bring 1309 back to life.
n compound mode delivering as much as 77,900 pounds of tractive effort through their two sets of six 56-inch drivers.
Locomotive No. 89 ran on the Canadian National Railway for most of her life before being sold to the Green Mountain Railroad in New Hampshire. After just a few years on the Green Mountain RR, the locomotive was sold to the Strasburg Rail Road in late Spring 1972. The harrowing experience battling Hurricane Agnes’ flood waters during her journey to Strasburg is chronicled in “Images of Rail: Strasburg Rail Road.” Today, No. 89 is still an active locomotive at Strasburg and is often the locomotive of choice to pull smaller train consists.
Year Built: 1910
Maker: Canadian Locomotive Works (Kingston, ON)
Wheel Configuration: 2-6-0
Weight: 141,800 lbs.
Arrived at Strasburg: July 1972
After the outbreak of World War II, the Norfolk and Western Railway's (N&W) mechanical engineering team developed a new locomotive-the streamlined class J 4-8-4 Northern-to handle rising mainline passenger traffic over the Blue Ridge Mountains, especially on steep grades in Virginia and West Virginia.The N&W built Nos. 600-604 at the Roanoke (East End) Shops in Roanoke, Virginia, in 1941 and 1942.They were painted black with a Tuscan red stripe wrapped with golden yellow linings and letterings. The next batch, Nos. 605-610, were built in 1943 without streamlined casings due to wartime restrictions; these were classified as J1s. A year later, the J1s were refitted with the casings and reclassified as Js.
The class Js were the most powerful 4-8-4 passenger steam locomotives ever built, with 70 in (1,778 mm) driving wheels, 80,000 lbf of tractive effort, and an operating boiler pressure of 300 psi They had Timken roller bearings on their drivers and tender axles, which enabled a smooth run and quicker acceleration. Their 22D-type tenders hold 35 short tons (70,000 lb) of coal and 20,000 US gallons (76,000 L) of water[b] They consumed 6.5 short tons (13,000 lb) of coal and 11,880 US gallons (45,000 L) of water per hour.[17] They were equipped with a Hancock long-bell 3-chime whistle.
The class Js were among the N&W's most reliable steam locomotives; they ran evenly on its mountainous and relatively short route at an average speed of 40 mph (64 km/h), producing 5,100 hp (3,800 kW) at the tender drawbar.[13][20] On flat terrain, the class J locomotives could haul a 1,025 short tons (2,050,000 lb) passenger train of 15 cars at 110 mph (177 km/h).[21][22]: 5-6  Theoretically, they could go up to 140 mph (225 km/h) without wheel slippage.[12] They generally operated about 500 miles (800 km) per day and 15,000 miles (24,000 km) per month.[23][24]

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AMAZING video!!!!!!