ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Thursday, January 25, 1996             TAG: 9601250043
SECTION: VIRGINIA                 PAGE: C-1  EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER

ENGINE 1218 COMES HOME

BUT TO WHICH ONE? The Virginia Museum of Transportation is making room for the historic locomotive, but Norfolk Southern Corp. hasn't said what its fate will be.

Norfolk Southern Corp.'s Class A No.1218 steam locomotive has returned to Roanoke, where it was built at the Norfolk and Western Railway shops in 1943.

The locomotive, which had been used in NS' steam excursion program before the program was discontinued in December 1994, was towed into Roanoke on Sunday from Birmingham, Ala., where it had been stored.

For the time being, the locomotive will be covered and stored in the company's East End Shops. "No decision has been made as to whether or to whom the engine may be donated," said Bob Auman, an NS spokesman.

Norfolk and Western, a predecessor to Norfolk Southern, built 43 of the Class A locomotives like the 1218. They pulled freight over NW track between 1936 and 1959. The giant locomotive has 70-inch wheels and can generate 6,300 horsepower while burning 7 tons of coal per hour.

The 1218 saw most of its service in the Portsmouth, Ohio, area, running about 90,000 miles a year. It was sold to Union Carbide in 1959 after it was retired. It returned to Roanoke to the Roanoke Transportation Museum (now the Virginia Museum of Transportation) in 1970.

The locomotive was taken from the museum, then in Wasena Park, to Birmingham in 1985 for restoration. It was put into excursion service in 1987. The museum would like to have it back.

Museum Director Kay Houck said the museum has formally requested the 1218 from Norfolk Southern. NS previously donated its Class J No.611 steam locomotive, also built in Roanoke and used for excursions, to the museum.

The museum plans to cover its entire back rail yard and will leave plenty of room for the 1218, Houck said. The museum already has built a cover for the 611. 

LENGTH: Short :   50 lines
ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO:  KEITH GRAHAM/Staff. 1. The wheels (or drivers) of the 

          mighty Class A No. 1218 are 70 inches tall - comparable in height to

          Norfolk Southern carman Roy Robertson. The locomotive, which had 

          been refurbished and used in the railroad's steam excursion program 

          until 1994, is being stored for now at the East End Shops. 2. 

          Although the 1218 saw most of its service pulling freight in the 

          Portsmouth, Ohio, area, it was built at the NW Roanoke shops. 

          color.
by CNB