Passenger-train excursion from Pulaski to Bristol on coal-fired steam locomotive is Saturday, July 7

Posted June 21, 2012

Southern Railway 630. Photo courtesy of Watauga Valley Railroad Historical Society & Museum

For the first time since 1994, you will have the rare chance to ride behind a real coal-fired steam locomotive on mainline tracks of the Norfolk Southern Railroad. The Watauga Valley Railroad Historical Society & Museum will host passenger-train excursions July 7-8. As part of the 21st Century Steam program, the trips are being offered in cooperation with Norfolk Southern Corp. and the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum.

On Saturday, July 7, there will be a one-way train trip from Pulaski to Bristol, Va., and a returning motor-coach ride back to Pulaski. Passengers will board the train at the former Norfolk & Western Depot in Pulaski.

Southern Railway 630. Photo courtesy of Watauga Valley Railroad Historical Society & Museum

The train will arrive in Pulaski at 1 p.m. and depart Pulaski at 1:45 p.m. After leaving Pulaski, the train will then climb Pulaski Mountain through Max Meadows, Wytheville, Rural Retreat, Marion, and Emory and Henry College as it winds through the Virginia Highlands. Then it will pass through historic, charming Abingdon, home of the world-famous Barter Theatre and the Martha Washington Inn. The train will arrive at the Bristol train station at 4:45 p.m. where passengers will unload and board motor coaches for the return trip back to Pulaski.

Motive power will be a genuine Southern Railway steam locomotive, No. 630, built in 1904 and once used to pull freight trains in North Carolina. The engine pulled freight between Johnson City and Elizabethton from 1952 to 1968.

These will be the only such public trips offered in Southwest Virginia and upper East Tennessee in 2012 and are not expected to be repeated.

Coach seating (air-conditioned coaches with restrooms) is $80 per seat per trip for Trip 1 from Pulaski to Bristol. Trips include a box lunch and bus return. Kids ages 2 and younger who will ride on the lap of a parent or guardian do not need a ticket. Tickets are available at wataugavalleyrrhsm.org or tvrail.com or by calling (423) 894-8028. Do not miss this special opportunity to ride behind Steam Locomotive # 630, order your tickets today.

– Submitted by John Hawley

4 Comments »

This will be an awesome ride

Comment by burt jackson — June 21, 2012 @ 1:37 pm
It’s already sold out. Bummer!

Comment by CJ — June 22, 2012 @ 11:37 am
Grew up with trains near my home. Always wanted an opportunity for a ride….too bad
it was sold out so quickly! The high interest should indicate a need for repeat
performance?!

Comment by K Thompson — June 23, 2012 @ 7:17 am
My father is an 84 year old former steam engine fireman and engineer on the Norfolk and Western Railroad. We read about the steam excursion trip taking place on July 7 from Pulaski to Bristol in our local newspaper in Wytheville, VA on Thursday, June 21, 2012. I tried to get tickets online at the online addresses listed in this article: however, I could not find any information about purchasing tickets for this particular excursion at either website: wataugavalleyrrhsm.org or at tvrail.com? What I did find was a post from another steam railroad enthusiast on Friday, June 22nd voicing his disappointment that the excursion was already sold out! I am perplexed as to the reason why there is/was no information about this excursion from Pulaski to Bristol on either website listed in the newspaper article? My father was featured in a very special photograph by the famous N&W photographer, O. Winston Link, taken on the night of December 26, 1957 when he was the fireman on Train 42, pulled by a J600 class steam locomotive, the #603, headed from Bristol to Roanoke. The photograph was taken at the Rural Retreat station as my 29 year old dad was instructed by engineer Bill Brickey to “lean out the window and see what was going on”. It is a wonderful photograph that has appeared in numerous newspaper and magazine articles as well as in other N&W Railroad historical sites. My dad’s health is failing fast and he was really looking forward to a steam excursion such as this convenient one from Pulaski to Bristol since the location is just perfect from his home in Wytheville, Virginia. If there is any remote possibility under the sun that another car might be added to this steam excursion or if two seats would somehow become available, would you PLEASE reserve me two tickets and then contact me immediately at 804-512-4022 for me to make payment by phone? My dad is not able to make a long car trip to a distant location for other steam excursions and this Pulaski excursion will probably be his last chance to take one last ride on a STEAM excursion in his lifetime. It would be a gesture of the highest appreciation if you could somehow make arrangements for him (and me, if possible) to ride on this steam excursion on July 7, 2012 from Pulaski to Bristol. The railroad runs right through the middle of our farm in Wythe County so we have all grown up with the trains. It is part of my family’s lives and our heritage. Thank you in advance for your consideration.

Comment by John Wohlford — June 26, 2012 @ 7:51 pm