A sight not seen in some time

Roanoke celebrates its 125th anniversary this year. This means that Norfolk Southern, after a fashion, also celebrates its 125th anniversary this year. As part of the commemoration of the latter, two of Roanoke's glory girls may be showing off their stuff at Norfolk Southern's Roanoke Shops.

Norfolk Southern is hosting an open house at its Roanoke Shops on September 8th. The term "open house" is a misnomer as the event is open by invitation only. Nonetheless, the open house at the shops is a big deal, and to emphasize it, #611 and #1218 may be making an appearance.

Now, the event is closed to the public, which is too bad, really, but not surprising. The shops are in various states of repair, and safety concerns should and do prevail. These concerns only grow as the number of attendees does. However, your Virginia Museum of Transportation will offer exclusive photos of those engines at the shops, if they are part of the event. The photos will go up on this blog. The sight of a J Class steam engine on the turntable at the Roanoke Shops has not been seen in over a decade, and might not ever be seen again.

We're holding our breath, crossing our fingers, and knocking on every piece of wood we can find.