Roanoke to Walton (Radford) 611 Steam Train Excursion

Streamlined steam locomotive Norfolk & Western 611 will pull passenger excursions - The Pelican - from Roanoke to Radford (Walton) and return on May 7th and 8th. Ride from Roanoke to Walton on this 84-mile afternoon roundtrip. We leave westbound, and on the left immediately see the Virginia Museum of Transportation—Virginia’s official transportation museum. We then pass the Norfolk Southern material yard on the left, and Steel Dynamics on the right—America’s finest continuous pour steel mill ever built. We go through the City of Salem paralleling the former Virginian Railway which was built to carry the coal from West Virginia. After passing Elliston, Virginia and going under the Virginian Railway bridge, begin your ascent of the famed Christiansburg grade. As we climb the Appalachian Mountains to an elevation of 2,050 feet, take in the picturesque view along the South Fork of the Roanoke River. Our journey will also take us through the twin-bore Montgomery Tunnel. After reaching the summit of the Appalachians at Christiansburg, our route will follow Crab Creek down to the New River. For more details on this and other trips, visit fireup611.org