Theme parks around the world boast themed and often reimagined historic trains as iconic attractions around and within their parks. However, theme parks are not the only locations themed train excursions are available. Many in particular were lead by – or proposed to be – the last commercially built passenger steam locomotive built in the United States, the former Chesapeake & Ohio Railway number 614, Class J-3a ‘Greenbrier‘ 4-8-4 steam engine.
In June of 2023, C&O number 614 will be celebrating her 75th Anniversary marking a legacy in U.S. Transportation history. She has been both celebrated and relegated to storage awaiting her fate, many times over as her story with revenue passenger rail service and history leading themed excursion trains is incredible.
For decades, themed train excursions using restored live steam locomotives, as well as diesel locomotives, have taken ticketed passengers on journeys through some of America’s most unique landscapes. Many of the excursions were established for unique causes and celebrations of milestone events in American history. C&O number 614 has led many iconic themed train excursions and has been planned for many more that never came to fruition.
This is the partial history and a recognition of the 75-year legacy of Chesapeake & Ohio Railway’s No. 614 ‘Greenbrier’ Steam Locomotive. She is, without doubt, the ‘last and greatest’ of her kind.
Table of Contents
- A Legend Is Born
- 614: The Pinnacle of Steam Locomotive Technology
- An Early Retirement
- A Benefactor and A New Lease on Life
- The First Restoration
- 614’s Rebirth: The Return To Passenger Service
- Spring Break in the Sunshine State
- Chessie Safety Express: Season Two
- Testing the 614
- 614 Meet Amtrak
- A New Decade and New Opportunities
- The Second Restoration
- A New Millennium
- The Yellow Ribbon Express
- 614’s Future
✅ Read the complete history of the C&O number 614: ‘The Chesapeake & Ohio No. 614 Legacy: The Rise and Fall of an American Railroad Legend‘.
The C&O 614 Story
A Legend Is Born
Steam locomotives in the early 20th Century were slow, yielding a loss of cost-effective operations per mile. With the demand for higher speeds and more efficient power from their line of steam locomotives, the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway commissioned the Lima-Hamilton Locomotive Works to construct a new class of ‘superpowered’ steam engines for their passenger service operations.
Designed and built for the C&O, Lima would pioneer and manufacture what would become the epitome of the new ‘superpowered’; the Class ‘J3’ and ‘J-3a’ steam locomotives. The new J-3a’s delivered more power, operated at higher boiler pressures, utilized pre-heated water feeds to their boilers, and incorporated powered trailing trucks that not only distributed the increased overall weight of the heavy locomotives – a means to reduce damage to existing rail lines – but were also utilized as additional drive wheels.
Number 614 was the last of five Class J-3a steam locomotives produced for the C&O. Numbered 610 through 614, the five became the last passenger steam locomotives built for the iconic southern railroad with origins in Virginia. 614 rolled out of the Lima-Hamilton factory in June of 1948. From there she made her way through Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia, and eventually to Virginia where she would begin leading the C&O’s famed passenger trains of that era with names like the ‘George Washington’ and the ‘Fast Flying Virginian’.
614: The Pinnacle of Steam Locomotive Technology
Though the new J-3a’s were not the largest or heaviest steam locomotives built in America, they were powerful and the most advanced. 614, and her four sister locomotives, were built for speed and to conquer the Allegheny and Blue Ridge Mountains. 614, the only remaining J-3a steam locomotive – the other four 610 through 613 were sent to the scrapyard back in the mid to late-1950’s – had the latest and most advanced steam locomotive technology every placed in a steam engine in the U.S.
Her power is incredible, like that of a modern diesel locomotive, boasting 5,000 hp. This power enables her to reach speeds over 120 mph and 80+ mph pulling train consists, and conquer mountain grades hauling heavy loads. Speed and powerful were two traits the C&O required of the new J-3a’s.
Order your commemorative 2024 C&O No. 614 Wall Calendar! With original 614 photography by J. Daniel Jenkins.
614 stands tall and robust nearly 16 feet in height and just over 112 feet in length with (4) 38-inch diameter lead wheels, (8) 74-inch diameter main drive wheels, and (4) 42-inch trailing truck wheels. Originally, at the time of her completion, her tender could carry 21,500 gallons of water and 50,000 pounds of coal. In a later restoration to her tender – the first in her long history – her daily operating capabilities would be doubled by increasing her coal carrying capacity to 100,000 pounds, and increasing her water carrying capacity to 50,000 gallons by adding a trailing dedicated water tender to her locomotive consist, numbered 614A.
An Early Retirement
Upon entering service in 1948, 614 quickly exceeded all operational expectations from the C&O Railway. So much so, that additional passenger cars were added to her scheduled daily runs between Cincinnati, Ohio and Washington, D.C. Even after the additional cars, and weight were added, she would still run at mainline track speeds at over 80 mph, taking on steep mountain grades, and reducing her operating schedule between stops.
Sadly, the J-3a’s were designed and brought into revenue service at the end of an era for steam locomotive railway power in the United States. Though they were the epitome of steam powered technology, their demise was fast approaching as more efficient diesel-powered locomotives were brought online by nearly every main line railroad in America.
As a result of the paradigm shift in railroad locomotive power, in 1952 number 614 was retired from revenue passenger service after only four years of being the Chesapeake & Ohio’s premier mainline passenger steam locomotive. She was placed in storage, with the impending probability of most likely being scrapped for her metal and lost to history.
Briefly, in 1955 number 614 was leased by the RF&P Railroad and temporarily brought back into freight train revenue service due to a short-term locomotive shortage. To avoid a fleet numbering issue with their existing locomotives, she was renumbered to number ‘611’. The brief time back on the rails pulling revenue freight trains would only last for a short period of time. By mid-1956 she would eventually find her way back to storage in Kentucky once again with the threat of being scrapped for her metal.
The most advanced steam locomotive produced in America would sit in storage, consistently with the threat of being melted down, her celebrated early history nearly forgotten for the next twenty-years. During that time in America, humans would travel to the Moon and back, jet airplanes would whisk passengers across the country in mere hours, and for most the memory of the famed 614 had faded.
A Benefactor and a New Lease on Life
Unlike the previous seven J3-type and four sister J-3a-type 4-8-4s the C&O commissioned the Lima-Hamilton Locomotive Works to produce, miraculously number 614 survived the scrapyard. In 1976, 614 was cosmetically restored – repainted though not functional for pulling trains under her own power – and sent to the famed Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Museum in Baltimore, Maryland. There, she would reside and placed on display for the public. She resided with other great steam and diesel locomotives and railcars from both the B&O and C&O Railroads’ past.
The late 1970’s would usher in 614’s benefactor, railroad enthusiast and former Wall Street commodities trader Ross E. Rowland, Jr. Rowland would springboard her into a new era, save her from obliteration, and cement her into America’s railroading history. Rowland has served on several boards of transportation in New York and New Jersey and in 1982, he was appointed by President Ronald Reagan to the Board of Directors of Amtrak. Ross, as he prefers to be called, would forever change the course of her story and charter her a new legacy – a legacy unlike anything the workers that originally built her back in Lima, Ohio in the late 1940’s could ever imagine.
Rowland was no stranger to leading themed excursion trains. He was a key figure and engineer on several including the ‘Golden Spike Centennial Limited’ train in 1969 and kickstarted the famed ‘American Freedom Train‘ in 1975 and 1976. The American Freedom Train toured around the U.S. in honor of the country’s bicentennial celebration with a 26 railcar consist that was essentially – modern terms – a rolling pop-up exhibit showcasing historic elements from U.S. history.
The American Freedom Train, lead in part by the Rowland-owned Reading Railroad number 2101 steam locomotive, toured to all 48 states in the continental U.S. and was experienced by over 7 million ticketed guests who viewed historic treasures on loan from museums all over the country, such as the Smithsonian. There were many treasures on display, such as George Washington’s copy of the U.S. Constitution and Judy Garland’s dress from the Wizard of Oz.
The First Restoration
Shortly after Ross Rowland’s successful completion of the American Freedom Train, in the late 1970’s the Chessie System Railroad – named after the merger of the B&O, C&O, and Western Maryland railroads – made an arrangement for Rowland, and his former Reading Railroad number 2101 steam locomotive to pull their new themed train excursion, the ‘Chessie Steam Special‘.
After many successful runs of that passenger excursions, tragedy struck one evening in March of 1979. While number 2101 was being stored in the Chessie System railroad’s roundhouse at Silver Grove, Kentucky prior to the third season of that excursion train a fire destroyed the roundhouse and severely damaged Ross’s 2101 steam locomotive.
Feeling solely responsible for the loss of Rowland’s famed asset, the Chessie System donated $100,000 so he could buy and restore a new steam locomotive of his choice. Wisely, and as a boon to her future, Rowland chose C&O number 614 for her technical prowess and mechanical might.
On October 30th, 1979, after 614’s purchase, and being towed to the Western Maryland roundhouse in Hagerstown, Maryland, Rowland, his crew would begin an extensive 12-month restoration and upgrades at a cost of $1.5 million ($6.2 million in 2023) to ready 614 for future excursion passenger rail service.
These modifications would nearly double 614’s total daily operational miles, an important feature since most railroads in the United States had removed their infrastructure provided to support steam locomotives every few hundred miles. 614’s full restoration was completed in early September 1980, readying her for mainline passenger service operations.
614’s Rebirth: The Return to Passenger Service
In 1980, the Chessie System was looking for a creative way to bring public awareness to their own and the national campaign – called ‘Operation Lifesaver‘ – about rail crossing safety. To their advantage, and with a little luck of timing in 614’s new history being forged by Ross Rowland, Chessie’s Vice President of Casualty Prevention, William F. Howes, Jr., lobbied the idea to Chessie’s company leadership to commission Rowland and his newly restored 614 locomotive to lead twenty-two tours, during the 1980 inaugural season, of Chessie’s safety awareness passenger excursion train – called the ‘Chessie Safety Express‘ – around Chessie’s railway system.
After two-plus decades of being dormant and with her future filled with uncertainty, 614 was back on the rails as designed leading revenue passenger service. Her inaugural run left Baltimore, Maryland on the morning of September 13th, 1980. This first excursion was a roundtrip to Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. After decades of uncertainty and her fate seemingly being destined for elimination, 614’s future was reinvigorated that day. Many new chapters in her story would soon be written.
During season one of the Chessie Safety Express, 614 would lead the various segments of tours starting in Baltimore in September 1980. From there, 614 and the excursion train would travel over the next few months to Cumberland, Maryland, Pittsburgh, Richmond, Clifton Forge, Virginia, Hinton and Huntington, West Virginia. The final excursions concluded that year with a roundtrip from Cincinnati to Ashland, Ohio in early November 1980. After the first season, 614 and eleven of the excursion train cars returned to Hagerstown, Maryland for repair and maintenance.
Spring Break in the Sunshine State
After a successful Season One of the Chessie Safety Express, 614 would have little time for rest. As Rowland and 614 were finishing up their final tours in the fall of 1980, the Chessie System and Seaboard Coast Line Railroad were finalizing their merger to form what is now known as the CSX Transportation.
Around that time, Mr. Rowland had proposed to Seaboard’s outgoing president, Richard Sanborn, a proposal to bring 614 and the Chessie Safety Express to Florida. Running on Seaboard rail lines in the Sunshine State, 614 and Rowland, proposed a series of passenger excursion tours around the state of Florida. Sanborn being a fan of steam, loved and greenlit the operation.
Sanborn, noting the great public relations live steam would bring, worked with various Florida chapters of the NRHS (National Railroad Historical Society) to coordinate and co-sponsor the large effort of formulating the 614-led excursion trains planned for February and March in 1981. The Florida iteration of the Safety Express – utilizing the same iconic yellow passenger and display cars on the CSE – would be named the ‘Family Lines’ Safety Express’ promoting Operation Lifesaver and grade crossing safety awareness in the state.
The ‘Family Lines’ Safety Express’ officially commenced on the morning of February 16, 1981, with a one-way ferry run from Jacksonville, Florida to Tampa. The majority of February 1981, consisted of 614 leading excursions beginning in Tampa with round trips to Plant City, Dunnellon, and Lakeland, Florida.
In late February and early March, 614 and the excursions were based out of Miami, with roundtrips to West Palm Beach and Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Later that March, 614 headed north to Orlando where she led segment roundtrips to Ybor City (near Tampa) and Palatka, Florida. By mid-March 1981, 614 would conclude her Florida excursions with two days of roundtrips from Jacksonville, Florida to Savannah, Georgia.
Upon completing the excursion trains in Florida, Ross Rowland guided 614 north on a ferry run to Richmond, Virginia via Charleston, South Carolina, Hamlet & Raleigh, North Carolina. 614’s departure from Florida, would be the last time steam powered excursion trains would ever tour the state on mainline railroad lines.
Chessie Safety Express: Season Two
Another chapter in 614’s history would be written in spring 1981. After successfully leading excursion trains in Florida that same year, 614 was commissioned yet again by the Chessie System (now on paper known as CSX Transportation) to lead season two of the Chessie Safety Express (CSE) and its Operation Lifesaver on a multi-month set of tours during six months in 1981. Season Two of the Safety Express would take 614 to new parts of the country she had never traversed, since her completion back in June 1948.
The second season of the CSE was an even more extensive operational effort for 614 ushering in a broader set of tours, a longer passenger train in tow – four cars were added to her consist – and even more media attention both to her and to the grade-crossing safety message. From documentary style videos being created, to magazine, TV, and radio coverage, 614 and the CSE were in the media limelight.
During the 1981 Safety Express season of tours, 614 would lead 24 rail cars starting in April 1981 from St. Louis, Missouri to Flora, Illinois. After that first segment, the CSE made its way to cities including: Washington, Indiana, Cincinnati, Lima (where she was built), Columbus, Ohio, Russell and Louisville, Kentucky, Detroit, Michigan, Gran Rapids, Chicago, Akron, and Pittsburgh. From there, she slowly made her way south with excursion train segments taking her back to Cumberland and Brunswick, Maryland, Baltimore, Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, Richmond, Virginia, and Newport News for the 200th anniversary celebration of the Battle of Yorktown and the 100th anniversary of the completion of the C&O Railway lines extension to New News.
From Newport News, after the final legs of the Chessie Safety Express in October and November 1981, 614 headed back north to Richmond, Clifton Forge, Charlottesville, Staunton, Virginia and Huntington & Hinton, West Virginia to lead excursions through the New River Gorge. The final tour of the Chessie Safety Express would end on November 1, 1981, through the New River Gorge via a roundtrip from Huntington to Hinton, West Virginia.
Up to this point in time, the restored 614 had run a total of 67 tours during 1980 and 1981. After these tours, 614 was stored in Hagerstown, Maryland waiting on her next opportunity to shine. In 614 and Ross Rowland fashion, her next chapter would give her the chance to test and boast her technical prowess in a unique manner unlike any other.
Test the 614
In the 1980’s, the cost of oil in America was rising exponentially due to an oil embargo. Railroads utilizing diesel locomotives were looking to increase their fleet’s efficiency and were searching for viable locomotive power alternatives. At that time, the price of coal per ton was cheaper than oil refined to make diesel fuel.
In December 1980, Ross Rowland and a team of mechanical steam experts – including engineer L. Dante Porta – formed the American Coal Enterprises(ACE). The new company was formulated to research cheaper means of powering freight locomotives while making them more environmentally friendly.
To lure investor railroads, and to test the panel of experts’ new steam technological advancements, they needed to perform real-world tests on a working steam locomotive. Enter Rowland’s former C&O number 614. After less than five years sitting dormant in Maryland, in January 1985 Rowland teamed up with the Chessie System Railroad, to bring 614 back under steam hauling revenue, mainline freight service. 614 was outfitted with a wide range of various sensors, cameras, and equipment to test and gather useful data regarding the efficiency of the locomotive. As a result of this effort, 614 was temporarily renamed and renameplated to ‘614-T’.
Upon completion of the test runs, it was determined 614-T used less comparable fuel (coal vs. diesel) than a EMD GP40 diesel locomotive from that era. Though the 614-T battery of tests proved successful, railroads – including the Chessie System – began to lose interest as the global cost of oil began to fall, making coal less attractive as a fuel source for freight train locomotives. With limited investment funds drying up, the ACE 3000 project was shelved.
614 Meet Amtrak
On 614’s return trip back to Maryland, upon completing her test runs from Huntington to Hinton, Ross Rowland worked out an arrangement such that 614 would become the only steam locomotive ever leased by Amtrak to pull one of their revenue passenger trains. One of Amtrak’s routes, known as the ‘Cardinal’, connects Chicago to Washington, D.C.
This Amtrak route is the same route taken many decades prior by 614, and her four sister steam locomotives, where she led the famed C&O first-class passenger trains during the late 1940’s and early 50’s. Amtrak’s Cardinal route connects Chicago on a path through Huntington, snaking through the New River Gorge, over the Allegheny Mountains, across Virginia and terminating in the Nation’s Capital.
On January 30, 1985, 614-T with Ross Rowland at the helm, went into the history books yet again as the only steam locomotive ever leased by Amtrak to lead the Cardinal from Huntington, through the New River Gorge to Hinton, West Virginia. Number 614-T, with a trailing consist of an Amtrak F40 diesel locomotive and Amtrak passenger cars, delivered this portion of the Cardinal’s route, on time reaching mainline track speeds near 80 miles per hour. Upon completion of this historic moment, 614-T would make her way solo back east and put in storage once again waiting for her next opportunity.
A New Decade and New Opportunities
After several years of the successful reemergence of the 614 in the 1980’s, a new decade had the potential to bring new passenger rail service and themed excursion opportunities. Building upon the thousands of miles of excursion trains 614 led, and the widely successful American Freedom Train in the late 1970’s, Ross Rowland began the decade seeking new operational prospects for his famed locomotive.
In 1992, Rowland teamed up with Ralph Weisinger, a long-time friend and successful documentary film maker, to begin the effort of formulating a new excursion train that would celebrate the approaching new millennium and would be a rolling display showcasing new technological advancements. The new operation and excursion train would be called the ‘21st Century Limited’.
During that same year, 614 was temporarily relocated to the B&O Railroad Museum in Baltimore to drum up interest for the new excursion train. She was repainted and had a mockup of her new design and styling with light-blue striped streamlined panels down her running board and tender.
The new excursion train was slated to commence in Florida staring in 1996, led by the re-styled 614, and an assisting steam locomotive the NYC Mohawk number 3001. The 21st Century Limited would carry 600 artifacts – both from the 20th Century and future technology slated for the 21st – and travel around the country covering over 30,000 miles and landing in approximately 75 cities.
Like the American Freedom Train in the late 1970’s, the 21st Century Limited would be a rolling pop-up style exhibit with temporary corporate pavilions set up at each destination city with attractions, food and entertainment being provided alongside the various exhibits. For an undertaking of this scale, much like the American Freedom Train, multiple corporate sponsors would be required to aid in funding the expedition. The projected attendance was set at 50 million people spanning a four-year period between 1996 through 2000.
Sadly, the 21st Century Limited would never come to fruition as internal turmoil within the company and a loss of corporate sponsors plagued the themed excursion train’s operation. The 1990’s ultimately would not be a complete write-off for 614’s legacy, as she was about to be thrust into a different type of operation, experienced by millions that would give her more media attention than she had ever experienced.
The Second Restoration
On the heels of the failed 21st Century Limited efforts in 1995, 614 was moved to the New Hope and Ivyland Railroad in New Hope, Pennsylvania. There, 614 would go back to the shops for a complete overhaul and restoration to bring her up to FRA standards for mainline rail service.
In New Hope, Pennsylvania 614 would receive a complete overhaul that addressed the maintenance issues from years of previous service including modifications with updated controls to ready her for a new round of multi-year excursions in the neighboring states of New Jersey and New York. Beginning in 1996, in conjunction with New Jersey Transit and the Volunteer Railroaders Association, 614 would lead multiple, roundtrip excursions from Hoboken, New Jersey to Port Jervis, New York.
This chapter in 614’s legacy is one that would introduce her, and steam locomotives for that matter, to a new group of individuals – both young and old – into a region of the country she had not previously travelled. The New Jersey to New York excursions would bring her media coverage and fans from all over. Railfans from all over the United States, Europe, and Australia would travel to Hoboken for the opportunity to be a passenger on the new excursion series led by the legendary 614.
The excursions from 1996 through 1998 proved very successful. 614 led multiple segments most with 26 passenger cars taking on average 800 enthusiasts and travelers each trip up steep grades at compulsory track speeds, on mainline segments where a sustained 79 mph was required, across iconic railroad features such as the Moodna Viaduct – in Salisbury Hills, New York – all to reach Port Jervis, New York. In Port Jervis, the city the refurbished and existing 115 feet long turntable in the old Conrail train yards. This was part of the requirements for a successful operation since it was the only location available to turn around the 112 feet long 614 locomotive for her return trips back to Hoboken.
During those three years, 614 would be at the subject of multiple newspaper articles, video documentaries, and countless personal videos and photographs by fans. During this time, she and Ross Rowland would appear on a segment of the Today Show talking about 614 and the season of excursion trains through New York and New Jersey.
A New Millennium
The former C&O number 614 would sit idle, waiting on her next opportunity for nearly ten years. However, the new millennium would usher in more interesting chapters in 614’s legacy.
In 2009, CSX Transportation sold the famed Greenbrier Hotel to the Justice Family Group, led by local entrepreneur Jim Justice. The Group would update and transform the resort by emphasizing the golf course, adding a casino, and public tours were started in the former secret government bunker built under the resort back in the 1950’s.
To bolster overnight stays at the resort and to aid in funding the Justice Family upgrades to the hotel, Jim would team up with Ross Rowland for a luxury passenger train led by 614 with continual roundtrips from Washington, D.C. to the existing Amtrak train station directly in front of the resort in White Sulphur Springs.
In 2009, Jim Justice formulated and financed the ‘Greenbrier Express Company’ whose sole mission was to build America’s first and only first-class passenger train running between the Nations Capital and the Greenbrier Resort. Ross Rowland and his famed 614 steam locomotive would be a major part of this new operation.
The Greenbrier Presidential Express was planned to consist of 17 total cars, which included two baggage cars and fifteen luxury, first-class passenger cars, to transport 210 guests from Washington, D.C. to White Sulphur Springs every Tuesday and return them back to the Nation’s Capital on the following Sundays. The Presidential Express would take passengers on the same route 614, and her sister Class J-3a locomotives, led passenger trains on back in the late 1940’s and 50’s, and the same route as the modern-day Amtrak Cardinal route, all through towns and cities for which 614 was originally built to operate. Inaugural operation of the Express was schedule to start on July 8, 2012.
For a brief period in January 2011, while still boasting her original all-black and silver-white paint scheme, number 614 was moved in tow by various diesel locomotives – not under her own steam power – to the Virginia Museum of Transportation in Roanoke for their ‘Thoroughbreds of Steam’ exhibit. There 614 would sit on display with the famed Norfolk and Southern Class J, 4-8-4 steam locomotive number 611 and various other rail cars and locomotives at the transportation museum. In May of that year, and after the end of the exhibit, 614 was relocated in tow back to the historic rail town of Clifton Forge, Virginia to the C&O Railway Heritage Center operated by the Chesapeake & Ohio Historical Society. There, 614 was completely repainted in the new ‘Greenbrier Presidential Express’ paint scheme in a striking green and gold paint scheme.
Sadly, in another twist of fate in 614’s long history, in September 2014 the Greenbrier Presidential Express project was put on hiatus and never fully realized. Multiple factors led to the demise of the GPE including a lack of continued funding and securing track rights over the busy CSX-owned track corridor – serving both freight and Amtrak passenger trains – between the Greenbrier Resort and D.C. The passenger cars and diesel locomotives were eventually sold as the project dismantled. To this day the C&O number 614 still resides in Clifton Forge, Virginia at the C&O Railway Heritage Center still boasting her Greenbrier Presidential Express paint scheme.
The Yellow Ribbon Express
Fast forward less than a year. In February 2015, Ross Rowland announced a concept for a new themed train excursion that would include number 614. Rowland proposed a new three-year, 125 city tour on the scale of the American Freedom Train, from the late 1970’s. Dubbed American Freedom Train 2.0, the new ‘Yellow Ribbon Express’ was planned to tour all forty-eight states in the U.S. from 2017 through 2020.
Per Rowland, the multiyear traveling exhibit would have two major goals. The first, “a national loud and proud thank you” for the American military veterans who served since the 9/11 attack. Second, was a fundraising effort to reach a goal of $1 Billion to aid all wounded veterans since 2001. “It’s a thank you from the 99 percent of us to the 1 percent of us who have done the heavy lifting,” – Ross Rowland. The exhibit train would be led by three rotating steam locomotives, with number 614 serving the lead. Per Rowland, “It will be a spectacle. Steam will draw people to the train. It will be a happening. “
Though much effort was amassed to bring the modern themed excursion train to fruition and provide 614 a new opportunity to lead passenger trains once again, the project never got off the ground. Once again, the future of 614 was uncertain after the demise of two back-to-back excursion trains she was more than capable of leading.
614’s Future
The story of the legendary former Chesapeake & Ohio number 614 is one of vacillation – great service and patience to be called upon to serve. She has been both neglected and restored multiple times throughout her seventy-five-year history. Currently, as many times prior, the future of 614 is uncertain.
While there are many concepts and proposed efforts to bring 614 back in service and operational performing what she does best – lead passengers through scenic and challenging terrains and locations – nothing currently is definite. To successfully get a new themed train excursion similar to the previous operations led by 614, would take multiple corporate sponsorships and tens of millions dollars.
Rowland has several ideas regarding the future of 614. One being a newly formulated ‘American Freedom Train 2.0‘ operation like, but on a grander scale, the American Freedom Train he led in the mid-1970’s. However, since 614 has been sitting idle not operating under her own steam since the late 1990’s, major capital investment and another extensive third refurbishment – costing several million dollars – would be required to get her track-ready and to adhere to current federal regulations.
614 has endured and overcome numerous obstacles during her seventy-five year legacy. She is an icon in the history of transportation in America, one that should not be overlooked or forgotten, but rather celebrated and remembered.
In yet another twist in her fate, the Chesapeake & Ohio number 614, the epitome of steam locomotive technology in America – the last and greatest commercially built passenger steam locomotive in the United States – is prohibited by the same railroad that brought the steel thoroughbred into existence to flex her might in her own pasture.
Unlike other Class I railroads in the U.S. that have embraced their steam locomotive history – such as the Union Pacific – CSX Transportation banned the operation of any steam locomotives and all antique railroad equipment on their tracks due to the railroad’s perceived potential risk and safety concerns.
Many hope that one day CSXT will sunset their official policy since 1995 of “no steam on its own wheels” and embrace the 614 legacy, and allow her to operate on their rails as she was intended: running fast, conquering mountains, and inspiring millions along the way.
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About the Author
J. Daniel Jenkins, RA, NCARB, LEED AP is a licensed Architect, a published author, a former Walt Disney Imagineer, and former theme park and themed entertainment design consultant with over twenty four years of Commercial + Themed Entertainment design, design management, and A&E subject matter expertise. Jenkins’ themed entertainment experience includes projects in: the Magic Kingdom Fantasyland Expansion, the Disney’s Hollywood Studios Expansion, and Universal’s new Epic Unvierse theme park. Currently, Jenkins is President | Owner of Holihoon Media LLC, and is also the Founder | Chief Editor of themeparkarchitect.com who’s goal is to teach individuals about theme park architecture, engineering, and design, how to become theme park architects and designers, and discuss themed entertainment centric topics and travel from an insider’s persepctive.