Twelve years before her eventual rescue, Norfolk & Western 1118 looked for all the world like a lost engine engine abandoned in the Amazon jungle, August 10, 1997. The locomotive is now being restored by the Roanoke Chapter, NRHS.

The Lost Engines of Roanoke website was launched in 1997 as a call to action to save four little-known survivors of the steam era. Hidden among the creepers at the Virginia Scrap Iron and Metal Co. yard on South Jefferson Street in Roanoke, Virginia, were four steam engines that time forgot. Norfolk & Western locomotives 917, 1118, 1134, and 1151 had been sold for scrap in 1950, at which time the N&W was still building new steam locomotives and had yet to order a single diesel. For nearly sixty years they awaited their fate, later accompanied by vintage Baldwin diesels Chesapeake Western 662 and 663 among other rolling stock.

Today, these "lost engines" are lost no more, with all of the locomotives and rolling stock from the Roanoke scrapyard having found new homes in preservation. Although they are saved from scrap, the process of transforming them from rusting scrapyard hulks into lovingly restored museum pieces is ongoing. This website will continue to support these restoration efforts, and to tell the remarkable story of the "Lost Engines" of Roanoke, along with other similar tales of scrapyard survival from around the country.

Where are they now?

• N&W 917 (W2 2-8-0) - Buckeye Express Diner, Bellville, Ohio
• N&W 1118 (M2 4-8-0) - Roanoke Chapter, NRHS 9th Street Yard, Roanoke
• N&W 1134 (M2 4-8-0) - Railroad Museum of Virginia, Portsmouth
• N&W 1151 (M2c 4-8-0) - Virginia Museum of Transportation, Roanoke
• CW 662 (Baldwin diesel) - Virginia Museum of Transportation, Roanoke
• CW 663 (Baldwin diesel) - Roanoke Chapter, NRHS 9th Street Yard, Roanoke
• N&W 15,000 gallon tender - Virginia Museum of Transportation, Roanoke (displayed with N&W 1151)
• N&W 16,000 gallon tender - Railroad Museum of Virginia, Portsmouth (displayed with N&W 1134)
• N&W flat car - North Fork Lumber, Goshen, Virginia
• N&W hopper cars - Virginia Museum of Transportation, Roanoke (3) and North Fork Lumber, Goshen (1)

Web site by Richard Jenkins.
For more information, please e-mail: rjenkins@railfan.net

A big THANK YOU to the following people who have contributed information and/or resources to make this site possible: Tom vonTrott, Laura K. Smith at Virginia Tech, Rhonda Howard at Norfolk Southern, Lori Swingle at the Denver Public Library, Nathaniel Guest, Ken Miller, Jerry Murphy, Eddie Dove, and Richard Glueck