MTH ELECTRIC TRAINS

The first modern design steam engine on the Norfolk and Western, the Y-6 class was an awesome figure on the popular railroad. The Y6b engine, called the "workhorse of the N&W," was particularly well suited to mountain terrain, and its engineers said it was unstoppable as it labored its way up a grade. Often used to power coal trains, the Y6 and improved Y5 class engines packed so much power they were rated at only two locomotives for a 10,300 pound load on the tough Radford Division eastbound Allegheny climb. Weighing more than 600,000 pounds and producing more than 150,000 pounds of tractive effort, the 2-8-8-2 Mallet was up to any task put before it. Thirty new Y6b engines built at the Roanoke shops between 1948 and 1950 were the last compound articulated steam locomotives built in North America. The reliable and powerful modern Class Y6 engines were the final steam engines retired in 1960 when the N&W completed its transition to diesel power.