N&W 611 at Speed, Roanoke-Petersburg-Norfolk, April 1983

Norfolk & Western 4-8-4 No. 611 had just been restored to service the previous fall when we went to see her in April 1983. It was the first time out with my new stereo microphones, and one of my last times out with Super-8 film. So while the sound is spectacular, the video is less so, particularly when the exposure was off. In those first years, they really let 611 fly, particularly on the long, flat straightways between Petersburg and Norfolk. I had a fast V8 then, and we still could not get ahead of her there.