Most Alco fans head for the Northeast’s safe haven of Alco-operating short line railroads. But viewing Virginia’s only Alco short line requires a visit to Shenandoah Valley Railroad (SVRR).
The SVRR is a 20.1-mile railroad between Staunton, Va., and Pleasant Valley, Va., along the intersection of Interstates 81 and 64 in the Commonwealth’s Shenandoah Valley. It interchanges with the Buckingham Branch Railroad at Staunton, Va., and Norfolk Southern at Pleasant Valley, Va. The SVRR is a sister railroad to the Durbin & Greenbrier Valley Railroad (DGVR) located in Elkins, W.Va., an operator of freight and tourist railroads including West Virginia’s Cass Scenic Railroad.
The SVRR typically operates five days a week with a three-locomotive roster, including former Baltimore & Ohio Electro-Motive Division GP9 No. 6512, former Chesapeake & Ohio EMD GP9 No. 5940, and former Norfolk & Western Alco RS11m No. 367. DGVR/SVRR officials restored No. 367 to operating condition in the mid-2010s after acquiring the locomotive from Indiana’s now defunct Louisville, New Albany & Corydon Railroad. (The former LNAC is now owned by the LNAC’s former customer, Lucas Oil.)
As part of its rehabilitation in Virginia, No. 367 received a N&W-inspired black-and-gold paint scheme, honoring its ancestry, but lettered for the Shenandoah Valley.
N&W took delivery of the locomotive in November 1958 as N&W No. 367. It was one of 99 RS11s ordered by the railroad, Nos. 308-406. As EMD power took a stronghold on N&W’s roster, No. 367 was sold to Central Vermont Railway and renumbered to No. 3609. The Maine Central Railroad acquired the locomotives years later and adopted its original road number. It would retain this road number after leaving Maine for Indiana’s LNAC.
The DGVR/SVRR railroads are known to pay homage to locomotives’ original lineages through historic paint schemes and maintaining original road numbers. It is also an operator of unique, lesser-known-locomotives in today’s preservation environment, such as its Western Maryland EMD BL2 No. 82, which operates in the Elkins, W.Va., area, both in freight and passenger service.
Today in Virginia, Alco RS11m No. 367 sees regular service, usually paired up with at least one other EMD GP9 to switch out the SVRR’s mix of freight customers. The railroad’s crew typically reports on-duty in the early morning hours at Staunton, Va., before heading toward Pleasant Valley, Va., to switch customers. Staunton is the beginning and end point for the crew’s daily work.
