Photos by ERIC BRADY The Roanoke Times

Workers on Friday move the boiler from an old locomotive to a flatbed trailer to take it to the Virginia Museum of Transportation.

Above: A truck carries the boiler of an old steam locomotive down Jefferson Street to the Virginia Museum of Transportation. Below: A worker severs the locomotive's boiler from the chassis to ready it for travel.

Above: A truck carries the boiler of an old steam locomotive down Jefferson Street to the Virginia Museum of Transportation. Below: A worker severs the locomotive's boiler from the chassis to ready it for travel.

How often does a steam locomotive go down the middle of Jefferson Street in Roanoke?

Pretty often, apparently, since it happened Friday and no one seemed to notice. The Norfolk and Western Railway-made class M2 1151, which has been rusting in a scrap yard for almost 60 years, was finally hauled away to the Virginia Museum of Transportation on Friday afternoon. It was deposited near the Fifth Street bridge to await restoration.

Two other steam locomotives also will be removed from the scrap yard in coming weeks. Saving the locomotives had long been a priority for steam buffs, who dubbed them "The Lost Engines of Roanoke."

"This is like a dream come true," said Bev Fitzpatrick, executive director of the museum, as workers labored to unload the decrepit steam engine onto a siding behind the museum's rail yard.

He said the museum's immediate goal of saving the engines has been met. However, restoration of the 1151, which is badly rusted and has numerous missing parts, could take a long while.

"I'd like to think it would be done in my lifetime," he said, "but I have no idea."

Moving the engine from behind the former Virginia Scrap Iron and Metal Co. to the museum Friday proved an all-day affair. The locomotive's boiler was separated from its chassis to lighten the load, and the two pieces were moved on separate trucks. As the first truck headed away from the siding about noon, lugging the locomotive's boiler, its left front tire shredded on a piece of scrap metal.

Both trucks finally left the scrap yard and headed down Jefferson Street sometime after 3 p.m. The trucks passed the main library, a pub, a tobacco shop, a couple of banks and Corned Beef and Co. before making a wide left turn onto Salem Avenue and heading toward the museum.

Few people paid them much mind. The old locomotive's rusty boiler passed scant feet from a pickup truck waiting at the stoplight on Salem, and the driver never turned his head.

A block away, artist Suzun Hughes was walking her dogs on the sidewalk.

And what did Hughes think of the steam locomotive that just passed by a dozen feet away?

"I missed it," admitted Hughes, who once spent hours photographing the "Lost Engines" in the scrap yard. Hughes did hike to the museum for a look, once she learned the engine had gone there.

It was behind the museum, where it was unloaded, that the 1151 finally drew a crowd. Among the rail fans and photographers gathered there were Caris Cranwell, 5, and her father, Richard Cranwell. The Cranwells live not far from the scrap yard, and Caris has seen the "Lost Engines" often.

Caris said she is a fan of steam locomotives. "Like, I love their wheels, and I love their whistles and I love their big squeak."

Will she come back to see the 1151 after it's all fixed up?

"Oh, yeah."

The two remaining steam locomotives and two historic diesels will also be removed from the scrap yard in coming weeks. All the engines were saved in a complicated arrangement involving the museum, Goshen lumberyard owner Will Harris and the Portsmouth-based Railroad Museum of Virginia, which bankrolled the moves in exchange for one of the locomotives.

Harris, who is handling the moving, said Friday's move went "about like I expected," despite the flat tire. "It's gone pretty smooth."

Harris also revealed he has traded the third steam locomotive, which was to be his, to the Roanoke chapter of the National Railway Historical Society in return for a smaller switch engine.

The historical society will receive the N&W class M2 1118 sometime late next week, and plans to restore it in Roanoke in the coming months, chapter Vice President Ed Mooneyham said. Volunteer restorers are welcome. Visit roanokenrhs.org.