N&W colleagues
The locomotive was built by the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors in 1958. The Norfolk &amp; Western Railway was one of the last Class 1 railroads to dieselize, starting in 1959. Part of their main traffic was coal from West Virginia to the Tidewater section of Virginia, and the railroad kept using steam power to show its continued usefulness. The GP-9 locomotive developed 1750 horsepower from its 567-C prime mover. The Norfolk and Western Railway's J class steam locomotives were a class of 4-8-4 locomotives built by the railway's East End Shops located in Roanoke, Virginia between 1941 and 1950. The 'J's were leaving just as the GP9's were arriving. 