ROANOKE, Va. – Strip by strip by strip… workers affixed vinyl wrapping to the side of the famous 611.
"Well, it started with, obviously, America’s 250th birthday coming up. We had an opportunity to run on the 4th of July weekend, so we started brainstorming how could we make this big," said Zac McGinnis, Steam Operations Manager at the Virginia Museum of Transportation.
Recommended Videos
McGinnis and others knew they wanted to change the look of the steam engine. A wrap seemed to be the best way, but they needed someone to pay for it.
“I’m funding the whole wrap,” said Jay Escamilla, with an extra boost of enthusiasm.
Enter Sunset Models, Third Rail, a Colorado-based boutique high-end manufacturer of model trains, Miniatures that sell for thousands of dollars.
“And I didn’t know if I woke up and I was dreaming, because I never thought I’d have an opportunity like this. And that’s kind of how the whole thing started,” Escamilla said.
All of this - in May 2026, the 76th anniversary of when the newly shined 611 came off the Roanoke assembly line and went into service.
“Well, the 611, of course, is the very last steam locomotive built for North American service in this country, and it was built right here in Roanoke, May 1950, and that’s a pretty significant part of rail history,” said Ken Miller, the chief historian of the Norfolk and Western Historical Society.
“We wanted it to be classy. We wanted, because that’s what the Norfolk and Western class J’s were, simple. So, we did the America 250 logo that we came up with, and we decided to keep the Norfolk and Western lettering and then just do them in red, white, and blue,” explained McGinnis.
So, Miller, a stickler for railway detail, crafted the lettering to match the original from N & W.
“The letters now had to been compressed and modified to the space that’s available. I did that because I’ve done lettering; I provided lettering for 611 when it was restored in 2015,” Miller said.
The love for the 611 spilled over into the community at large. When it came time to bid on the actual wrapping, a company from Danville stepped up.
“So we’re happy to be able to put it together that the actual laying of the vinyl is only gonna take us two days, but we’ve been working on this for about two months,” said Ashley Lumpkins of SOVA Vinyl Pros.
Ashley Lumpkins and her husband usually just wrap cars and smaller vehicles. But she says they really wanted this job. The company worked with Zac and Ken to come up with the design, which is more than just patriotic.
It seems simple. Put a sticker on a train and make it patriotic. But it’s so much more.
The country built the railroads – and the railroads built the country, and now one of the most noted locomotives will help carry that marriage home as she steams through the Virginia Countryside.
“Well, I mean, I’m personally stoked. I mean this I’ve been going through kind of like a whirlwind of emotions the past week where I mean as a kid this is something that you dream of and it essentially feels like a dream come true when I think about it when I see the pictures that have been coming in all week getting the chills and all that I mean it’s mind blowing like being able to be a part of not only I mean something with a real live steam engine but helping write the next chapter of her life and celebrating, I mean, the 250th anniversary of this great nation,” Escamilla said.
The fully wrapped steam engine rolled out for public viewing this past weekend to the cheers of the crowd who clearly appreciate the famous locomotive, and its role in commemorating the next chapter of American history.
“Yeah, well, it doesn’t get more Roanoke than this engine. Community pride when the railroad built these locomotives in town. So we always support our locals, and we wanted to keep this local. The Ken Miller NW Historical Society did the lettering for us. The local rapper in Danville, Virginia, the railroad in Stanton. Local is the way to go. And that’s how we operate. And it just brings community pride. It brings the community together. And something Roanoke and Virginia should be very proud of,” McGinnis said.