611 Excursions

The Powhatan Arrow is a 98-mile morning roundtrip from Roanoke to Lynchburg over the famous Blue Ridge grade. Our journey begins by the renowned N&W East End Shops where 611 and her thirteen sisters were built. Throughout the trip, 611 returns to its roots, taking you along the Powhatan Arrow’s historic route. We will travel up the 1.2% grade that stretches for eight and a half miles over the Blue Ridge Mountains, and pass landmarks such as Boaz Siding where O. Winston Link captured one of his most famous photographs, “The Honey Hole.” This is where steam pushers and the famed steam turbine “Jawn Henry” coupled to the rear of trains to push them over the Blue Ridge grade.

You’ll ride under the Blue Ridge Parkway, and get a peek of the crest of the Blue Ridge. Then, out your window you will see the beloved Peaks of Otter, which Thomas Jefferson once thought to be the highest peaks in Virginia. We’ll pass the former depot for the town of Bedford, home of the National D-Day Memorial. Cross a stunning, high steel bridge over the Big Otter River, then ride past the village of Forest where Thomas Jefferson built a summer home at Poplar Forest, one of Central Virginia’s greatest attractions.