Like the 611, John Otey was born and raised in Roanoke, Virginia. His love for the 611 started when he was five years old, and 611 is still the locomotive he loves the most.  

John saw the 611 standing still and in operation with her steam rising and whistle blowing. In the 1990s, as a member of the Roanoke Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society, he worked the 611 excursions.  

"I've been waiting to see her in operation again for a long time. When they put the call out for volunteers, I told the mechanical team that a broom fits nicely in my hand, and that I would do any and all scut work required - anything to be a part of the restoration."

And that's how John Otey, the athletic director for Jefferson Forest High School, in Forest, Virginia, spent his summer vacation away from the classroom and the athletic fields.

"I've been under the 611, on top of the 611, in the firebox, inside the boiler, in the frame. I've been everywhere I wanted to be," he said. "The more pieces that come off the locomotive, the more respect I have for the physics and engineering that went into her design." 

Today, computers and algorithms do much of the calculating when it comes to engineering and industrial design, but in the late 1930s and early 1940s, teams of engineers, physicists and drafters did the calculating by hand with slide rules. "It is a perfectly engineered locomotive, and to think that a locomotive engineered and built by hand in 1950 can be restored to run - using the same engineering and design - in 2014 is amazing to me."

Thank you, John, for spending your summer vacation with the 611.