Purple rain, purple train: The locomotive that Prince would have loved

 When I learned that musician Prince had died Thursday, my mind immediately went back to a concert I’d attended in college in 1982 and to a locomotive and a time and place 32 years ago. The concert was at Chapel Hill, N.C., and the locomotive was Atlantic Coast Line E3 No. 501, which was running excursions on the short-lived Seaboard System Railroad (think in between Family Lines and CSX) out of Erwin, Tenn.

There’s not much I can tell you about the concert except that it was fun, but I can tell you more about the train trip: On a rainy and misty November Sunday in 1984, friends and I followed that purple and gold streamliner in a most unlikely place, the former Clinchfield Railroad. The day before, we rode an excursion from Erwin, Tenn., to St. Paul, Va., and back in gorgeous sunlight with an F7 in Charleston & Western Carolina paint, a Seaboard System F7B, and No. 501 trailing. Being that No. 501 was the last of her kind and had been built up as the world’s highest mileage passenger diesel, it was like going to a concert where the opening act plays for 2 hours and the star hits the stage for 30 minutes.

On the day of our chase, Erwin-to Marion, N.C., No. 501 finally was in the lead for the last lap home, in fog, rain, and mist. About that same time, Prince’s song “Purple Rain” was in widespread airplay on the radio. As we coaxed my Pontiac up the steep dirt road through the Clinchfield Loops, we listened to the music, watched the purple train, and of course, adapted the lyrics for our own use, “Purple Train.” It just fit.

Of course, No. 501 lives today at the place where I’ve volunteered since 1986, the N.C.Transportation Museum at Spencer, and last year for a Norfolk & Western No. 611 we used magnetic lettering to temporarily make her into a faux N&W scab passenger engine of the late 1950s. This photo is from that day. The N&W actually did borrow some ACL units, relettered them, and used them to replace Class J locomotives at the end of steam.

So, when I see No. 501 or photos of her, I always think of Prince’s song “Purple Rain” and a rainy, misty, foggy day with the pride and joy of the Coast Line in a spectacular mountain setting.