Revenue service

In the early 1910s, the Norfolk and Western Railway (N&W) ordered a fleet of 4-6-2 "Pacific" type locomotives from the American Locomotive Company (ALCO) in order to expand their passenger locomotive fleet.^[1] Sixteen E2 class 4-6-2s were built at ALCO's former Richmond Locomotive Works plant in Richmond, Virginia in March 1910, being numbered 564-579, and No. 578 was the second-final member of the class.^[1] Two years later, in 1912, No. 578, along with the rest of the E2 class locomotives, was modified with superheated flues, and it was reclassified as an E2a.^[1]

The N&W initially assigned their fleet of 4-6-2's to pull the railroad's high-priority passenger trains on their mainline throughout Virginia, West Virginia, and Ohio.^[1] Between 1917 and 1944, No. 578 was primarily used to pull passenger trains throughout the Scioto Division out of Columbus, Ohio. As time progressed, No. 578 and the rest of the N&W's 4-6-2s were reassigned to pull short-distance passenger trains, as well as communiter trains on branchlines, when the K class 4-8-2 "Mountain" types and J class 4-8-4 "Northerns" were built and assigned to pull the high-priority trains. Towards the end of the 1940s, No. 578's original tender was replaced with a larger tender with the same coal and water capacity as a K1 class 4-8-2.

The locomotive subsequently spent the remainder of its revenue career pulling local passenger trains on the N&W’s Norton Branch between Norton, Virginia and Bluefield, West Virginia alongside some of its remaining classmates.^[2] The locomotive completed its final revenue passenger run in December 1958 before it was removed from the N&W's active list.

Preservation

While the rest of the N&W's fleet of 4-6-2's were sold for scrap, No. 578 was donated to the Central Ohio Railfan Association of Worthington, Ohio in 1959. Upon arrival in Worthington, No. 578 was still in operational condition. Beginning on July 10, 1960, No. 578 pulled the association's short-distance tourist trains, and the locomotive carried over 3,000 passengers during that year's operating season.^[3] In 1966, No. 578's flue time expired, and it had to be removed from service. Volunteers subsequently spent the next four years repairing No. 578's boiler in order to return the locomotive to service. Restoration work was completed in 1970, and No. 578 pulled some more tourist trains on the now-slightly extended line for the Association, which changed its name to the Ohio Railway Museum (ORM).

By the end of the 1970s, it was discovered that No. 578 had a broken spring hanger, which was deemed too expensive to repair or replace. A decision was subsequently made to further remove No. 578 from service and keep it as a permanent static display piece. As of 2024, No. 578 remains on static display on ORM's property.