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Norfolk and Western 578 is a preserved 4-6-2 "Pacific" type steam locomotive. Built by ALCO's Richmond Works in 1910, No. 578 was assigned to pull premiere passenger trains for the Norfolk and Western Railway before it was downgraded to secondary passenger service. It was retired from revenue service altogether in 1958, and it was subsequently donated to the Ohio Railway Museum in Worthington, Ohio. The Ohio Railway Museum used No. 578 to pull some tourist trains on their trackage, until it was sidelined as a result of firebox issues in the early 1970s. As of 2022, No. 578 remains on static display next to the Ohio Railway Museum's depot.
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 was among a few other E2 class locomotives that were modified with superheated flues, and it was reclassified as an E2a.[1]