A MOST WORTHWHILE MAN:

Scott Lindsay relishes the fact that his grownup job allows him to indulge his boyhood passion: tinkering with trains.

"My dad was interested in steam trains," said Lindsay. "I was just three or four years old when he'd take me to visit train museums in New York and New Jersey."

Decades later, Lindsay, 56, is among a handful of experts in the country with deep technical knowledge about historic steam locomotives.

His Birmingham, Ala.-based Steam Operations Corporation specializes in rebuilding and preserving historic engines and other railroad equipment.

The firm's latest project involves getting the "Class J 611" steam locomotive restored and operational for the Virginia Museum of Transportation in Roanoke, Va. When it's ready, the museum plans to use the 611 for tourist excursions.

Between 1941 and 1950, railway company Norfolk and Western (which later became Norfolk Southern) built 14 J Class steam passenger engines numbered 600 to 613.

The "611" was built and weighs a massive 378,000 lbs. It was the last of J Class engines to operate, and is the only one still in existence.

"The 611 is arguably the most modern steam locomotive in existence in the U.S. today," said Lindsay. "It truly represents state of the art steam locomotive technology."

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