It was nicknamed "the Jawn Henry" after the legend of John Henry, a rock driller who famously raced against a steam drill and won, only to die immediately afterwards.

It was designed to demonstrate the advantages of steam turbines espoused by Baldwin Chief Engineer Ralph P. Johnson.

[1] The unit looked similar to the C&O turbines but differed mechanically; it was a C+C-C+C with a Babcock & Wilcox water-tube boiler with automatic controls.

The boiler controls were sometimes problematic, and (as with the C&O turbines) coal dust and water got into the electric traction motors.

Number 2300 was retired, stricken from the N&W roster on January 4, 1958 and scrapped later in 1961.