NS to release 18 heritage units

Kinda bummed no Lackawanna -- I'm guessing they decided it was too similar to the EL.

 

Either way, pretty sweet!

 

Brian

WOW Best railfan news since Amtrak's Heritage engines!

 

OK, BNSF, CSX, your turn.

 

 

 

Ed Mullan

Cool!!!

The Wabash and NYC sound sweet..  but then again, the PRR and NKP sound even better...

Joe

 

That was my guess too.  I am surprised there was no CNJ

CNJ in either blue and tangerine or the green with yellow toothpaste stripes would be excellent.  I wonder if there's an issue with the logo...or did the CNJ rights go to CSX?

 

Brian

Not the upcoming units, but a neat photo shoot with some heritage GP30s:

 

http://www.nscorp.com/nscportal/nscorp/Community/NS_Store_Calendar_Photos/30th_anniversary/#&panel1-3

What an amazing thing to do. It seems the RR companies in America are really doing a great job honoring the history. Things are so different from how they were 30-40 years ago. For us hobbyists, it just adds a huge bunch of fallen flags that can be run prototypically with our modern rosters.

Thanks for the great pics from the NS site, great to see.

Here's the official press release:

 

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NORFOLK, Va. — To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Norfolk & Western/Southern merger in 1982, Norfolk Southern plans to honor many of the railroads that make up the present day NS system. As Union Pacific did a half-decade ago, NS plans to create a fleet of heritage locomotives, though NS’s plans are bigger: 18 units honoring a wide variety of predecessor roads.

The locomotives will be 10 SD70ACes on order from EMD that are being constructed at its Muncie, Ind., plant, and eight ES44ACs from an upcoming order for 25 units from GE. While EMD will paint all 10 heritage units in-house, NS forces will paint the eight GEs. The railroad’s Altoona, Pa., shop will paint five, while the Chattanooga, Tenn., shop will handle three heritage units.

The 18 predecessor railroads selected for heritage paint are:

• Central of Georgia
• Conrail
• Erie
• Erie Lackawanna
• Lehigh Valley (red)
• New Haven (not definite yet)
• New York Central
• Nickel Plate Road
• Norfolk & Western (blue)
• Penn Central
• Pennsylvania (Tuscan Red)
• Pittsburgh & West Virginia
• Reading
• Savannah & Atlanta
• Southern
• Tennessee, Alabama & Georgia
• Virginian
• Wabash

NS plans to recreate the paint schemes as accurately as possible. By contrast, UP used the old railroads’ logos and colors, but created new interpretations on the old liveries. 

 

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I am looking forward to seeing that NKP unit!

 It will be interesting to see which parts of the NS system the various units will call "home".  One thing for sure, there are going to be a lot of railfans out trying to photograph these beauties when the roll through.

I'm not sure who owns the CNJ logo, but I know CSX got the rights to NYC, so I'm surprised to see that unit

Good Day,

 

I would love to see a 21^st Century Nickel Plate Road ES44AC.

 

Regards,

Swafford

 

 

Hopefully nobody gets an exclusive licence similar to the Lionel/MTA.

Will be interesting to see if Lionel were to do the ES44's, if it'll be in ABS or the more expensive diecast body.

Joe

I see they are doing another Southern unit...guess that explains why they repainted the last one into NS black.  I am looking forward to the Wabash, NYC and NKP.  Should be a great looking group.

Pretty excited about these!!!

 

is it just me or will the Penn Central heritage unit be pretty boring?? 

Bring on the CofG baby! I hope they use one of the GE units for it but I will still be excited if they use the EMD.

 

CofG

"The Right Way"

The CofG will be a GEVO accd to what I heard. Also, the NH may be replaced with the original NS.

However this program shakes down, it will be  wonderful. As fans. let us try to not get nit-picky and overly criticize the offerings.  "Why didn't they do the ????????? in the XXXXXX scheme?  That sort of thing.  I am also pleased that original schemes, not artsy mods will be used.

 

What NS is doing here and with the steamers is quite a tonic for one such as me, battling the cancer demon.  My doc says that anything that boosts my spirits will help. so I say THANK YOU to whomever came up with this tonic, and am already picturing the NKP coming thru Muncie once agin.  Time groweth short for me, so get the paint shops in gear, please.  If the NKP is built in Muncie, that will really ice the cake.

 

Gevo CofG, cooooooool.

 

CofG

"The Right Way"

Honestly, I thought this was going to be an April fool's joke.  But really, it sounds great!

It's you. I like the PC scheme.

 

A couple of these are actually predecessor lines to CSX, too, like Conrail, Penn Central, and a few others that were split up when Conrail was divided between CSX and NS.

I hope they do the PC unit with the red P. I thought it was all a joke when I first heard it too

 

I'll admit to being stunned by this news; absolutely, positively never thought this would happen. 

 

Kudos to Wick and the other senior NS officers and board members who are making this possible!

 

Curt

Thank you, Frank Swafford for the encouraging words!  I have not seen a time line for the construction of the Muncie locos, but hope some extra publicity is heaped on the NKP and NYC "home town" power, if they are indeed built there.  The track serving the facility is former NKP.  Has it been said yet which locos will wear what schemes??

This is terrific. I am looking forward to the Wabash unit, and am interested in how the PC unit will turn out. This will be a boon for MTH, Lionel et al....we should get a slew of new locos in these schemes from them.

Well, the PC unit will have to have a white or yellow reflective stripe running along the frame...

 

Rusty

That's some awesome news!  

 

But no CNJ.........WHAT?!?!

What I've been told is that most if not all CNJ trackage is operated under Conrail Shared Assets, so NS doesn't own any CNJ track.  Which would leave me to believe that the NH unit has to be a mistake.  

Here is the latest breakdown of units - 

 

SD70ACe : Savannah & Atlanta , Pittsburgh & West Virginia , Penn Central , Reading , Erie , Erie Lackawanna , Virginian , New Haven or 1960`s Norfolk Southern , New York Central , Wabash.

ES44AC : Conrail , N&W , Pennsy , Lehigh Valley , Nickle Plate Road , Southern Green : E8 style , Tennessee Alabama & Georgia , Central of Georgia.

I've got to figure out a way to get the 765 together with the Norfolk Southern Nickel Plate Road Heritage Unit. I'll have to get to work on that.

This is good news, and I only see 2 things wrong with it...

 

1. The closest NS main is on the Southern Tier, and its at least a 2 hour drive for me.

 

2. Lionel is going to make one, and now I have to spend the money to buy my first "modern" unit.  Currently, my roster's chronologically "newest" unit is a GP-20.

 

That is unless they do a Cigar Band instead of the black lightning stripes...  I bet they do the orange / white "mating worms" for the PC.  Luckily, they have already made an SD-90!

Well, it would seem Lionel spoke too soon when it brought out their own version of the fictional Norfolk Southern heritage units.  Lets hope they decide to bring out versions of the new heritage units.

Can you say NYC lightning stripes

Ha ha ha....yes.....yes it will....

Don't all locomotives have to have yellow or white refloective striping along the side of the frame?

Yes...loco's and freight cars if they cross over public or private highway grade crossings and are used for revenue service they do and I belive work train's also.  I believe loco's and cars used exclusively in passenger service do not....go figure.

I don't think Wick would have any problem with that either.