the original Norfolk Southern

The old Norfolk & Southern ran by my house in eastern NC as well, …..it was a class 1 railroad absorbed by Southern Ry. & then naturally the big merger of Southern & the N&W …..FDR rode on N&S rails into Elizabeth City NC, on one of his whistle stop tours, …..

Pat

@harmonyards posted:

The old Norfolk & Southern ran by my house in eastern NC as well, …..it was a class 1 railroad absorbed by Southern Ry. & then naturally the big merger of Southern & the N&W …..FDR rode on N&S rails into Elizabeth City NC, on one of his whistle stop tours, …..

Pat

that FDR tidbit is interesting

the original NS is one of those railroads that makes me wish for a delorean time machine

My understanding was that the original Norfolk Southern continued to operate under that name until around 1981, but was under Southern control starting around 1971.  Not sure whether Southern had any locomotives sublettered for Norfolk Southern like they did for other subsidiaries.

I spent a fair amount of time in central North Carolina in the 1960s and 1970s, but my first conscious contact with the original Norfolk Southern was seeing some 50' boxcars in the early 1980s.  I also remember seeing the old Boylan Tower, plus a couple of NS train stations in their original green.  While the cement gray paint scheme was OK I wish I had been able to see NS locomotives in the old red scheme.  Steam on the original NS would have been before my time.

My uncle was a produce/truck farmer who lived and farmed in Bayside, VA.  The NS had a line through his property from Norfolk to Little Creek to supply the naval base.  I loved being trackside to see the daily trains pass but was too young to care much about the details of the little steam engines. I knew that they whistled, smoked, and the engineer waved.  Long ago, that line was removed and the route became the highway to enter the Bay Bridge to the Eastern Shore of Virginia. Wonderful memories!

thank for sharing guys these stories make me wish i had a time machine

We've got one of their cabooses, built in 1913. Scroll about 1/3 down

https://www.triangletrain.com/exhibits/