Norfolk Southern
Norfolk Southern is a class 1 railway in North America that serves the Eastern United States and headquartered in Norfolk ,VA. The railroad formed as a result of the merger between the Norfolk and Western, and the Southern Railway in 1982. The divisions the railroad operates are split up into different divisions including Lake, Dearborn, Illonois, Alabama, Georgia, Piedmont, Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, and Pocohontas.
World Famous Horseshoe Curve
Norfolk Southern operates the trackage that runs through the world famous Horseshoe Curve. The curve was created in 1854 by the PRR in order for the railroad to bypass the Allegheny mountains. This locatiom sees 80 to 100 trains daily and is a hot spot for railfanners.
Paint Schemes
Thoroughbred
The NS throughbred scheme consisted of the entire locomotive painted black with white stripes on
the nose and rear, which the horse logo in the middle. On the side of the locomtive, the slanted NS
symbol appears.
Horsehead
The horsehead scheme is similar to the thoroughbred scheme with the differences being the
white brow near the numberboards and the horse logo embedded into the logo on the sides.
Heritage Units
One of the most notable aspects about NS that attracts attention is their heritage units.
These were painted for each of the railroads predecessors,and include Conrail, original NS, Monoghalea, LEhigh Valley, Reading “Bee Line Service”CNJ, Lackawanna, Erie, Penn Central, PRR, NYC,Interstate, Wabash,NKP, Central of Georgia, Savannah and Atlanta, Virginian, Illinois Terminal, N&W, and Southern. These locomotives are all GE ES44AC’s and EMD SD70ACe’s.
In this shot, they are pictured at the Heritage Unit event in Spencer, NC in 2012.
