Photos from Toledo Train Day May 5, 2012 Amtrak Engine Dining Car Dining Table Roomette Bed Open Roomette Seated position Amtrak Engine National Train Day Toledo Ohio 2012 This year's National Train Day event in Toledo, which is one of the nation's largest such events, was held Saturday, May 5 from 9:30am to 4pm at the Toledo Amtrak Station/Martin Luther King, Jr. Plaza. After the opening ceremony at 9:30 AM, there were model train displays, food, music, freight rail equipment displays, rail art & history, train trip drawings, rides, vendor booths, prizes, kids activities and the Amtrak 40th Anniversary Train! Click Here to View The Latest Present Heritage Units NEW YouTube NS NKP Heritage Locomotive #8100 This link is for a slide show of Nickel Plate Road Heritage Units YouTube Video Click here to view the Springfield Crossing Horns

Major Expansion to Key Norfolk Southern Rail Facility in Ohio Supports the Economy and Moves Freight Project to add 275 new railroad jobs to the community of Bellevue BELLEVUE, Ohio, April 16, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Norfolk Southern (NYSE: NSC) this month will begin a $160 million project to expand its Bellevue rail yard in Northern Ohio, a project that will double the yard's capacity in order to meet rising demand for freight rail transportation. "Bellevue is already an important terminal for the classification and movement of freight, and this investment will expand and modernize Bellevue, contributing to the fluid movement of long-distance freight across our rail system," said Mark Manion, Norfolk Southern's chief operating officer. "This project will help us improve asset utilization and efficiency, enhance customer service, strengthen our entire 22-state system, and further confirm Ohio's importance to freight rail transportation." Some 275 new railroad jobs will be added to the 700 positions currently based in Bellevue. NS employs about 3,600 people across Ohio and plans to hire another 60 in the state by the end of 2012 to address attrition and shipper needs. Other key elements of the project include: 38 new tracks, bringing the total number of classification tracks to 80. 38.5 miles of new rail, which will allow NS to increase the number of cars classified from about 1,800 to as many as 3,600 a day. 145 miles of underground cable for communication and signal systems. 140 new automated switches to direct train traffic to the proper tracks. 11 upgraded control points, signals that will make train access to the Bellevue facility more efficient. Bellevue is one of 12 NS classification facilities, where freight cars are collected and sorted for their final destinations. When completed in 2015, Bellevue will be the largest classification yard on the NS system. The community of Bellevue has been a railroading center since the late 19th century, when NS' Nickel Plate Road predecessor line came to town. Bellevue Yard opened in 1966 on NS' Norfolk and Western Railway predecessor line. Today, 100 to 110 trains pass through daily, while 20 to 30 originate in the area and a like number terminate in the area. For the most part, the trains carry vehicles, vehicle parts, agricultural products, and consumer products. Norfolk Southern Corporation is one of the nation's premier transportation companies. Its Norfolk Southern Railway subsidiary operates approximately 20,000 route miles in 22 states and the District of Columbia, serves every major container port in the eastern United States, and provides efficient connections to other rail carriers. Norfolk Southern operates the most extensive intermodal network in the East and is a major transporter of coal and industrial products. SPACE Norfolk Southern Heritage Locomotive Schemes March 1, 2012 Click on a thumbnail for a high-resolution version. Renderings courtesy of and copyrighted by Andy Fletcher Central of Georgia Central Railroad of New Jersey Conrail Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Erie Illinois Terminal Interstate Lehigh Valley New York Central Nickel Plate Original Norfolk Southern Norfolk & Western Pennsylvania Railroad Reading Savannah & Atlanta Southern Virginian Wabash Railway Preservation News Posted Monday, March 12, 2012 The Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society is proud to announce that restored Nickel Plate Road steam locomotive no. 765 has been tapped to help celebrate Norfolk Southern's 30th Anniversary. The locomotive will pull a special business train, operating out of the railroad's terminals in Fort Wayne, Elkhart, and Muncie, Indiana as well as in Bellevue and Toledo, Ohio. Created in 1982 with the merger of the Southern Railway and Norfolk and Western Railway, the railway operates 20,000 miles in 22 states with 28,000 employees. As part of its celebration, Norfolk Southern is honoring its corporate heritage by painting 18 of its locomotives in historic paint schemes that commemorate the dozens of railroad companies that were eventually merged into the system Norfolk Southern presently operates. Included will be a vintage livery that pays homage to the New York, Chicago & St. Louis or Nickel Plate Road, the railroad that the 765 was originally built for. Founded in 1972, the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society, Inc will also be celebrating its own 40th Anniversary in 2012. The railroad historical society was the first all volunteer, non-profit to restore and operate a mainline steam locomotive after removing no. 765 from Fort Wayne's Lawton Park in 1974 and rehabilitating it to operating condition in 1979. The 1944-built locomotive has traveled over 50,000 miles in public exhibition and excursion service and was recently rebuilt in 2005. http://fortwaynerailroad.org http://facebook.com/fortwaynerailroad http://twitter.com/fortwaynerails

March 1, 2012 Norfolk Southern celebrates colorful heritage with historic paint schemes NORFOLK, VA. - Norfolk Southern is honoring its predecessor railroads during 2012, its 30th anniversary year, by painting 18 new locomotives in commemorative schemes that reflect the heritage of those predecessors. Since the 1820s, hundreds of railroad companies were built, merged, reorganized, and consolidated into what eventually became Norfolk Southern, itself created from the consolidation of Southern Railway and Norfolk and Western Railway in 1982. In 1999, Norfolk Southern expanded the scope of its heritage with its acquisition of a portion of Conrail. The heritage locomotives will represent most of the railroads that played significant roles in Norfolk Southern’s history. The first units will be delivered in March, and all units are expected to be riding the rails by June 1, Norfolk Southern’s 30th anniversary date. “The heritage locomotives reflect the pride we take in our long and colorful history,” said Norfolk Southern CEO Wick Moorman. “As they travel through our system, these state-of-the-art units in vintage livery will serve as reminders to our customers, employees, and communities that the modern rail network that keeps America competitive today and into the future has deep roots in the nation’s past.” Each paint scheme will be modified to fit contemporary locomotives while staying as true as possible to the original designs. Norfolk Southern employees in Altoona, Pa., and Chattanooga, Tenn., will paint GE ES44AC locomotives, while the EMD SD70ACe units will be painted at Progress Rail Services’ facility in Muncie, Ind. The heritage locomotives will be used to haul freight across Norfolk Southern’s 20,000-mile, 22-state network. The predecessor companies to be represented are listed below. In parentheses are the respective roads each became part of (NW=Norfolk & Western, SR=Southern, CR=Conrail) and the make of locomotives to be painted. Images of the color schemes are available on Norfolk Southern’s web site.   Central of Georgia Railway (SR, GE) was formed in 1833 to connect Macon, Ga., with Savannah, completing a rail link between Chattanooga and the port. It was famed for two passenger trains named after prize-winning race horses, the Nancy Hanks and the Man O’ War. Central Railroad of New Jersey (CR, EMD) was the first American railroad to have its employees wear uniforms, and in 1892 one of its locomotives set a world speed record of 105 mph. Conrail (GE) was created by the U.S. government in 1976 from the bankrupt Penn Central, Lehigh & Hudson River, Erie Lackawanna, Central Railroad of New Jersey, Lehigh Valley, Reading and Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines, becoming the largest railroad at the time, with 34,000 route miles. Delaware, Lackawanna and Western (CR, EMD) was created in 1849 to connect the rich anthracite coalfields of the Lackawanna Valley of Pennsylvania to northern New Jersey. A hurricane in 1955 knocked the railroad out of operation for a month, with the resulting financial difficulties forcing it to merge with the Erie Railroad in 1960 to form the Erie Lackawanna Railroad. Erie Railroad (CR, EMD) was key to economic development along the Southern Tier, which includes Binghamton and Elmira, N.Y. In 1851, Secretary of State Daniel Webster was strapped to a rocking chair on an open flatcar, wrapped in a blanket and clutching a bottle of rum, so he could ride the just-completed railroad. Illinois Terminal Railroad (NW, EMD) began life as the Illinois Traction System in 1896 as an interurban electric railroad in central and southern Illinois. Hit by the Great Depression, it was reorganized as the Illinois Terminal in 1937 and attempted to survive as a passenger railroad until relinquishing that business in 1956, when it was acquired by a consortium of railroads. It was operated as a freight railroad until acquired by NW in 1982. Interstate Railroad (SR, GE) was incorporated in 1896 to serve southwestern Virginia coalfields. Despite its name, it operated entirely within Virginia. It was acquired by Southern in 1961. Lehigh Valley Railroad (CR, GE) was built to haul coal, replacing water transport down the Lehigh River, and was also known as the Route of the Black Diamond. New York Central Railroad (CR, EMD) was organized from 10 roads paralleling the Erie Canal between Albany and Buffalo, N.Y., and became known as the “Water Level Route.” Today, the former NYC line between Cleveland and Chicago is the busiest on the NS system, with more than 100 freight trains daily. New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad (NW, GE) was commonly referred to as the Nickel Plate Road, a moniker it acquired when the Norwalk (Ohio) Chronicle referred to it in 1881 as “the great New York and St. Louis double track, nickel plated railroad,” supposedly indicative of its solid financial backing. Norfolk Southern Railway (SR, EMD) (not to be confused with today’s Norfolk Southern) was a line serving southeast Virginia and northeast North Carolina, chartered in 1883 and acquired by Southern Railway in 1974. Norfolk & Western Railway (GE) originated as City Point Railroad, a 9-mile road between Petersburg and City Point, Va., in 1836. Following numerous mergers and acquisitions, it became the Norfolk & Western in 1881. Pennsylvania Railroad (CR, GE), incorporated in 1846, billed itself as the “Standard Railroad of the World” and was for many years the largest American railroad by tonnage and revenues. PRR opened the Horseshoe Curve railroad engineering marvel; carried President Lincoln to his inauguration; implemented the “line and staff” organizational structure used by business today; built Pennsylvania Station in Manhattan; and electrified the route between New York and Washington, among its many achievements. Reading Company (CR, EMD) was one of the first railroads built in America, and built its fortune hauling coal. It featured the first iron railroad bridge in America. Savannah & Atlanta Railway (SR, EMD), began life as the Brinson Railway in 1906, slowly expanding from Savannah toward the Northwest. It was consolidated with other small railroads to become the Savannah & Atlanta in 1917. Central of Georgia bought the S&A in 1951. Southern Railway (GE) originated as the South Carolina Canal and Rail Road Company in 1827. It put into service the nation’s first regularly scheduled steam passenger service on Christmas Day, 1830, with the locomotive “The Best Friend of Charleston.” The Southern was incorporated in 1894 from the reorganization and consolidation of numerous predecessors and absorbed another 68 railroad companies over the next six years. Virginian Railway (NW, EMD) was the only railroad created through the capital and credit of one man, oil magnate Henry Huttleston Rogers. After building a short line, the Deepwater Railway, to haul coal out of West Virginia and then being blocked by the bigger railroads, he created another railroad, the Tidewater Railway, to reach Norfolk, Va., then combined the two into the Virginian in 1907. It was acquired by N&W in 1959. Wabash Railroad (NW, EMD) was formed in 1877 and served the mid-central U.S. It was acquired by the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1927 and leased to Norfolk & Western in 1964. In 1991, N&W, by then part of Norfolk Southern, purchased the Wabash outright. Made famous by the 1904 song “Wabash Cannonball,” there was in fact no such train by that name until 1949. Norfolk Southern Corporation is one of the nation’s premier transportation companies. Its Norfolk Southern Railway subsidiary operates approximately 20,000 route miles in 22 states and the District of Columbia, serves every major container port in the eastern United States, and provides efficient connections to other rail carriers. Norfolk Southern operates the most extensive intermodal network in the East and is a major transporter of coal and industrial products.