NS Announces 18 Heritage Units Coming

[MrFSS]

NORFOLK, Va. — To celebrate the 30th anniversary of theNorfolk & Western/Southern merger in 1982, Norfolk Southern plans to honormany of the railroads that make up the present day NS system. As Union Pacificdid 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 predecessorroads.

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

LINK to Scheme Drawings

The 18 predecessor railroads selected for heritage paint are:

• Central of Georgia

• Conrail

• Erie

• Erie Lackawanna

• Leigh Valley (red)

• New Haven (not definite yet)

• New York Central

• Nickel Plate Road

• Norfolk & Western (blue)

• Penn Central

• Pennsylvania (Tuscan Red)

• Pittsburg & West Virginia

• Reading

• Savanna & 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 onthe old liveries

 

[Bob Dylan]

Tom: Be nice to see/photograph all the various Engines in their New War Paint! Ive seen a few UP Freights that had Engines painted in the Colors of KCS,MoPac ,Nom de M and the Katy , not sure if they actually belonged to UP, they also run lots of SP Engines down this way but they all seem to be in the original Black Paint scheme that the SP ran for so many years! Of course BNSF has many of their Engines still in the War Bonnet Colors of the old AT&SF!!!

 

[Anderson]

Some of those color schemes are actually pretty impressive, such that I wish NS would adopt them a bit more broadly.

Edit: Who is "Interstate"? Never heard of them (at least, not off the top of my head); I see that and I'm wondering if it's IAIS, but that's not in NS's part of the country.

 

[Ryan]

These look awesome. I not much NS action around here, but I look forward to seeing pictures of these guys out and about.

 

[MikefromCrete]

Some of those color schemes are actually pretty impressive, such that I wish NS would adopt them a bit more broadly.

Edit: Who is "Interstate"? Never heard of them (at least, not off the top of my head); I see that and I'm wondering if it's IAIS, but that's not in NS's part of the country.

Interstate was a small coal-hauling railroad in southwest Virginia. It was taken over by the Southern Ry. and then became part of Norfolk Southern. It has nothing to do with Iowa Interstate, which took over part of the bankrupt Rock Island Railroad in Illinois and Iowa.

 

[manchacrr]

Four have been released so far. The following photos are from Norfolk Southern's Facebook page:

1. Conrail

2. Southern

3. Nickel Plate

4. Central of Georgia

 

[benjibear]

The list above has 18 but there are 19 images. In the list they have Erie Lackawanna but the schemes show a Lackawanna and an Erie version. For those that don't know the Erie and the Lackawanna (actually to be more formal the Delware Lackawann and Western) merged to form Erie Lackawanna in 1960 until parts were folded into Conrail in 1976. Interesting to see which scheme they do.

Also, anyone know where these will operate? Anyone know if somebodies tracking locations on the web. I probably don't have the know how but I can see a site that would show the last known location and the date. It could be used by us rail fans that would like to see one.

 

[manchacrr]

Another five have been released. The following photos are from Norfolk Southern's Facebook page:

1. Norfolk & Western

2. Interstate

3. Pennsylvania

4. Norfolk Southern (Original)

5. Lehigh Valley

 

[Ryan]

NS has put a bunch more of these out. If you're a facebook user, you can see a lot of AWESOME shots of these things.

My new favorite just got posted today:

 

[The Davy Crockett]

NS has put a bunch more of these out. If you're a facebook user, you can see a lot of AWESOME shots of these things.

My new favorite just got posted today:

NICE! Where is the GG-1?

 

[Bill Haithcoat]

NORFOLK, Va. — To celebrate the 30th anniversary of theNorfolk & Western/Southern merger in 1982, Norfolk Southern plans to honormany of the railroads that make up the present day NS system. As Union Pacificdid 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 predecessorroads.

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

LINK to Scheme Drawings

The 18 predecessor railroads selected for heritage paint are:

• Central of Georgia

• Conrail

• Erie

• Erie Lackawanna

• Leigh Valley (red)

• New Haven (not definite yet)

• New York Central

• Nickel Plate Road

• Norfolk & Western (blue)

• Penn Central

• Pennsylvania (Tuscan Red)

• Pittsburg & West Virginia

• Reading

• Savanna & 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 onthe old liveries

Do I need to say that that brings back memories? Both for me and for you, Tom.

 

[jis]

NS has put a bunch more of these out. If you're a facebook user, you can see a lot of AWESOME shots of these things.

My new favorite just got posted today:

NICE! Where is the GG-1?

Only 12 or so GG-1s were ever painted in a Tuscan Red livery for a period of time, whereas all GG-1s wore the more famous Brunswick Green livery.

 

[The Davy Crockett]

Only 12 or so GG-1s were ever painted in a Tuscan Red livery for a period of time, whereas all GG-1s wore the more famous Brunswick Green livery.

My memories of GG-1s is that they where mostly a grimy black, with some very faded yellow/golden striping. I'm not sure if I remember seeing any that were actually painted in the Tuscan Red, but I think it is their best 'make-up.'

 

[jis]

Only 12 or so GG-1s were ever painted in a Tuscan Red livery for a period of time, whereas all GG-1s wore the more famous Brunswick Green livery.

My memories of GG-1s is that they where mostly a grimy black, with some very faded yellow/golden striping. I'm not sure if I remember seeing any that were actually painted in the Tuscan Red, but I think it is their best 'make-up.'

And then there was the PC Black and the Amtrak Clown outfit too. I think the last GG-1 to appear in Tuscan Red was an NJT unit that NJT painted in Tuscan Red.

 

[The Davy Crockett]

Only 12 or so GG-1s were ever painted in a Tuscan Red livery for a period of time, whereas all GG-1s wore the more famous Brunswick Green livery.

My memories of GG-1s is that they where mostly a grimy black, with some very faded yellow/golden striping. I'm not sure if I remember seeing any that were actually painted in the Tuscan Red, but I think it is their best 'make-up.'

And then there was the PC Black and the Amtrak Clown outfit too. I think the last GG-1 to appear in Tuscan Red was an NJT unit that NJT painted in Tuscan Red.

I'm probably remembering the PC Black. The paint job was likely so cheap that the stripes showed through it. That, and I'm blocking out the ugly 'PC' scheme from an otherwise very nice memory.

 

[MrFSS]

Do I need to say that that brings back memories? Both for me and for you, Tom.

Maybe CSX will do this, too, and we'd get an L&N unit.

 

[jis]

Only 12 or so GG-1s were ever painted in a Tuscan Red livery for a period of time, whereas all GG-1s wore the more famous Brunswick Green livery.

My memories of GG-1s is that they where mostly a grimy black, with some very faded yellow/golden striping. I'm not sure if I remember seeing any that were actually painted in the Tuscan Red, but I think it is their best 'make-up.'

And then there was the PC Black and the Amtrak Clown outfit too. I think the last GG-1 to appear in Tuscan Red was an NJT unit that NJT painted in Tuscan Red.

I'm probably remembering the PC Black. The paint job was likely so cheap that the stripes showed through it. That, and I'm blocking out the ugly 'PC' scheme from an otherwise very nice memory.

You mean the "Mating Snakes" logo?

 

[The Davy Crockett]

You mean the "Mating Snakes" logo?

That would be the one. :help:

 

[railiner]

You mean the "Mating Snakes" logo?

That would be the one. :help:

Back then, IIRC, we more commonly refered to the PC logo as 'mating worms'.

Seriously, though, it is great to see these logo's brought back to the mainlines. As for Conrail....doesn't that entity still exist as a shortline operator somewhere?

 

[RampWidget]

Seriously, though, it is great to see these logo's brought back to the mainlines. As for Conrail....doesn't that entity still exist as a shortline operator somewhere?

Yes, CR still exists as an operating entity. The North Jersey, South Jersey, and Detroit terminal areas are jointly contolled by NS & CSX, operated by Conrail, and known as the "Shared Assets" areas.

 

[Acela150]

NS has put a bunch more of these out. If you're a facebook user, you can see a lot of AWESOME shots of these things.

My new favorite just got posted today:

I know two people that were there that day.. They said it was really interesting to see in person.

 

[railiner]

Seriously, though, it is great to see these logo's brought back to the mainlines. As for Conrail....doesn't that entity still exist as a shortline operator somewhere?

Yes, CR still exists as an operating entity. The North Jersey, South Jersey, and Detroit terminal areas are jointly contolled by NS & CSX, operated by Conrail, and known as the "Shared Assets" areas.

Interesting.....I just 'googled' CR, and was brought up to date on its current status. So I suppose that CSX could also produce a CR heritage unit. That would be cool.