Norfolk Southern business cars, F-unit locomotives at museum

As part of the re-dedication ceremonies at the Mad River & NKP Railroad Museum in honor of Bill Fuehring on June 21, Norfolk Southern will bring in their classic business cars including F-Units NS7 Pennsylvania (office car); NS21 West Virginia (office car); NS9 Alabama (sleeper car); NS19 Kentucky (Diner car).

LOCOMOTIVES

In a nod to its heritage, the Norfolk Southern decided in 2006 to replace the modern engines that hauled its executive train with a set of vintage diesels. Through an equipment broker, they found a set of EMD F7's with a long history. The A-units were built in 1952 for the Baltimore and Ohio, while the B-units were originally delivered to the Chicago Great Western and the Chicago and North Western. In 1981, the four were rebuilt by Morrison-Knudson for a new career with MARC (Maryland Rail Commuter Service). After being retired a second time, they went to RailCruise America for dinner train service and then to the Kansas City Southern, which later declared them surplus and sent them to the equipment broker that sold them to the NS.

This time, it looks like the four wandering F-units have a permanent home. In late 2006, they were towed to the Norfolk Southern's ex-Pennsy shops in Altoona for a full mechanical and cosmetic overhaul. They emerged from Altoona in a paint scheme that harks back to NS predecessor Southern Railway, but with the Thoroughbred, Norfolk Southern's corporate symbol, emblazoned on the nose of each A-unit. Their maiden outing with the company train (minus one A-unit that was not yet finished) was in early April at the Masters golf tournament, and they have since been spotted throughout the Norfolk Southern system.

OFFICE CAR SPECIAL

While the executive train's engines are reminiscent of the Southern Railway, its consist looks pure Norfolk and Western, with smooth-sided passenger cars painted in N and W Tuscan Red and car NS 29 named "The Powhatan Arrow," after one of the N and W's premier trains. Like the F-units, the cars have a varied background, with one of the most interesting being the full-length dome, a rare sight on railroads east of the Mississippi. The Delaware, car NS 24, is a 1955 Budd product, built as a "Big Dome" for the Santa Fe's El Capitan, later sold to Auto-Train for service between Virgina and Florida, acquired by Conrail for its executive train, and then passed to the Norfolk Southern when Conrail was split up.

For the 2007 DAP program, M.T.H. offers a very limited edition model of this unique train. Like our EMD SD70ACe and General Electric ES44AC/DC diesels, this Norfolk Southern train is the first three-rail O gauge model of some of the newest equipment on American rails -- but with a vintage flavor. Locomotives and cars feature accurate paint schemes and correct car names for the NS executive train, including The Powhattan Arrow, diner General William Mahone, and full dome Delaware. There's no better way for your own railroad's management to wine and dine a prospective client and travel anywhere in grand style.

RICH HISTORY, FUTURE PROMISE

Like treasured family heirlooms handed down through generations, Norfolk Southern's business cars endure, symbolic of the powerful legacies of predecessor companies that helped create the rich history and future promise of the American railroad industry.

The cars trace their lineage to distant places and historic times. Presidential candidates, American troops and international dignitaries were among their guests. Seemingly timeless in their adaptability to change, renovation and transformation altered their purposes over the years.

Today, different in both appearance and function than in years gone by, they serve a wide spectrum of corporate business interests. Norfolk Southern uses business cars in trains dedicated to missions as diverse as track inspection, rail safety education and customer service marketing.

THE RAILROAD ALPHABET

Norfolk Southern's history reflects a proud heritage of many predecessor roads. In this booklet, the company's most recent predecessors are sometimes identified by abbreviation. In 1982, Norfolk Southern was formed by the consolidation of the Norfolk and Western Railway (NW) and Southern Railway -- both products of more than 150 railroad combinations and reorganizations dating to the 1800s. The 1999 addition of a large portion of Conrail (CR) into Norfolk Southern's Northern Region expanded the rail system to 22 states and 21,800 miles of road.

Railroads use reporting marks and equipment numbers to designate cars. The reporting mark, such as SOU for Southern Railway, is simply a railroad abbreviation registered with the Association of American Railroads and used in equipment registers.

MONIKERS

Traditionally, no set formula prevailed for choosing names for railroad cars. Monikers often were arbitrary choices. Cars were named for female relatives, favorite flowers, public figures, war heroes, Native American words, trees -- whatever suited the fancy of the moment.

During the heyday of passenger service, cars were named for geographic locations, in the interest of promoting the territories railroads served. Some Norfolk Southern business cars are named after states or regions served by the rail system -- Virginia and Alabama, as examples. One, the General Willliam Mahone, bears the name of a prominent leader of a Norfolk Southern predecessor company.

Most of Norfolk Southern's business cars are Pullman-built. George M. Pullman founded the Pullman Co. Pullman sought to manufacture and operate luxurious hotels on wheels, complete with all the comforts of home, with added amenities and service. Pullman ran his company with an eye toward impressing those who would pay higher fares for the extra bit of attention they would get enroute to their destinations.

Several cars described in this booklet were at one time "heavyweights." This older type of construction made cars heavier. The heavyweight era extended into the late 1930s, when more modern technology helped railroads create lightweight, streamlined equipment. Since a rebuilt car cost much less than a new one, many cars were rebuilt rather than replaced. Norfolk Southern predecessor company shops -- most notably Norfolk and Western Railway's Roanoke Car Shops at Roanoke, Va.., and Southern Railway's Hayne Shop at Spartanburg, S.C. -- were sites for many of these rebuilds.

In earlier days, some sleepers and other cars were divided into sections. These were areas about six feet long separated for privacy by a floor-to-ceiling curtain or wall. The cars sometimes also housed a smoking room and men's rest room at one end, and a sitting room and women's rest room at the opposite end. The Buena Vista is an example of a business car that once was so configured.

Yet other cars were dinette-coaches, designed by Southern Railway to better serve passengers in the late 1940s. Dinette-coaches were air conditioned and seated 22 people in reclining seats. They also featured large rest rooms and smoking lounges and could accommodate 24 people in dining-lounge areas. Norfolk Southern owns and maintains three former dinette-coaches, the Ohio, the Illinois, and the NS 5.

Some cars have an observation room, a windowed area at the rear. A drawing room was a parlor-type seating area with sleeping accommodations.

OHIO (NS 20)

The office car Ohio was built in fall 1920 as the 12-section, one-drawing-room sleeper Ronneby. In October 1943, Pullman rebuilt it into a 13-section tourist sleeper and numbered it 2632. Southern Railway bought the car in December 1947 and converted it to a dinette-coach the following year.

The Ohio has the distinction of being the first of Southern's dinette-coaches completed -- SOU 3103, finished June 1, 1948. An article in the Southern Railway Historical Association magazine, Ties, reports that the car made a profit of $47 in its first 10 days of service. Revenue of $431 in food and bar service exceeded costs of labor, food, spirits and supplies totaling $384.

In March 1963, it was converted to an office car and numbered SOU 20. In 1970, it was renumbered SOU 7. It later was number NW 7 and finally NS 20.

WEST VIRGINIA (NS 21)

Pullman built the office car West Virginia between 1926 and 1929 as a heavyweight car. In 1950, it was converted to an office car at Southern Railway's Hayne Shop in Spartanburg, S.C., and renumbered SOU 15. In 1953, it was renumbered SOU 12, then SOU 9 in 1970. The following year, it was renumbered SOU 8. It got its current designation, NS 21, in 1985.

ALABAMA (NS 9)

The Alabama, now an eight-bedroom sleeper, was built in January 1918 as Elmbank, a 16-section sleeper. In September 1932, Pullman rebuilt it as Moon Brook Club, an eight-section restaurant lounge sleeper that provided meal, lounge and sleeping service in the same car.

The car was rebuilt as coach 1044 among a group of 15 cars converted at the same time at Southern Railway's Hayne Shop.

The car was used in Southern Railway's steam excursion program and passengrer train service during the 1960s. In the late 1970s, it was given the name Alabama and assigned the number 15. It was renumbered NS 9 in 1986.

KENTUCKY (NS 19)

Pullman built the Kentucky in October 1949 as the 36-seat diner NW 494 for service in the Powhatan Arrow, an NW passenger train. The car was named Frederick J. Kimball, honoring the NW chairman and president who in the 1890s guided the railroad on an expansion that changed it from a minor agricultural road into a regional line relying mainly on coal. The name was removed in 1958 to allow the car to be operated in other NW passenger trains.

In 1984, the car was renamed the General William Mahone. In the early 1990s, that designation was transferred to NS 18, and the car was given its current name, Kentucky.

Today, the Kentucky is seen most frequently at Union Station in Washington, D.C., next to the Marco Polo, the Norfolk Southern office car that once was Franklin Delano Roosevelt's private rail car. The Kentucky is now configured as a dining-lounge car that can seat 32 guests for a meal.