NS Ohio River Bridge Marks 100 Years

A bridge carrying Norfolk Southern’s Pocahontas Division over the Ohio River between South Point, Ohio, and Kenova, W.Va., observed this week the 100th anniversary of its rebuilding.

Construction crews met at the bridge’s midpoint on March 4, 1913, to connect the ends of the main channel truss.

The first train passed over the bridge on the morning of June 9 and construction wrapped up in September when workers finished painting the structure. At the time, the bridge was owned by the Norfolk & Western Railway.

The bridge was the longest structure on the N&W. Designed in 1892 as a single-track structure, burgeoning coal traffic led the N&W to rebuild and double-track the bridge. The renovations included pier modifications and new trusses that were built around the existing structure to allow rail traffic to continue during construction.

The project cost $1 million and required 21.6 tons of steel. When completed, the bridge was 4,000 feet long and stood 82 feet above the normal water level of the river.

“The bridge has undergone major upgrades several times over the past century and its excellent condition is a reflection of the industry’s continual investment – without taxpayer dollars – to give the nation an economic competitive edge,” said Jim Carter, an NS chief engineer based in Atlanta. “Like everything on the railroad, it is well-designed and systematically well-maintained. We fully expect it to be serviceable for another 100 years.”

The bridge has had some notable occurrences throughout its service history. During World War II, saboteurs were caught nearby and a Coast Guard unit was assigned to stand guard.

The world’s longest, heaviest freight train traversed the bridge on Nov. 15, 1967, when N&W operated 500 loaded coal cars and six locomotives as part of a contest with the Pennsylvania Railroad. The N&W train was five miles in length.

Today some 35 NS trains cross the bridge daily. The traffic includes intermodal, grain, coal, and general merchandise.

Big Blue Locomotive (N&W Style) In Town

Much to my surprise the Norfolk & Western heritage locomotive passed by work on Friday on Norfolk Southern train RR 262.

I had finished switching and we had just sat down for a break in the yard office when I saw it was heading my way.

A quick check showed it only a couple miles away, so I grabbed my camera and walked out behind the yard office to photograph it. The clouds were thick, but at least it had stopped raining.

Article and Photograph by Roger Durfee

Another NS Unit Shows Off

The Norfolk Southern 30th anniversary heritage locomotives continue to roll out of the shops. The latest is the Interstate Railroad unit, which honors a one-time short line that operated in Southwest Virginia.

Much of the railroad’s business was coal that it interchanged with the Norfolk & Western, Clinchfield, Lousville & Nashville and the Southern.

The Interstate was sold in 1960 to the Southern. When the latter merged with the N&W in 1982 to form Norfolk Southern, the Interstate continued to exist on paper for another three years until its existence was formally dissolved. For more information on the history of the Interstate, click on the link below.

http://www.interstaterailroad.net/id90.html

First Look at N&W Heritage Unit

Norfolk Southern released today the official portrait of the next heritage unit to come out of the paint shop. No. 8103 honors the Norfolk & Western Railway, which provided the “Norfolk” part of the NS name.

It was the 1982 merger of the N&W and the Southern Railway that created today’s Norfolk Southern.

The N&W unit, which wears a blue livery that adorned the carrier’s locomotives in the 1960s, is the fifth NS heritage locomotive to be finished. All heritage locomotives are expected to be out and runing by the time NS marks its 30th anniversary in June.

NS Research Cars Pause in Bellevue

NS Research car No. 34 poses in Bellevue on Oct. 7. No, it is not the locomotive pulling the car behind it.

My friend Thom and I met up and spent Friday (Oct. 7) in Bellevue where we were greeted by the Norfolk Southern Research Cars 33 and 34.  Stopped near Center Street, the engineer advised us he was on his way with the units to Ft. Wayne, Ind., and graciously allowed us some time to take these photos.

Research Car 33 is a former UP passenger car purchased exclusively for this purpose.

Research Car 34 has a rather interesting history.  Originally built in August 1965, the then GP35 was purchased by the Norfolk & Western and numbered 1530.

It was badly damaged in a Virginia wreck in May 1976 and subsequently rebuilt in Roanoke as a slug, class RP-E6 and numbered 9921. It was reunumbered to 9951 when the N&W/Southern merger took place.

After spending some time in storage it was leased to the Wheeling & Lake Erie from 1990 to 1992.  In July 1994, a slow and low priority rebuild began on the slug to convert it to a research car, this finally complete in July 1999, complete with Tuscan red paint.  Its most recent change came in Altoona where a cab was installed to accommodate computer equipment.

 This is only one of two such units on the N&W.

 Article and Photographs by Dan Davidson

ARRC to sell “Canton Area Railroads”

The Akron Railroad Club will be selling copies of Canton Area Railroads, which was written by club president Craig Sanders and recently released by Arcadia Publishing.

The book will be sold to club members for $15 and to non-members for $17. The book will be available at the ARRC table at Railfest 2009 this weekend (March 14 and 15) at Lakeland Community College in Kirtland, Ohio. The college is located on Ohio Route 306, just south of Interstate 90 (exit 193). Railfest 2009 is sponsored by Division 5 of the National Model Railroad Association.

Author Sanders will be available at the ARRC table on Saturday to autograph copies of the book.

Copies of Canton Area Railroads will also be available for sale at the next ARRC meeting, on March 27.

Canton Area Railroads has 128 pages and more than 200 black and white photographs, most of which were taken by or furnished by Akron Railroad Club members.  The book covers railroad operations in Canton, Massillon, Alliance, Orrville, Navarre, Minerva, Dover, Brewster, Dennison and other communities in Stark, Carroll, Holmes, Wayne and Tuscarawas counties. Among the railroads covered by the book are the Pennsylvania, Baltimore & Ohio, Wheeling & Lake Erie, New York Central, Penn Central, Conrail, Norfolk & Western, CSX, Norfolk Southern, Ohio Central, R.J. Corman, Ohi-Rail, Amtrak and the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad.

Canton Railroad Book Now Available

Akron Railroad Club president Craig Sanders’ latest book, Canton Area Railroads, has been released by Arcadia Publishing. The book was written in cooperation with the Akron Railroad Club and features photographs from club members Richard Antibus, John Beach, Michael Boss, Peter Bowler, Richard Jacobs, Chris Lantz, James McMullen, Bob Redmond, Edward Ribinskas, Marty Surdyk and Paul Vernier.

The book chronicles the history and development of the railroads that served Stark, Wayne, Holmes, Carroll and Tuscarawas counties. Among the cities coverd are Canton, Massillon, Alliance, Orrville, Wooster, Dover, New Philadelphia, Dennison, Brewster, Navarre, Minerva and Sugar Creek.

Canton Area Railroads documents how railroad operations changed as the steel industry declined and railroad consolidations led to traffic shifts and route abandonments. Among the railroads that served this region were the Pennsylvania, Baltimore & Ohio, New York Central and Wheeling & Lake Erie. The book has images of these roads plus their sucessors Penn Central, Norfolk & Western, Conrail, CSX, Norfolk Southern, Ohio Central, R.J. Corman and OhiRail.

Also discussed are modern passenger operations Amtrak, the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad and the Orrville Railroad Heritage Society. The book is 128 pages and has more than 200 photographs.

Canton Area Railroads is the fifth railroad history book published by Sanders. His other works include Akron Railroads, Amtrak in the Heartland, Limiteds, Locals and Expresses in Indiana, 1838-1971, and Mattoon and Charleston Area Railroads.

The ARRC will be selling copies of Canton Area Railroads at train shows and at its monthly meetings. The book is also available from  booksellers and the publisher (www.arcadiapublishing.com).