Triple Heritage Tuesday in Northeast Ohio

First came the Southern heritage locomotive . . .

. . . followed by the combination of the Reading and Central of New Jersey units.

Where there are heritage units there will be photographers. Shown are (from left) Ben Pozmann, Brenda Long and Roger Durfee.

No, the environmental compliance sticker on this locomotive was not a mistake.

Tuesday proved to be a good day for catching Norfolk Southern heritage power. Two NS freights with a total of three heritage paints came through Northeast Ohio within minutes of each other.

One was a 64V oil train for the East Coast, which had the Southern heritage unit leading.

Following right behind was Q47 an extra 747 empty coal train for the mines south of Pittsburgh.  This had the Reading and Central of New Jersey units for power.

As if those weren’t interesting enough, I caught a recently painted SD40-2 on another train. This engine, oddly, had a General Electric emissions sticker that is normally seen on Gevos and Dash 9s.

Well, this was not a shop person’s error but a legitimate paint scheme. GE makes parts for the EMD 645 motor and if the engine was overhauled with these parts, it receives the GE compliance sticker.

Further research showed that this engine, No. 3584, was purchased secondhand by NS. It was originally BN No. 7281 built in 1980.  Railfanning never gets old. I learn something new every day.

Article and Photographs by Todd Dillon

Tags: Norfolk Southern heritage locomotives, NS 8099, NS Central of New Jersey heritage locomotive, NS Central of New Jersey heritage unit, NS Southern heritage unit, Reading Heritage Locomotive, Reading Lines Heritage Unit