Norfolk & Western

Frederick J. Kimball, whose interest in geology was responsible for the opening of the Pocahontas coalfields in western Virginia and West Virginia, pushed NW lines through the wilds of West Virginia, north to Columbus and Cincinnati, Ohio, and south to Durham and Winston-Salem, N.C. This gave the railroad the route structure it was to use for more than 60 years. The opening of the coalfields made NW prosperous and Pocahontas coal world-famous. It fueled half the world's navies and today stokes steel mills and power plants all over the globe. A perennial leader in operating efficiency, NW aimed to provide "Precision Transportation" and justifiably asserted the promotional slogan, "There's No Stopping Us."

Norfolk Southern corporate history

The Norfolk and Western Railway was formed by more than 200 railroad mergers between 1838 and 1982. It had headquarters in Roanoke, Va., for most of its 150 year existence. The company was famous for manufacturing steam locomotives and rolling stock in-house at its Roanoke Shops. Around 1960, N&W was the last major American railroad to convert from steam to diesel motive power. Beginning in 1959, a series of mergers brought the Virginian, Wasbash, AC&Y, other mid-western regionals into the expanding N&W system, which would become a part of the Norfolk Southern system in the 1980s.

This page features historic postcards from the collection of Kurt Reisweber

Steam

Norfolk & Western #475

Bristol, Va / Sep 1960 / JCH

Norfolk & Western #475

builder:Baldwin Locomotive Works
arrangement:4-8-0 Twelve-wheeler
built:1906, Baldwin #28843
class:Class M1, 1 of 50 from Baldwin
fuel:coal/water
notes:
20 x 30" cylinders, 56" drivers
on static display for NRHS, 1960
currently Strasburg Railroad #475

Bristol, Va / Sep 1960 / JCH

Strasburg, Pa / 2007 / Kevin Mussat

Norfolk & Western #433

Abingdon, Va / Jul 2011 / RWH

Norfolk & Western #433

builder:ALCO Richmond
arrangement:2-8-0 Twelve-wheeler
class:Class M1, 1 of 75 from Alco
built:Jan 1907, Alco #40329
fuel:coal/water
notes:
20 x 30" cylinders, 56" drivers
on static display, Abingdon VA

Abingdon, Va / Jul 2011 / RWH

See also our Norfolk & Western Virginia Creeper Trail lagniappe collection

Norfolk & Western #578

Worthington, Oh / Jun 1972 / collection

Norfolk & Western #578

builder:American Locomotive Company
arrangement:4-6-2 Pacific
built:March 1910
class:Class E2A Pacific
fuel:coal/water
notes:
70" drivers
retired, 158
to Ohio Railway Museum, 1959

Diesel

Norfolk & Western #881

Bristol, Va / Sep 1960 / JCH

Norfolk & Western #500-565,
620-699, 710-914

builder:Electro Motive Division
model:GP9
type:B-B road switcher
built:1954-59
series:3436 produced, 350 for N&W
engine:EMD 567C, 16 cyl. 1750 hp
notes:
#500-521 built for passenger service

Norfolk & Western #811

EMD GP9 (1957) / Bristol, Va / Sep 1960 / JCH

Norfolk & Western #620

EMD GP9 (1958) / Spencer, NC / Aug 1989 / RWH

Spencer, NC / Aug 1989 / RWH

Rolling Stock

Norfolk & Western #55013

automobile boxcar (1939) / Huntsville, Al / Jul 1974 / JCH

Norfolk & Western #555091

caboose / Abingdon, Va / Nov 2011 / RWH

Norfolk & Western #557758

Damascus, Va / Nov 2011 / RWH

Locations

See also our Norfolk & Western Virginia Creeper Trail lagniappe collection

Norfolk & Western / Southern station

Bristol, Va / Jul 2011 / RWH

NW baggage cart / Bristol, Va / Jul 2011 / RWH

Norfolk & Western Yard Office

Bristol, Va / Jul 2011 / RWH

I attended King College in Bristol, Tennessee, in the mid 1990s. In addition to the superb liberal arts education, I was exposed in Bristol to the former Southern Railway and Norfolk & Western connection point. It was always a treat to hitch a ride from campus into town, hoping to see some Norfolk Southern action crossing State Street and moving through the yard. More than once, I caught some six-axle power switching some of the few remaning line side industries in town.

My history professor, at the time near retirement, told me stories about catching at the Bristol station the southbound Tennessean and riding it home from King College to Memphis. Even if I could not see if for myself, I could see in my mind while visiting the depot one the N&W Class Js pulled off the Tennessean and replaced with a set of shiny new Southern cab units.

In the fall of 1993, in the last days of the Norfolk Southern's steam excursion program, I had the delight to see Class J #611 as it tied up overnight in the Bristol yard -- together with my old friend Southern #4501. Bristol was, indeed, "a good place to live."