The Original Norfolk Southern Railway

Long before there was today's well known Class I railroad, the Norfolk Southern Railway, another railroad held that very name and it literally had to be dissolved by the powers wishing to merge the Norfolk & Western and Southern Railway so that the new railroad could hold that name. The original Norfolk Southern Railway was based in central and eastern North Carolina connecting most of the state's largest cities. It operated independently for nearly 70 years before becoming another wing of the large and profitable Southern Railway system. Today's Norfolk Southern operates small sections of the railroad but most of what still remains of the original NS is operated by shortline Chesapeake & Albemarle based in eastern North Carolina.

As with most railroads of the day, the NS grew predominantly through expansion. Right after reorganizing it acquired the Albemarle and Pantego Railroad (extending it further south into North Carolina); the Norfolk, Virginia Beach and Southern Railroad in 1899 (reaching both Norfolk and Virginia Beach); the Chesapeake Transit Company in 1904; and the Washington and Plymouth Railroad in 1902 (reaching even further south into North Carolina).

Then, on November 24, 1906 the Norfolk & Southern Railway was created when the Norfolk Southern Railroad and Raleigh & Pamlico Sound Railroad (whose main line stretched from Washington, North Carolina west to Raleigh) merged, along with several other small companies. These other railroads included the Virginia and Carolina Coast Railroad; the Pamlico, Oriental and Western Railway; the Atlantic and North Carolina Railroad; and the Beaufort and Western Railroad.

In 1910 the new railroad went through another name change and back to the Norfolk Southern Railroad name when it entered receivership in 1908. Over the next several decades the NS added and built branch lines here and there until it eventually reached its final length of over 623 miles with a main line running between Norfolk, Virginia and Charlotte, North Carolina.

The railroad again, and for the final time, reorganized in early 1942 as the now well-known, and original Norfolk Southern Railway. The NS carried on for the next three decades until the Southern Railway purchased it on the first day of 1974 and merged the Carolina and Northwestern Railway into it. Interestingly, when the Southern and Norfolk & Western proposed to merge they needed the Norfolk Southern name. To accomplish this the Southern renamed its Norfolk Southern Railway as the Carolina and Northwestern Railway (the very railroad it had just a few years earlier merged into the NS!).

To give you an idea where the original NS was located and in the region it operated please take a look at the system map above, dated to around 1969 just a few years prior to the railroad's merger with the Southern Railway.

Per capita Norfolk Southern had to one of, if not the largest rosters of Baldwin diesel locomotives, mostly operating its AS416 model. Even more interesting is that the Baldwins remained in use all of the way until the Southern Railway merger of the mid-1970s, long after other railroads had sold, traded in, or scrapped theirs due to reliability issues. In any event, below is an all-time Norfolk Southern roster.

The Norfolk Southern only operated a small contingent of steam locomotives, mostly 4-6-0 Ten-wheelers and 2-8-0 Consolidations. However, it also rostered a small fleet of 2-8-4 Berkshires. More information regarding the railroad's steam fleet can be found here.

Today, what remains of the original NS is operated by both the "new," Class I Norfolk Southern and shortline Chesapeake & Albemarle. To learn more about the original Norfolk Southern Railway please click here to visit the Norfolk Southern Historical Society which helps to keep alive the company's history. The site also has additional information about the railroad's steam and diesel fleets as well as a time-line of its history.

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