Oct. 24, 2013
For
historic Norfolk Southern locomotive, it’s a midnight departure … by air and
truck
ATLANTA – What can shut down two
lanes of Peachtree Street on a bustling Friday night in Midtown? It’s the Best
Friend of Charleston, historic icon of Norfolk Southern Railway, hoisted high
above the street as the locomotive departs the lobby of NS’ David R. Goode
Building here for its new showcase at Charleston, S.C.
The Best Friend, 1928 replica of
the first locomotive built in America for regular service on a railroad, has
resided in the lobby facing Atlanta’s most famous street since 2007, on loan
from the city of Charleston. NS traces its beginning to the Christmas Day 1830
inaugural run of the Best Friend on the company’s earliest predecessor railroad
company.
Now, Charleston has renovated a
building in the city’s historic district to display the locomotive not too far
from where the original first run occurred almost 183 years ago. Getting the
Best Friend out of the NS building lobby in the wee hours of Saturday, Oct. 26,
for its welcome back to Charleston will be no small feat.
Glass plates measuring 14 feet
tall by eight feet wide will be removed to make a narrow gateway for the train
consist, including the locomotive, tender and two passenger coaches. They will
leave the building slowly and gingerly on a specially engineered turntable
lubricated with liquid soap and powered by human muscle. Once just outside the
building, a crane will hoist them one at a time high into the air over a plaza
and onto flatbed trucks awaiting on Peachtree Street for their delivery to
Charleston.
Rail fans will see irony in the
Best Friend making its final journey by truck. Transportation enthusiasts will
view it as evidence of the close partnership between rail and truck typical of
today’s intermodal freight commerce.
The Best Friend replica did ride
the rails for many years following its construction celebrating the
100th anniversary of the South Carolina Canal and Rail Road Company.
Millions of people viewed it and thousands rode in its open coaches during short
excursions in cities and towns throughout the railroad’s operating territory. NS
donated the train to Charleston in 1993.
For Norfolk Southern’s
175th anniversary in 2005, the Best Friend made notable appearances
at the New York Stock Exchange and just outside the company’s headquarters
building at Norfolk.
The Best Friend is a miniature of
modern motive power. Today’s locomotives are 50 times heavier, more than five
times longer, and more than 600 times more powerful than the Best Friend and are
the most environmentally responsible mode of freight transportation.
Norfolk Southern
Corporation
(NYSE: NSC) is one of the nation’s premier transportation companies. Its Norfolk
Southern Railway Company subsidiary operates approximately 20,000 route miles in 22 states and the District of
Columbia, serves every major container port in the eastern United States, and
provides efficient connections to other rail carriers. Norfolk Southern operates
the most extensive intermodal network in the East and is a major transporter of
coal, automotive, and industrial products.
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Norfolk Southern
contacts: