April 4,
2014
Norfolk Southern
announces 2014 schedule of 21st Century Steam
excursions
NORFOLK,
VA. – A new season of “21st Century Steam” train excursions has
launched, with Norfolk Southern Corporation and partners Tennessee Valley
Railroad Museum and Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society scheduling 18
excursions in seven states from April through July.
Tickets
for the trains listed below are available through the websites of TVRM
(www.tvrail.com)
and FWRHS (www.fortwaynerailroad.org).
Some trains are Norfolk Southern employee specials as noted on the schedule and
are not available to the general public. All excursions are round
trip.
Here
is the schedule through July 13.
|
Date/Train
Name/Other info
|
Origin
– Turn Point/Destination
|
Locomotive
|
Operator
|
|
April
5 Radford Rambler
|
Bristol
– Radford, Va.
|
SOU
630
|
|
|
April
6 Lonesome Pine Limited
|
Bristol
– Bulls Gap, TN
|
SOU
630
|
|
|
April
12, 13, & 19
The
Tri-County Mountaineer
|
Grundy,
Va. – Devon, W.Va.
|
SOU
630
|
|
|
May
3 & 4
The
Commodore Vanderbilt
Norfolk
Southern Employee Special
|
Elkhart,
Ind. – Bryan, Ohio
|
NKP
765
|
|
|
May
10 & 11
The
Nickel Plate Limited
Norfolk
Southern Employee Special
|
Chicago,
Ill. – Argos, Ind.
|
NKP
765
|
|
|
May
17 & 18 The New Royal Palm
|
Cincinnati,
Ohio – Danville, Ky.
|
SOU
630
|
|
|
May
31 & June 1 Lexington Limited
|
Lexington,
Ky. – Oneida, Tenn.
|
SOU
630
|
|
|
June
7 Steam Anniversary Special
|
Chattanooga,
Tenn. – Oneida, Tenn.
|
SOU
630
|
|
|
July
5 & 6
The
Mercury Express
Norfolk
Southern Employee Special
|
Detroit,
Mich. – Toledo, Ohio
|
NKP
765
|
|
|
July
12 & 13 Detroit Arrow
Tickets
available April 16
|
Detroit,
Mich. – Fort Wayne, Ind.
|
NKP
765
|
Southern
Railway No. 630 was built in 1904 by American Locomotive Company at Richmond,
Va., and has been a mainstay of 21st Century Steam excursions after
having been rebuilt in TVRM’s Chattanooga shops. Nickel Plate Road No. 765 was
built in 1944 by Lima Locomotive Works at Lima, Ohio, and is familiar to many
railroaders, having been in excursion service on and off since 1979.
On
June 7, TVRM will operate the Steam Anniversary Special in recognition of the
50th anniversary of the 1964 train from Stearns, Ky., to Chattanooga
that led to Southern Railway’s launch of a steam excursion program the same
year. The June 6, 1964, train was powered by Southern Railway Locomotive 4501,
which now is being rebuilt at TVRM’s Chattanooga shops. Southern’s excursion
program operated from 1964 to 1994. In 2010, Norfolk Southern and TVRM announced
plans to launch “21st Century Steam” to highlight milestones in rail
history and provide opportunities for audiences to learn about today’s safe and
service-oriented freight railroads. The inaugural excursions took place during
Labor Day weekend 2011, powered by the 630.
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.
###
Norfolk Southern
contacts:
TVRM
contact:
Steve
Freer, 423-331-4501
(sfreer@tvrail.com)
FWRHS
contact:
Kelly
Lynch, 260-493-2766
(lynch@fwrhs.org)