Nostalgia & History > N&W - Norfolk and Western - Early 1970's - Memories

In my early years of rail fanning - railroading, NKP - N&W - Norfolk and Western
was my favorite. N&W merge with NKP - Nickel Plate Road - WAB - Wabash -
ACY - Akron - Canton and Youngstown - P&WV - Pittsburgh and West Virginia Oct. 16, 1964.
L&WV, Lorain and West Virginia was in the merger also, but not sure what time period.

Growing up in Fremont, Ohio - 1950's - 60's - 70's along NKP-
Nickel Plate Road's - LE&W - Lake Erie and Western Division - and W&LE - Wheeling and Lake Erie
it always brought many exciting days.

At age 17 - July 1970 started to photograph with color slides.
Graduate from high school June 1971 started working for N&W -
Norfolk and Western as an tower operator between
Bellevue, Oh - Mile Post 248 and Ft. Wayne, Ind - MP 371.

My railroad life was a new adventure into sometime I still treasure.

Picture One - N&W 2871 - RS-36 - Westbound coal train Maple Grove, Oh.
12-09-1970 - Mile post 269 - was a senior in high school.

Picture Two - N&W 1942 - U-30-B - Eastbound - Bellevue, Oh. MP 248, July 17, 1974.
Coming from Ft. Wayne, Ind. on N&W Fostoria, Ohio District.

Picture Three - NW 2854 - RS-11 - Maple Grove, Oh July 7, 1974.
Eastbound Speno ballast cleaner. The double track is no longer there.
The tower was closed 1975. The westbound track was removed early 1990's.
Working 1st shift and looking out the second story tower window.

Maple Grove was Pennsy - Pennsylvania - NKP - interlocking.
The PRR and NYC -New York Central became PC - Penn Central Feb. 1st, 1968.

The PRR - Pennsy line ran Pittsburgh, Pa.- Ft.Wayne, Ind. to Chicago, Ill know as the Ft. Wayne, Ind. line.
At Mansfield, Oh. there was a Secondary main line called Carrothers known as Toledo Jct. to Toledo, Ohio.
In 1959 PRR abandoned the part from Mansfield to Carrothers. It then took routing from Mansfield, to Bucyrus
then onto the N&W north to Carrothers. At Carrothers the PRR went northwest to Tiffin, Maple Grove, Woodville, Toledo.
In 1984 Conrail abandoned the line from Carrothers to Tiffin, Ohio

Today the line from Tiffin, Maple Grove, Toledo is still in place and very well upgraded,
with new rail, ties, ballast and road crossings.
Maple Grove stone quarry well known as Basic Inc. in the past is very active located on NS Norfolk Southern main line,
Lake Erie, Fostoria District. Bellevue, Fostoria, Oh. Ft. Wayne, Ind. with connections to the former PRR line.
Owned by Port of Toledo Authority - lease Omi-Track

Like so many other fallen flags, N&W still brings back many treasure memories.

Please feel free to post any question or corrections.

My first slides are not the greatest.
Only responsible for the effort, not the outcome.

Remember when we share nobody goes away hungry,
we all get fed in many ways.

Have a Great Day !


Ed ( Eddie ) Durnwald
Fostoria, Oh



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 12/14/17 13:36 by Thoroughbred-Ed.

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Great photos. Thanks for sharing!

Hi
Very interesting and great set of pics on the road
Tom Boylan

Thanks for posting those. The N&W pre-1980’s was a cornucopia of different power out on the road.

Gateway97 Wrote:
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> Thanks for posting those. The N&W pre-1980’s was
> a cornucopia of different power out on the road.

The guy in charge of the System Operations Center had his own way of distributing power. He counted traction motors, so power consists came in all kinds of combinations.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/14/17 19:23 by ts1457.

"Remember when we share nobody goes away hungry,
we all get fed in many ways."

A nice story and a great sentiment!

Thank you.

-- Greg

Thank you mr Durnwald
dave j