On this day, October 17, 1960

[minerman146]

Norfolk Southern Corp
13 hrs ·
On October 17, 1960, the Erie Railroad and the Delaware, Lackawanna, & Western Railroad merged, forming the 3,188 mile Erie-Lackawanna.

The railroads sponsored a contest, open to employees and their families, to design a new logo. Out of more than 2,400 entries, the winner was Truman G. Knight, an Erie locomotive fireman from Stow, Ohio. He used the Erie diamond emblem and reworked the Erie E, setting off the top two arms of the letter so it also resembled an L. The color scheme was maroon (in a nod to the Lackawanna), rather than Erie’s black and yellow.

Knight’s prize was 2,000 shares of stock in the new company. The new logo appeared on boxcars, timetables, rolling stock, and conductor’s buttons. “That sure made me proud,” Knight told the editor of the company’s magazine.

A Norfolk Southern predecessor, the Erie Lackawanna line ran from New York to #Chicago.

Then and now, the railroad is about making connections. Norfolk Southern trains transport the nation’s goods to businesses and communities across our 19,500-mile rail network, passing through small towns, big cities, and everywhere in between. #throwbackthursday

[EngineerJohn]

It was also around this time in 1968 when Penn Central was officially recognized as a holding company, cementing its place as the black hole of the railroad world.

[minerman146]

You know, I can never trash the Penn Central enough. They were the original "too big to fail company". Like their logo Of two mating snakes, they squeezed North East rail roads to death with one of the most insidious bankruptcy agreements ever conjured by a pack of thieves. The purpotrators of this disaster finally got their bailout, swapped their black for blue....

And they all kept their jobs in Philly.

Their opus was to to destroy the EL who had been privy
to their machinations, and salt the earth where it stood.

But let me tell you how I really feel!

[EngineerJohn]

You can get any true northeast railfan going by giving them the slightest whiff of anything left over from the PC.
Sorry for changing the subject on you so suddenly there Minerman.

[minerman146]

John the ultimate troll-bait for me is the PC. And I could of kept going too. Lots of stories, there is one I have first-hand about being stuck in Hoboken in the blizzard of 78 and about 3 PC units stuck before Otisville - dead and with no heat. For future reference my upcoming tome on the PC, working title, Built to Fail, the Story of the Penn Central coming out some day.

My hatred for the PC is one of many reasons I am making this epic journey.

[EngineerJohn]

That's a little before my time but growing up in the CSX domination of upstate NY where especially now it gets to a point where ES44AH's are just boring. It's more interesting to go back in the day and see more diversity in New Yorks railroad spiderweb.

[minerman146]

John, I can empathise. Regarding the 1970s in New York, looking back ... it was all just so "industrial" in North Jersey.
After 1976 I saw it all on the NY Division - RDG,LV, CofNJ, NH and P -huck tooey- C. Wildest memory was of 15 or so GG1's lined up in Croxton on the dead line.

The Unit I want done for sure is the Alco Century 424 in EL of course, which I rode a few times with my Dad. Good times.