THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, October 29, 1994 TAG: 9410290225
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Daily Digest
SOURCE: Staff
LENGTH: Short : 26 lines
Norfolk Southern Corp. closed a chapter in railroad history Friday when it announced plans to discontinue its steam-train excursion program after this year. The program offers about 50 trips a year all over the railroad's system on passenger trains pulled by an old-time steam engine. There are seven remaining trips scheduled this year. The excursion program has become incompatible with the railroad's other operation, said Norfolk Southern Chairman David R. Goode; the railraod coud no longer justify the program in terms of the physical, financial, and human resources it demands. The program has been under review for several years, a spokesman added. The decision has nothing to do with a recent accident at a Lynchburg switching yard in which several of the passenger cars used in the program were severely damaged, he said. by CNB