NORFOLK, Va., Sept. 6, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The Norfolk and Portsmouth Belt Line Railroad (NPBL), a switching and terminal railroad that serves customers in Norfolk, Chesapeake, and Portsmouth, Va., is celebrating its 115th anniversary this month with receipt of a locomotive painted in the bright red-and-maroon colors used for its first diesel locomotives in the 1950s.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130906/PH75619 )

For many years the NPBL, jointly owned by the two Class I railroads that serve the region, Norfolk Southern and CSX, has been using solid black locomotives with simple NPBL stenciling. NPBL leases their locomotives from NS, who designed the color scheme and painted NPBL 5260, a GP 38-2. This work was done at NS' Chattanooga Diesel Shop and will be delivered to NPBL in the upcoming weeks. The inspiration for the vintage color scheme was NS' wildly popular Heritage Locomotives, a fleet of 20 locomotives that were painted last year in colors based on NS' predecessor railroads.

NPBL owns 34 miles of railroad and has trackage rights over 27.35 miles on Norfolk Southern. Its 33 employees serve 25 customers in South Hampton Roads.

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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SOURCE Norfolk Southern Corporation