Norfolk Southern Railway (1942–1982)

Norfolk Southern Railway

The Norfolk Southern system before its 1974 acquisition
Reporting mark	NS
Locale	Norfolk, VA to Charlotte, NC
Dates of operation	1881–1974
Successor	Southern Railway (now Norfolk Southern Railway)
Track gauge	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Headquarters	Norfolk, VA (moved to Raleigh, NC on September 29, 1961)

The Norfolk Southern Railway (reporting mark NS) was the final name of a railroad that ran from Norfolk, Virginia, southwest and west to Charlotte, North Carolina. It was acquired by the Southern Railway in 1974, which merged with the Norfolk and Western Railway in 1982 to form the current Norfolk Southern Railway.

In May 1920, the NS leased the Durham and South Carolina Railroad, which became its Durham branch. This would be the largest the NS would become at 942 route miles. At the end of 1970, it operated 624 miles of road on 801 miles of track; that year it reported 710 million ton-miles of revenue freight.

The Elizabeth City and Norfolk Railroad was established January 20, 1870, and in 1881 the line opened, running south from Berkley, Virginia, across the Eastern Branch of the Elizabeth River from Norfolk, via Elizabeth City to Edenton, North Carolina. On February 1, 1883, the name was changed to the Norfolk Southern Railroad, reflecting the company's ambitions to build further. It entered receivership for the first time in 1889, and was purchased April 29 and reorganized May 1891 as the Norfolk and Southern Railroad. By that time, it had acquired trackage rights over the Norfolk and Western Railroad over the Elizabeth River into Norfolk. With the reorganization also came the acquisition of the Albemarle and Pantego Railroad in North Carolina from the John L. Roper Lumber Company, extending the line from Mackeys on the other side of the Albemarle Sound from Edenton south to Belhaven on the Pungo River, a branch of the Pamlico River.