Over a year prior to Southern Railway acquiring the "original" Norfolk Southern Rwy on Jan 1, 1974, upgrading had already quietly begun on the NS. We are at MP 4 on the Fayetteville Branch just south of Varina, NC as designated in the timetable, and 2 GP18's are in charge of a Southern Railway ribbon rail train ... the first of many that would be unloaded on the "original" Norfolk Southern. The train unloaded 100 lb. relay rail from Indiana on this cold, drizzly day in December 1972.
