Sneaking Home In The Rain. Norfolk Southern 8098 (ES44AC, GE, 2/2012) is easily the most natural looking of the NS heritage units as only slight modification was required from the design for the C40-8Ws that were some of the last locomotive to arrive on the roster when it was "the big railroad”. While today’s Conrail Shared Assets Operations (CSAO or reporting marks CRCX) exists in 3 metropolitan regions, none of its engines are painted "big blue” or have the “can opener” logo. On Thursday, January 19, 2023, NS train 28X (63rd Street Yard - Chicago, IL-Croxton, NJ) is seen crossing the Harsimus Branch Lift Bridge from Kearny to Jersey City, New Jersey over the Hackensack River in a downpour with some TOFC (Trailers On Flat Cars) on the head end, emulating a scene on CSAO trackage that would look almost as natural prior to the dissolution of the original railroad by NS and CSX on June 1, 1999 with the exception of the recently relocated (read as torn down and rebuilt) Whitt Penn Bridge that would have obstructed this shot.
