In 1950, the Norfolk & Western had a little more than 2,100 miles of track, making it slightly smaller than the Nickel Plate, Wabash, and Erie railroads. Yet it took over the first two in 1964 and eventually its successor, Norfolk Southern, got control of the Erie (and a lot more) as well.
Click image to download a 14.2-MB PDF of this timetable contributed by Ellery Goode.
Norfolk & Western’s main line essentially paralleled C&O’s between Norfolk and Cincinnati. The C&O’s signature train, the George Washington, and N&W’s signature train, the Powhatten Arrow, both connected Norfolk with Cincinnati, along with two other trains for each railroad.
Beyond that, the C&O’s ownership of Pere Marquette gave it a more northern orientation, while the N&W was more oriented to the south. In cooperation with PRR and the Southern, N&W had trains from New York to Birmingham, Memphis, and New Orleans. Norfolk & Western operated some short-distance trains as well, mainly in Virginia, North Carolina, and Ohio.
They also retained steam locomotion on their mainlines much longer than other railroads across the country. They didnt really begin to dieselize until 1956-1958 with the purchases of numerous EMD GP9s; their J-Class locos handled the most of their passenger and fast freight trains while their heavier, articulated locos handled heavy coal drags.