A Couple of Days on the Road

UP/NS business train traverses the Rockville Bridge over the Susquehanna River near Harrisburg, Pa. Photo courtesy of Dan Cupper and Trains Magazine (trains.com).

HARRISBURG, Pa. –– Whatever your viewpoint on the proposed UP+NS merger, you have to admit this is an interesting train.

The proposed UP+NS merger has generated excitement and angst, depending on who you talk to. Most shippers and other Class Is are opposed to it. Some are excited about it and believe it may point to the future and survival of North American railroading.

Whatever you think about the proposed merger, you cannot deny that this business train, which was on the road two days this week carrying Union Pacific officials as they inspected Norfolk Southern lines, is interesting eye candy. Both UP and NS have beautiful business trains. I’ve been fortunate to ride aboard both of them.

Photo courtesy of Dan Cupper and Trains Magazine (trains.com).

These photographs were made by Trains Magazine contributor and Railway Age Contributing Editor Dan Cupper. Dan is also my long-time friend and a wonderful photographer, writer, and historian.

The caption for these images, posted on trains.com, reads as follows:

“Norfolk Southern Office Car Special 956 with 12 Union Pacific cars crosses the 124-year-old Rockville Bridge over the Susquehanna River near Harrisburg, Pa., on the NS Pittsburgh Line behind two NS Landmark-series locomotives, ES44AC No. 8183 ‘Chicago’ and SD70IAC unit No. 1230 ‘Birmingham’ on April 15, 2026. It was the second leg of a two-day trip from Chicago via Bellevue, Ohio, and Conway, Pa. UP officers were inspecting NS main lines as part of the road’s proposal to acquire NS to create the first truly transcontinental U.S. railroad. The train deadheaded west in the afternoon as NS 955. Dan Cupper“