Founded in 1982 through the mergers of Norfolk & Western and the Southern Railway, Norfolk Southern grew further in the late 1990s with the acquisition of just over half of the trackage and assets of Conrail Corporation. Today, NS is one of the largest Class 1 Railroads with over 30,000 employees and operates nearly 22,000 miles of track in the Eastern and Midwestern United States.

This insulated boxcar was built for American Refrigerator Transit, or ART, and leased by Norfolk & Western. These cars featured Car-Pac Loaders, insulated walls, and plug doors to maintain cold temperatures that could previously only be accomplished by blocks of ice. Norfolk & Western was known as the “King Coal” line, and was a Class 1 railroad headquartered in Roanoke, Virginia. Today, it is now part of the Norfolk Southern system following a 1980 merger with Southern Railway.