page_title: 21st Century Steam
section_title: 2012
hierarchical_section_title: 21st Century Steam / Excursion Seasons / 2012
caption_attribution_description: English: Nickel Plate 765 leads an excursion during TrainFestival 2009, near Owosso, Michigan
context_page_description: The 21st Century Steam program was a program begun by the Norfolk Southern Railway in 2011 and featured several classic steam locomotives pulling passenger excursions along Norfolk Southern rails in the eastern United States. However, Norfolk Southern officially concluded their steam program in December 2015. The last train was to be Southern 4501's Piedmont Limited excursion trip from Atlanta, Georgia, to Toccoa, Georgia, but cancelled on October 1 due to Hurricane Joaquin.
context_section_description: In 2012, the 21st Century Steam excursion program was dominated by relatively short employee appreciation excursions in order to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the founding of the Norfolk Southern Railway. Norfolk Southern leased the Nickel Plate 765, operated by the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society to help, as well as operating Southern 630.
  In June 2012, Southern 630 ran employee excursions in the areas around Atlanta, Georgia, Spencer, North Carolina and Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Roanoke, and Knoxville. Public one-way excursion trips included Winston-Salem to Roanoke, Roanoke to Bristol, Virginia, and Bristol to Knoxville in July. During TVRM's 2012 "Railfest" on September 1 and 2, Southern 630 pulled excursions from Chattanooga to Cleveland, Tennessee, and at the end of the month excursions in the Birmingham area. To finish out the season, on November 10, there was an excursion from Chattanooga to Attalla, Alabama, and on the 11th, an excursion from Chattanooga to Harriman, Tennessee.
  Meanwhile, as Southern 630 traveled throughout the South, Nickel Plate Road 765, along with NS 8100 (the Nickel Plate Road heritage unit), pulled employee excursions in the areas around Toledo, Ohio, Bellevue, Ohio, Williamson, West Virginia, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The locomotive also made a ferry run over the famed Horseshoe Curve near Altoona, Pennsylvania. In September, NKP 765 was back on the rails with NS 1070 (the Wabash Railroad heritage unit) and NS 1072 (the Illinois Terminal Railroad heritage unit) to pull excursions in the St. Louis area.
caption: NKP 765
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