Special Report by Evan Tidwell
Local residents were surprised to see what looked like a passenger train on the railroad tracks this week, as a Norfolk Southern Railway track inspection train made its way through the area.
NS has been performing routine maintenance on the old Northern Alabama Railway line between Sheffield and Parrish, and this week sent its track geometry car over the line to inspect the repairs. The car is named the “Belford” and is numbered #99. According to railfan sites the car is celebrating its 100th birthday this year, having been built in 1926 for service on the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad and later used by the Central Railroad of New Jersey, both NS predecessor lines.
The car was on loan to the Smithsonian Institution for a time, where it was used for commuter transport by its director but sadly was not on museum display. NS says the car was restored and updated with advanced electronics and placed into inspection and testing service three years ago.
Although it is now part of a nice-looking work train, seeing #99 ride the rails brought back warm nostalgia for locals old enough to remember passenger trains, and caught the attention of younger folks who are unfamiliar with anything but graffiti-covered freight cars passing through town.
As a child growing up in Bear Creek, it was always a thrill to see the inspection train roll down the NA line, although it was a different passenger car at the time, and the train also had a caboose between the locomotive and passenger car. Those were fond memories, and this reporter still has 35mm photos of the train in a box somewhere.
Now, if we could just get a steam locomotive to roll through town…