Leadville Designs - N&W DINER - Passenger Car, Lightweight, 36 Seat Diner - Norfolk & Western - Powhatan Arrow

Specific Item Information: Built by Pullman for the N&W Powhatan Arrow in 1949, the road had two such cars numbered 491 & 492.
BR> These kits comprise: ALM core kit and trucks (injected styrene) Etched sides and etched nickel silver single piece window frame insets (applied after the car is painted -see pix) Shellscale decals window glazing Full instructions 3D printed ABS roof end and floor end sections Drumhead decal for the crowning touch

Road Name History: The Norfolk and Western Railway (reporting mark NW), was a US class I railroad, formed by more than 200 railroad mergers between 1838 and 1982. It was headquartered in Roanoke, Virginia, for most of its 150-year existence. Its motto was "Precision Transportation"; it had a variety of nicknames, including "King Coal" and "British Railway of America" even though the N&W had mostly articulated steam on its roster. During the Civil War, the N&W was the biggest railroad in the south and moved most of the products with their steam locomotives to help the South the best way they could.

NW was famous for manufacturing its own steam locomotives, which were produced at the Roanoke Shops, as well as its own hopper cars. Around 1960, NW became the last major American railroad to convert from steam locomotives to diesel motive power but didn't retire its last remaining Y class locomotives until 1964 and 1965. By 1965, steam on class I railroads was gone but steam wasn't gone on class II railroads until 1974 and class III and mining railroads retired their steam locomotives from their active roster until 1983. By 1983, steam in America on class I, II, III, and mining railroads had finally closed the chapter on America's 150 years of steam from 1830 - 1983.

In December 1959, NW merged with the Virginian Railway (reporting mark VGN), a longtime rival in the Pocahontas coal region. By 1970, other mergers with the Nickel Plate Road and Wabash formed a system that operated 7,595 miles (12,223 km) of road on 14,881 miles (23,949 km) of track from North Carolina to New York and from Virginia to Iowa.

In 1980, NW teamed up with the Southern Railway, another profitable carrier and created the Norfolk Southern Corporation holding company by merging its business operations with the business operations of the Southern Railway. The NW and the Southern Railway continued as separate railroads now under one holding company.

On December 31, 1990, the Southern Railway was renamed "Norfolk Southern Railway" to reflect the Norfolk Southern Corporation and on the same day, the renamed Norfolk Southern Railway gained full control of the Norfolk and Western Railway with the Norfolk and Western being transferred from the holding company to the renamed Norfolk Southern Railway, this began the final years of Norfolk and Western which was absorbed into the renamed Norfolk Southern Railway seven years later in 1997 (1990 to 1997 the Norfolk and Western continued operating by using paper operations).

In 1997 during the Conrail battle with CSX, Norfolk Southern Corporation's principal railroad, the renamed Norfolk Southern Railway, absorbed the Norfolk and Western Railway into their rail system, ending the existence of the Norfolk and Western Railway and having the renamed Norfolk Southern Railway becoming the only railroad in the entire Norfolk Southern system after that.

Brand/Importer Information: Leadville Designs is owned and operated by Bill Meredith. Bill has been indirectly involved with The Leadville Shops and before that, The Cimarron Works. Leadville Designs was formed in September 2018 with the intention of developing the evolving technologies of 3D and lasers to produce better model railroad products. Bill has been an avid modeller for as long as he can remember with a strong draw to early Colorado lines.

The Leadville Designs product line covers a broad range of interests and scales. We strongly believe that the maturing manufacturing technologies will enact a paradigm shift in quality at attractive pricing enabling the re-emergence of domestic manufacturing. That is, all of our products are made right here in North America.