"To The Tournament!"

On March 31, Norfolk Southern sent its executive passenger train, the Office Car Special, south over the Pittsburgh Line and the Lurgan Branch. Its Southern Railway and Virginian Railway heritage units deadheaded 17 passenger cars to the Masters Golf Tournament.

Norfolk Southern dispatched its elusive Office Car Special last Monday. The OCS, an executive passenger train reserved for railroad officials and special guests, left Altoona, PA to begin a multi-day journey to the Masters Golf Tournament in Augusta, GA. It will return next week after the tournament ends.

For the second year in a row, NS used two of its popular heritage locomotives to pull the Masters OCS. Each locomotive wears a paint scheme honoring a predecessor railroad. The lead engine, number 8099, sports the Southern Railway's Virginia green and gold passenger scheme once featured on streamlined E and F-Unit diesels. Trailing unit 1069 wears an eye-catching black and yellow paint scheme based on the Virginian Railway's Fairbanks-Morse diesel locomotives.

NS 8099 and 1069 pick up speed as they traverse the former Reading Company Lurgan Branch. The tracks in Grantham, PA cut through Messiah University's campus.

The Masters OCS starts its journey on two notable lines in Central Pennsylvania: the Pittsburgh Line and the Lurgan Branch. Each line hails from the Pennsylvania Railroad and the Reading Company respectively.

The Office Car Special glides past Wenger Feeds, one of the many feed mills found on the Lurgan Branch, in Shippensburg, PA. Cloud coverage made this otherwise backlit shot possible moments before the train's arrival.

Norfolk Southern 1, nicknamed "Virginia," takes up the rear of this year's Office Car Special to the Masters Golf Tournament. Car 23, "Buena Vista" normally takes this place as it did in previous years, but did not appear anywhere on this year's train.

Norfolk Southern's Office Car Special features a vast array of first-class passenger cars painted in a maroon and gold scheme based on the predecessor Norfolk & Western Railway. Although NS recently ran the OCS using traditional freight locomotives, it now features a full heritage fleet from the leading locomotive to the last car.

Daniel Smutek — Notch 8 Photography

April 8, 2025