Jim McClellan, Norfolk Southern
Senior Vice President, Planning, delivers the keynote address
An
excellent banquet was the centerpiece activity of Saturday evening.
Getting underway at 6:00 was a cash-bar social, followed at
6:45 by a dinner of a fruit-cup, mixed-green salad, "Rockville
Bridge Sorbet", stuffed chicken, baked fish, or vegetarian
entree with mixed vegetables, apple pie, coffee, and tea. Several
dignitaries were in attendance, including officials from Norfolk
Southern (NS) and Juniata Terminal, who helped make this trip
possible.
Brief
after dinner remarks and appropriate thank yous were given by
NRHS National President, Mr. Greg Molloy (shown above), who
then presented Mr. Jim 
McClellan,
Senior Vice-president, Planning, for Norfolk Southern, with
a Bronze NRHS Historic Plaque. The plaque, which commemorates
the 100 years of historic Rockville Bridge, will be placed on
the bridge. The NRHS Historic Plaque program recognizes significant
historic railroad landmarks.
Mr.
McClellan, a longtime NS manager, was also our keynote speaker
for the evening. Mr. McClellan has a long and storied railroad
career, including working at at the Southern Railway, New York
Central, Amtrak, the Federal Railroad Administration. Mr. McClellan
began by speaking about the Rockville Bridge and the Pennsylvania
Railroad (PRR); he focused on the heritage and history, including
the rise and fall of the Pennsylvania Railroad, the Penn Central
merger, the evolution and growth of Conrail, and its eventual
breakup. Noting that engineering landmarks such as Rockville
bridge were designed and built by men who built boldly and massively
with a positive outlook toward the future; this boldness is
part of the reason why much of the PRR route has survived, when
others have been abandoned. This same boldness, and desire for
significant infrastructure, also hurt the PRR with burdensome
cost and lack of agility to change, once the railroading industry
downturned after WW2.
Mr.
McClellan showed some superb photos from his personal collection
of Pennsylvania trains. His message then turned the presentation
towards a core forward focusing look at how NS' "Penn Route"
of which Rockville Bridge is a part will be a part of NS' future
business strategy. Key to the address was how important the
Harrisburg area is to the NS system. Mr. McClellan talked about
the railroad's capital investments to adding capacity as well
as the progress that has been made in and streamlining railroad
processes in a "clean sheet" approach.
** NRHS
Plaque for Rockville Bridge
LINKS:
Norfolk
Southern Corporation
** All photographs by NRHS Webmaster
