My understanding was that the original Norfolk Southern continued to operate under that name until around 1981, but was under Southern control starting around 1971. Not sure whether Southern had any locomotives sublettered for Norfolk Southern like they did for other subsidiaries.
I spent a fair amount of time in central North Carolina in the 1960s and 1970s, but my first conscious contact with the original Norfolk Southern was seeing some 50' boxcars in the early 1980s. I also remember seeing the old Boylan Tower, plus a couple of NS train stations in their original green. While the cement gray paint scheme was OK I wish I had been able to see NS locomotives in the old red scheme. Steam on the original NS would have been before my time.
