Norfolk Southern Detector Overview

While not as common as the Sentry 2058, NS did install a number of these units across its system, particularly on former N&W territory.

A non-heat sensing unit inherited from Conrail with many installations in Pennsylvania.

These very early talkers were common to N&W territory, and are believed to be NS' Mark I detector. These overlay systems were manufactured by Ensun Corp. for non-talking Servo detectors.

The earliest examples of these identified themselves as Norfolk & Western Trackside Analyzers.

NS inherited many Cyberscan 2000 units from Conrail, with units remaining in used into the 2010s. These units, as with other former Conrail detectors, were quickly reprogrammed to NS' speech patterns.

Used as a high car detector in Blasdell, NY on the Lake Erie District.

Model 75 detectors were located along NS' Lake Erie District between Cleveland and Buffalo. It is unknown exactly which existing detectors these Harmon overlay systems were used with.

These very basic ex-Conrail units weren't even equipped with transducers, and thus did not last particularly long on NS. Many were replaced with Progress Rail Micro Talkers or STC Small Talks, which did support transducers.

One of the current generation detector models for NS, as heard across the entire system, particularly in northern states. Much of the former Conrail territory was upgraded to MicroHBDs.

Sounding similar to the MicroHBD, but used in situations where heat sensing is not necessary. These are also the voice of the SSDs (previously WILDs) across NS.

NS inherited a massive fleet of Servo System 9000s from Conrail upon its takeover, with many lasting into the 2010s. Like other Conrail detectors, their voice announcements were quickly reprogrammed to NS standards.

A test system installed in Altoona, PA near Horseshoe Curve that utilized thermal imaging to sense sliding wheels. The product did not catch on, and this lone installation was subsequently removed from service.

In 1986, Southern Railway/Norfolk Southern partnered with Southern Technologies to produce a low cost defect detector (under $10,000 per installation) that lacked many of the more advanced features of other commercial detectors at the time. The theory behind this is it would allow these detectors to be located every 10 miles, instead of the then-normal 30+ mile distances between hot box detectors, thus providing much better protection against hot boxes.

These Sentry 2058s were seemingly everywhere on NS in the pre-Conrail era, with many infiltrating former N&W territory as gap fillers between existing Mark I detectors.

While NS did inherit a few of these models from Conrail, many more were purchased by NS to help replace the massive fleet of very basic Parker DED 1GGs.

The STC SmartScan NG was the detector of choice for Norfolk Southern for a period of time, and they replaced many of the SOU-era Sentry 2058s in the south. They also replaced some former Conrail detectors and Devtronics CMA02s in the early 2000s.

NS inherited a handful of these models on the former Delaware & Hudson between Binghamton and Schenectady, NY, which were subsequently reprogrammed to NS' speech standards.

The SmartScan NG², with its robotic voice that strayed from the human words of Progress Rail and (prior) Southern Technologies products, made its first appearance on NS in 2017. Since that time, it has become the detector of choice for new installations, with the last of the Sentry 2058s and subsequently the SmartScan NGs being replaced.

Due to the ease of upgrading an existing SmartScan NG site to a SmartScan NG² (simply swap out the chassis), it is almost unheard of for a SmartScan NG site to be replaced by a MicroHBD.

All of NS' new installations in the wake of the East Palestine, OH derailment have been STC SmartScan NG² systems.