(The following appeared on the Virginian Pilot website on September 5, 2010.)
NORFOLK, Va. — Catch the new Norfolk Southern music video on YouTube?
No joke.
To celebrate the opening of the Heartland Corridor project Thursday, the Norfolk Southern Lawmen, the railroad’s house band, recorded an original country song — “Raise ‘Em Up” — and made a music video, available at http://bit.ly/aQFQFM.
The roughly three-minute video features the five-man band performing its new tune, backed by three female vocalists.
Laced with clips of construction inside some of the 28 Appalachian tunnels that were modified during the three-year project, the video features trains, line dancing — and even a shot or two of the port of Hampton Roads.
More than 200 railroad employees appear in the video, which was shot in Atlanta. The song was recorded in the city’s Doppler Studios, where the Lawmen followed in the footsteps of Bruce Springsteen, Jimmy Buffett and Aerosmith.
The Heartland Corridor will shave around 250 miles and about a day of transit time from existing routes between Hampton Roads and the Midwest.
The project is set to open with a commemorative event near Radford, Va.