Trains Were Bound For Glory, Until Fight Over Access Arose --- Mr. Rucker Wants to Derail Norfolk Southern's Lease; `A Matter of Family Honor'
GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Walking by the railroad tracks, a nattily dressed 74-year-old man turns and stares defiantly at an approaching headlight. A black Norfolk Southern Corp. locomotive thunders in his direction. Moments before it passes him, he steps aside -- reluctantly.</br></br>"Trespassers," Walker Rucker says, hissing at the 130-ton locomotive.</br></br>Mr. Rucker, a part owner of these tracks, is making his mark by standing in the way of a railroad. For more than two years, he has managed to stop Norfolk Southern from renewing its lease on a crucial, 317-mile stretch of track. His one-man crusade has featured a proxy fight, a lawsuit and statewide mailings.</br></br>Norfolk Southern, which recently acquired 58% of Conrail Inc. for $5.9 billion, is trying to rewrite the map of American rail freight by creating the first-ever seamless rail connection between the bright lights of New York and the green fields of the Deep South. Its chairman, David Goode, has launched his own personal appeal to North Carolinians. In a speech to business leaders in Charlotte earlier this year, he said it would be a "real tragedy" for the state if Norfolk removed its trains, which he said it would do if the lease isn't renewed.</br></br>The track in dispute -- stretching from Charlotte, through Greensboro and Raleigh, to Morehead City on the coast -- is owned by North Carolina Railroad Co. The railroad was founded by Mr. Rucker's great-great-grandfather and former North Carolina governor, John Motely Morehead.