Norfolk Southern subsidiary Triple Crown Services played a pivotal role in the development and operation of RoadRailer trains. Several Class I railroads experimented with RoadRailer trains in the late 1980s, including a well-known service on CSXT that briefly ran with their former Seaboard System streamlined F-units. By the early 1990s, NS was running RoadRailers from Atlanta to New Jersey – the first “new” foray of RoadRailer equipment on Conrail. Wabash National introduced the Mark V RoadRailer in 1991; the Mark V featured a separate rail truck (rail wheelset) that was a separate component from the semi-trailer, allowing for avoidance of the added weight of the rail equipment while on the highway.

With the introduction of the Mark V trailer, NS expanded Triple Crown into a joint venture between Conrail and Norfolk Southern. A terminal was opened early on in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and additional terminals were opened in Rutherford (near Harrisburg), Sandusky, and Rochester. These terminals provided a network of transfer points where trailers could be switched between rail and road transportation.

For most of the latter Conrail years (roughly 1992-1999), RoadRailer trains RR-261 and RR-262 plied the rails of the Pittsburgh Line passing The Station Inn. Norfolk Southern maintained those symbols for years afterward, although the terminal operations shifted. The Rutherford and Elizabethport terminals closed in favor of consolidated operations in Bethlehem, PA. RoadRailer service in Pennsylvania – still running under the 261 and 262 train symbols – ended in 2015 when Triple Crown scaled back operations.