Chessie System

Chessie System
Reporting mark	B&O, C&O, WM
Locale	Delaware, District of Columbia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Ontario, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin
Dates of operation	1973–1980
Successor	CSX Transportation
Track gauge	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) (standard gauge)
Headquarters	Cleveland, OH

Chessie System, Inc. was a holding company that owned the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O), the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O), the Western Maryland Railway (WM), and several smaller carriers. It was incorporated in Virginia on February 26, 1973, and it acquired the C&O (which controlled the other companies) on June 15. On November 1, 1980, Chessie System merged with Seaboard Coast Line Industries to form CSX Corporation. However, the Chessie image continued to be applied to new and re-painted equipment until mid-1986, when CSX introduced its own paint scheme. The B&O and C&O were not legally merged out of existence until 1987, when the company's official successor, CSX Transportation was founded.

Headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, the Chessie System was the creation of Cyrus S. Eaton and his protégé Hays T. Watkins, Jr., then president and chief executive officer of the C&O. A chief source of revenue for the Chessie System was transportation of coal mined in West Virginia. Another was the transport of auto parts and finished motor vehicles.

The signature symbol of the Chessie System was its "Ches-C", a large emblem incorporating the outline of the C&O's famous "Chessie" the kitten logo. The Ches-C was emblazoned on the front of all Chessie System locomotives, and also served as the "C" in "Chessie System" on the locomotive's flanks, and on other rolling stock. The Chessie System itself did not own any locomotives or other rolling stock; rather, equipment would be placed on the roster of one of the three component railroads. While all three companies shared a common paint scheme of yellow, vermillion, and blue, actual ownership of the equipment was denoted by the reporting marks: C&O, B&O, or WM.

A Chessie System SD50 locomotive in Connellsville, Pennsylvania.

List of railroad subsidiaries

• Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
• Baltimore and Ohio Chicago Terminal Railroad
• Chesapeake and Ohio Railway
• Covington and Cincinnati Elevated Railroad and Transfer and Bridge Company
• Curtis Bay Railroad
• Staten Island Railroad
• Western Maryland Railway

Chessie's famous locomotives

Chessie had four famous diesel-electric locomotives in its fleet: B&O 1977 (an EMD GP40-2) was meant to celebrate the B&O's 150th anniversary (this locomotive became B&O 4100 and B&O 4163; for a short time there were two B&O locomotives numbered 1977), B&O GM50 (another EMD GP40-2) was painted gold to celebrate GM-EMD's 50th anniversary as a diesel locomotive manufacturer (GM50 got repainted in 1984 and became B&O 4164), B&O #3802: An EMD GP38 named the All American Locomotive by Trains in 1982, and B&O 4444 (3rd to last GP40-2 owned by Chessie, last unit was B&O 4447) was the locomotive that pulled Ronald Reagan's 1984 presidential train through Ohio.

The Chessie System operated and exhibited a former Reading Railroad 4-8-4 steam locomotive (#2101) on a national tour as the "Chessie Steam Special," beginning in 1977 in celebration of the B&O's 150th anniversary. The 4-8-4 had previously been used as one of three locomotives pulling the American Freedom Train. The train was painted in the Chessie System motif and consisted of the locomotive, two tenders, and eighteen to twenty passenger and baggage cars. The locomotive was severely damaged in a fire in March, 1979 while stored in a Chessie System roundhouse. It has since been cosmetically restored, and is on display at the B&O Railroad Museum, in Baltimore, MD.

Further reading

• Ori, Dave (2006). Chessie System (MBI Railroad Color History). Voyageur Press. ISBN 978-0760323397. 

External links

• Chessie System Historical Society
• Chessie Photo Archives