Chessie System CSX heritage unit up in smoke.

[mu26aeh]

Member over at NSN was the engineer of this unit when it went up in flames.  @wm3798 what were your whereabouts on March 7th ?

http://www.djstrains.com/prototype-information.html

[C855B]

A couple of years ago I asked a shop supervisor at North Platte about the several GEs he had in the barn with similar fire damage. I openly supposed it was turbo seal failures, and he said, no, it's usually lube oil hoses breaking at the fittings. He also commented that it looks a lot worse than it really is, that there is typically little mechanical damage.

[wm3798]

Imagine... Something with Chessie on it burning down.  What a shock!

[jmarley76]

Feel sorry for the fellow at the throttle. 

On another note, how cheap is it to just slap stickers on something and call it a heritage anything? Seems rather disrepectful... 

[ChristianJDavis1]

Feel sorry for the fellow at the throttle. 

On another note, how cheap is it to just slap stickers on something and call it a heritage anything? Seems rather disrepectful... 

Well, for the three remaining fans of CSX, I guess a sticker is better than nothing at all...

[davefoxx]

I guess I'm one of the three fans left , because I tend to give CSX a pass since most of the railroads that I prefer are predecessor roads of CSX, e.g., ACL, SAL, SCL, SBD, and RF&P.

DFF

[C855B]

Poses the question - which road did CSX's slacker culture come from? L&N, maybe? They had the least competition of the predecessor lines, so I could understand fomenting of a "whatever" attitude.

[ChristianJDavis1]

I guess I'm one of the three fans left , because I tend to give CSX a pass since most of the railroads that I prefer are predecessor roads of CSX, e.g., ACL, SAL, SCL, SBD, and RF&P.

DFF

Nothing against them, as I am one as well. Just poking fun at the fact that CSX has a lot of haters and gets a lot of flack. We seem to be the minority amongst CR and NS fans, anyway.

[davefoxx]

Poses the question - which road did CSX's slacker culture come from? L&N, maybe? They had the least competition of the predecessor lines, so I could understand fomenting of a "whatever" attitude.

@C855B,

That is a great question and one that I hope to look into when I have some more time.  If I remember correctly, the merger actually went something like this: Seaboard System's name was changed to CSXT in 1986 and the other roads were merged into CSXT.  The C&O was last to fall, but that didn't occur until around May 1987 (B&O was merged into C&O around April 1987).  That's probably a surprise for some, because many people think the CSXT merger was in 1986.  Of course, some also think of Chessie System as a railroad, rather than what it really was: a marketing scheme for three separate (but related) railroads (B&O/C&O/WM), not unlike the "Family Lines" (SCL/L&N/CRR/WA/GA/A&WP).

By the way, my favorite anecdote about CSXT was the alleged statement by an officer that stated, "You will never see CSX on the side of a locomotive."  Hindsight is 20/20, but I don't believe for one moment that they didn't have that mega-merger planned from the beginning.

NOTE: I am referring to the railroad companies, e.g., CSX Transportation (CSXT), and not the holding companies that owned the railroads, e.g., CSX Corporation, which was formed in 1980.

DFF

[sirenwerks]

Had it been painted in the tri-color Chessie paint job I would have hailed the fire as aesthetic justice, having grown up on the OML and having to suffer that scheme.  I didn't mind the blue and yellow of pre-merger B&O and C&O.  Otherwise, glad the crew is safe and sound.