Chessie system
The Chessie System Inc. was an American holding company for several railway companies in the northeast of the USA. The company's headquarters were in Cleveland (Ohio) . The route network was around 17,800 km.
Route network
The route network extended from Newport News via Richmond (Virginia) to Louisville (Kentucky) , St. Louis , Springfield (Illinois) , Chicago , in the north to Saginaw , Detroit , Buffalo and Rochester (New York) , as well as Baltimore and Philadelphia .
history
The Chessie System Inc. was established on 26 February 1973. At that time controlled the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway , the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and the two together had more than 90% of the shares of Western Maryland Railway . Therefore, on June 15, 1973, these three railways became subsidiaries of Chessie System.
The C&O Chessie mascot was chosen as the common symbol . The individual railway companies kept their operating material and their own abbreviations ( reporting marks ), but agreed on a new quince yellow color scheme with red and blue stripes.
On November 1, 1980, Chessie System merged with Seaboard Coast Line Industries , the parent company of Seaboard Coast Line Railroad , to form CSX Corporation . The identity of the respective railway companies as well as Chessie System as a common division of the railway companies was to be preserved for a while.
With the takeover of the operations of Western Maryland on May 1, 1983 by Baltimore & Ohio, the Chessie system was reduced to two companies. After the merger of Chesapeake & Ohio with Baltimore & Ohio on April 30, 1987, Chessie System consisted of only one company. Therefore, on August 31, 1987, Chessie System finally merged into CSX Transportation .
The Society's president was Hays T. Watkins, Jr. , the previous President and Chairman of the Board of C&O. Watkins later became president and chairman of CSX Corporation.
literature
- Thomas W. Dixon Jr. (Chesapeake & Ohio Historical Society (Eds.)): The Chesapeake & Ohio railway: a concise history and fact book. Clifton Forge, VA 2012, ISBN 978-0-939487-94-3
- George H. Drury: The Historical Guide to North American Railroads . 2nd Edition. Kalmbach Publishing Co., Waukesha, WI 2000, ISBN 0-89024-356-5 , pp. 80 f . (American English).
- Herbert H. Harwood Jr .: Chessie System . In: William D. Middleton , George M. Smerk, Roberta L. Diehl (Eds.): Encyclopedia of North American Railroads . Indiana University Press, Bloomington, IN 2007, ISBN 978-0-253-34916-3 , pp. 219 .
