Watch: CSX Adds Pere Marquette to Heritage Fleet (Updated, 5/2)
Written by Marybeth Luczak, Executive Editor
(CSX Photograph, via LinkedIn)
CSX ES44AH No. 1899, in the Pere Marquette theme, is the thirteenth in a series of heritage locomotives to roll out of the Class I railroad’s Waycross Mechanical Shop in Georgia.
Its number recognizes the Pere Marquette year of inception.
The unit represents the three Michigan-based railroads [Flint & Pere Marquette Railroad; Detroit, Grand Rapids & Western Railroad; and Chicago & West Michigan Railway] that merged to form the Pere Marquette to serve the Great Lakes region in the early 1900’s,” CSX President and CEO Joe Hinrichs reported via LinkedIn on April 29. After years of operation, the company merged with the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O) on June 6, 1947, eventually becoming part of the CSX network.
Like the first unit painted in a heritage scheme, CSX ES44AH No. 1827 that honors the Baltimore & Ohio (B&O), the livery features a hybrid design, starting on the cab with the Class I’s colors and transitioning to Pere Marquette’s logo and paint scheme.
According to CSX Carman Painter Eric Lee, “We had to measure each stripe precisely and position the words just right to ensure it captured the look of the original design. It took us about four days just to lay out the stripes before we could begin painting.”
“Pere Marquette is the only railroad ever named for a person—in fact, a Jesuit priest,” Railway Age Capitol Hill Contributing Editor Frank N. Wilner commented. Marquette was credited with founding Michigan’s first European settlement in Sault Ste Marie. “With few exceptions, railroad names typically described the carrier’s intended or actual geography,” Wilner noted. “Only in recent decades have names such as CSX and Conrail strayed from the unwritten rule of putting geography in a railroad’s name.”
CSX previously unveiled units commemorating the Atlantic Coast Line; Louisville & Nashville (L&N); C&O; Conrail; Chessie System; Seaboard System; Monon Railroad; New York Central; Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad (RF&P); Family Lines System; and Western Maryland Railroad.
The Pere Marquette locomotive will join the other commemorative units in revenue service on CSX’s 20,000-mile rail network that spans 23 states.
“Another great job by our ONE CSX team in Waycross, GA,” Joe Hinrichs said via LinkedIn. “Enjoy everyone! Going to be an exciting next few months for our heritage locomotive program as we continue to celebrate and recognize the railroads that helped make CSX who we are today.”
