CSX Honors Family Lines System (UPDATED WITH VIDEO)
Written by Marybeth Luczak, Executive Editor
The Family Lines System heritage paint scheme was designed and applied at the CSX Locomotive Shop in Waycross, Ga. (Photograph Courtesy of CSX President and CEO Joe Hinrichs, via LinkedIn)
CSX ES44AH No. 1972, in the Family Lines System theme, is the eleventh in a series of heritage locomotives to roll out of the Class I railroad’s Waycross Mechanical Shop in Georgia. Its number recognizes the Family Line System’s first year.
“The Family Lines System was a marketing tactic [from 1972-1982] that brought together the allying lines of the L&N [Louisville & Nashville], Clinchfield, Seaboard Coast Line and smaller railroads,” explained Jason Merritt, a Waycross Shop carman, who discussed the history and the special heritage unit in a CSX-produced video (scroll down to view). “Eventually it became the Seaboard System, and ultimately CSX.”
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 Family Lines System’s logo and paint scheme. CSX last summer unveiled units for related predecessors Seaboard System (CSX ES44AH No. 1982) and L&N (CSX ES44AH No. 1850).
CSX also has units honoring the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad (RF&P), Monon Railroad, New York Central, Atlantic Coast Line, Chesapeake & Ohio (C&O), Conrail, and Chessie System.
The Family Lines System 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 team in Waycross, GA,” CSX President and CEO Joe Hinrichs recently reported via LinkedIn. We enjoy celebrating our past while creating the future together as ONE CSX team! Thanks everyone.”
