Watch: CSX Adds New York Central to the Heritage Fleet
Written by Marybeth Luczak, Executive Editor
CSX No. 1853 is the eighth in a series of the Class I railroad’s heritage locomotives. (CSX Photograph)
CSX has debuted locomotive No. 1853 in New York Central colors—the eighth heritage-schemed unit to roll out of its Waycross, Ga., shop. Its number recognizes New York Central’s founding year.
Like CSX’s first unit painted in a heritage scheme that honors the Baltimore & Ohio, the livery features a “hybrid design,” combining the current CSX colors with the New York Central’s traditional gray and white. Repainting No. 1853 took 22 days, according to the Class I (scroll down to watch video).
The New York Central system, established in 1853, encompassed more than 11,000 track miles and provided transportation service between New England and the Midwest. It merged with the Pennsylvania Railroad to become the Penn Central in 1968 and later became part of Conrail.
CSX and Norfolk Southern in 1997 acquired and divided most of the Conrail network, which was formed by the U.S. government 1976 as the consolidation of several bankrupt Northeastern carriers. CSX acquired 42%; NS, 58%. As a condition of the merger, Conrail Shared Assets LLC was established as a jointly owned neutral S&T (switching and terminal) railroad serving CSX and NS customers in the Northern New Jersey-New York City, Southern New Jersey-Philadelphia and Detroit metropolitan areas.
CSX said it acquired a majority of former New York Central lines in 1998, and today the Class I’s employees continue to run trains across the primary New York Central routes that have been carrying freight and supporting the U.S. economy for more than a century.
CSX previously unveiled units commemorating the Atlantic Coast Line, Louisville & Nashville (L&N), Baltimore & Ohio (B&O), Chesapeake & Ohio (C&O), Conrail, Chessie System and Seaboard System. Each heritage locomotive “reinforces the #ONECSX team’s pride in the history of CSX,” the railroad reported.
The New York Central unit will join the other commemorative units in revenue service on CSX’s 20,000-mile rail network that spans 23 states.
