CSX Adds Conrail to Heritage Fleet
Written by William C. Vantuono, Editor-in-Chief
CSX ES44AH No. 1976, in Conrail colors, is the fourth in a series of heritage locomotives created by employees at the company’s Waycross Locomotive Shop in Georgia “as a way of celebrating CSX’s rich history.”
CSX previously unveiled units commemorating the B&O Railroad, Chessie System and Seaboard System. Each locomotive has been repainted with a “hybrid design” that features modern CSX colors on the front cab portion of the unit transitioning to the heritage colors and logos, and a number that corresponds to the predecessor’s founding. In No. 1976’s case, the Conrail paint scheme of a double-lined C suggesting railroad wheels on tracks inside a large, bold Q “was a fixture for many years across the Northeast where the majority of the railroad’s operations were centered,” CSX noted. “The heritage locomotive design conceived and executed at Waycross recreates the iconic ‘Conrail Quality’ logo.”
CSX and Norfolk Southern acquired and divided most of the Conrail network, which was established by the U.S. government 1976 as the consolidation of several bankrupt Northeastern carriers, in 1997. 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 metro areas.
CSX 1976 and other locomotives in the heritage series will be placed into revenue service and travel CSX’s 20,000 rail network, “reinforcing employee pride in the history of the railroad that continues to move the nation’s economy with safe, reliable and sustainable rail-based transportation services.”
