Chessie System (Railroad): The C&O, B&O, And WM

Last revised: September 17, 2026

Chessie System, Inc. was the Virginia holding company for the Chesapeake & Ohio, the Baltimore & Ohio, and the Western Maryland. The kitten in a C on yellow, vermilion, and blue is what the photographs remember. The corporation was chartered February 26, 1973, became parent of the three roads on June 15, and ended when the C&O dissolved into CSX Transportation on August 31, 1987. Reporting marks stayed CO, BO, and WM. This page details the holding company, the paint, and the public trains.

The combination began as C&O control of the B&O on February 4, 1963, not as a merger of the two names. Hays T. Watkins, Jr., C&O president from 1971, wanted one public name. Franklyn Carr put Chessie the sleeping kitten inside a letter C. The first GP40-2 in that scheme, B&O 1977, came out of La Grange in August 1972. Diesels lettered for the family can be found at the Chessie diesel roster.

First and early second-generation Chessie System family locomotives in the dead line at Cumberland Maryland in the 1980s

A sea of first- and early second-generation power from the Chessie System family—Baltimore & Ohio, Chesapeake & Ohio, and Western Maryland—in the dead line at Cumberland, Maryland, during the 1980s. Allen Brougham photo / Wade Massie collection.

On this page: At a glance · C&O takes the B&O · Western Maryland · Watkins, the name, and 1973 · The C, the kitten, and the paint · System map, 1978 · 1977, GM50, steam specials · CSX, 1980–87 · What remains

At a glance

The Chessie System logo. Author’s work. Franklyn Carr put C&O’s sleeping kitten inside a C in 1972.

Item	Detail
What it was	Virginia holding company for C&O, B&O, and Western Maryland. Not a fourth operating railroad
Headquarters	C&O: Richmond, 823 East Main. B&O: Baltimore & Ohio Building, Baltimore. WM: Standard Oil Building, Baltimore
C&O control of B&O	ICC December 31, 1962. Closed February 4, 1963
Western Maryland	C&O/B&O control 1967
Paint	First GP40-2 in the scheme, B&O 1977, August 1972. Federal Yellow, Enchantment Blue, Vermillion; sublettering CO, BO, WM
Chessie System, Inc.	Incorporated Virginia February 26, 1973. Parent of the three roads June 15, 1973
Dates	February 26, 1973–August 31, 1987. Paint from 1972
Route-miles	About 11,700
States / provinces	Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, New York, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri (St. Louis), Michigan; Ontario
Gauge	4 ft 8½ in
CSX Corporation	Chessie System + Seaboard Coast Line Industries, November 1, 1980
End of the names	WM into B&O May 1, 1983. B&O into C&O April 30, 1987. C&O into CSX Transportation August 31, 1987
Roster	Chessie diesel roster

Dates follow the Trains Magazine CSX family tree used on the B&O and C&O pages. 11,700 miles is the Official Guide-era combined plant. Information compiled September 17, 2026.

C&O takes the B&O, 1963

The B&O in 1961 was losing money. Jervis Langdon Jr. was there to keep it out of court. The Norfolk & Western–Virginian combination of 1959 had already opened the modern merger era. The New York Central wanted the B&O. So did the C&O. Alfred Perlman, the Central’s president, argued for a three-way deal or for NYC control. The B&O board went with Chessie coal money. The ICC approved C&O control on December 31, 1962. Direct control closed February 4, 1963. It was not a merger of the two corporations. The C&O left the B&O standing, in part for a Maryland tax exemption and in part because B&O people would not have taken an erasure quietly. Perlman later joined the Pennsylvania. That combination was Penn Central, 1968. The B&O story is Baltimore & Ohio; the C&O is Chesapeake & Ohio.

Baltimore and Ohio GP40-2s 4189 and 4197 with GP38 3807 in Chessie System paint at Benwood West Virginia late March 1975

Baltimore & Ohio power in Chessie System paint at Benwood, West Virginia, late March 1975: GP40-2s #4189 and #4197 with GP38 #3807. Photographer unknown. American-Rails.com collection.

Western Maryland, 1967

The B&O already sat on Western Maryland stock. C&O/B&O control of the Wild Mary closed in 1967. The WM ran Baltimore–Cumberland–Connellsville, with Elkins and the West Virginia branches. It paralleled the B&O, hauled the same coal, and kept its own pride of railroad. Chessie later took the Connellsville Extension out of service in 1975 and sold or abandoned most of the rest. Little of that map is CSX today. The company is Western Maryland.

Chessie System Baltimore and Ohio SD40-2 7611 in April 1983

Chessie System/B&O SD40-2 #7611, April 1983. Location not recorded. American-Rails.com collection.

Watkins, one name, June 15, 1973

Hays T. Watkins, Jr., became C&O president in 1971. The three roads already shared shops and some management. He wanted a public name that said so, the way the Family Lines name sat on Seaboard Coast Line, Louisville & Nashville, and Clinchfield equipment—except Family Lines was marketing only. Chessie System, Inc., was a Virginia corporation, filed February 26, 1973, and became the parent of C&O, B&O, and Western Maryland on June 15. Departments consolidated. The three charters remained. Sublettering on locomotives and cabooses kept the owner visible. From about 1976 the family ran more as one railroad.

Chesapeake and Ohio GP30 3038 and Chessie System C and O GP40-2 4376 with the Loup Creek Shifter at Thurmond West Virginia October 1980

Chesapeake & Ohio GP30 #3038 and Chessie System/C&O GP40-2 #4376 have the Loup Creek Shifter eastbound with loads through Thurmond, West Virginia, October 1980. The water tanks and post office are gone. Rob Kitchen photo.

Sleep like a kitten, then a C

The name was C&O’s. In 1933 Lionel Probert, C&O public relations, bought a sleeping-kitten drawing from Guido Grenewald for $5 and wrote Sleep Like A Kitten And Wake Up Fresh As A Daisy In Air-Conditioned Comfort. The first advertisement ran in the September 1933 Fortune. Thomas Dixon, Jr., in Chesapeake & Ohio Railway: A Concise History And Fact Book, is the citation. That campaign is on the C&O page. By the late 1960s the kitten was mostly calendars.

Watkins gave the new look to Howard Skidmore, C&O public relations, who gave it to Franklyn Carr in the creative department. The brief was bright paint for grade-crossing safety and bold lettering. Carr put the kitten’s silhouette inside a C. The carbody field was C&O Federal Yellow; the roof and skirting Enchantment Blue (near B&O Royal Blue); the bands Vermillion. “Chessie System” sat on the yellow. The board approved it.

New Chessie System Baltimore and Ohio GP40-2 4122 with oversized B and O lettering at EMD McCook Illinois September 9 1972

Recently completed Chessie System/B&O GP40-2 #4122, oversized “B&O” on the frame, at Electro-Motive’s McCook, Illinois, open house for fifty years of locomotive production, September 9, 1972. Paul Schumann photo.

The first locomotive painted was B&O GP40-2 1977, outshopped at La Grange in August 1972 and unveiled in Cleveland. The number marked the B&O’s approaching 150th anniversary (charter February 28, 1827). That unit went into service as 4100. For GM’s executive conference at the Greenbrier in November 1972, C&O/B&O renumbered a second new unit, 4163, as 1977. Most photographs of “1977” are the second engine. A third celebrity GP40-2, gold with blue lettering, was GM50, EMD’s fiftieth anniversary as a locomotive builder, September 1972; it later became 4164, then CSX 6063.

Chessie System Chesapeake and Ohio caboose 3190 at Charlottesville Virginia in March 1975

Chessie System/Chesapeake & Ohio caboose #3190 at Charlottesville, Virginia, March 1975. American-Rails.com collection.

System map, 1978

Official 1978 system map of the Chessie System family Chesapeake and Ohio Baltimore and Ohio and Western Maryland

An official 1978 system map of the Chessie System family: Chesapeake & Ohio, Baltimore & Ohio, and Western Maryland.

The map was three railroads. C&O still ran Newport News–Cincinnati, the James River Line, Russell–Toledo, and the Pere Marquette in Michigan and Ontario. B&O still ran Baltimore–Cumberland–Chicago and the St. Louis main. WM still showed Baltimore–Cumberland–Connellsville and Elkins. Philadelphia–Jersey City remained Reading / Jersey Central, later Conrail, rights. Chessie coal and B&O merchandise together earned money in a decade when many Northeastern roads did not.

Baltimore and Ohio SD9 1837 at Cumberland Maryland in March 1975 assigned to hump service

Baltimore & Ohio SD9 #1837 at Cumberland, Maryland, March 1975, assigned to hump service. American-Rails.com collection.

1977, the gold Geep, and two steam trains

Watkins liked to show the railroad. B&O GP38 3802 received a plaque in 1982 when Trains named it the All American Locomotive; it is at the B&O Railroad Museum. The Chessie Steam Special of 1977–78 used Reading T-1 4-8-4 2101, freshly off the American Freedom Train, in Chessie colors for the B&O’s 150th anniversary. Ten states, 54,900 passengers, 18,641 miles. The Chessie Safety Express, September 13, 1980, to November 1, 1981, was a grade-crossing program behind restored C&O Greenbrier 614. CSX did not keep that kind of steam program.

Chessie System bay-window caboose C-3718 in purple safety paint at Cumberland Maryland December 1974

Chessie System bay-window caboose C-3718 in a purple safety scheme at Cumberland, Maryland, December 1974. American-Rails.com collection.

Chessie System battery-powered GE shop switcher at Chesapeake and Ohio Huntington West Virginia shops spring 1984

Chessie System’s battery-powered GE shop switcher at the Chesapeake & Ohio shops, Huntington, West Virginia, spring 1984. The locomotive is now at the B&O Railroad Museum. Rob Kitchen photo.

CSX Corporation, then the names die

Chessie System and Seaboard Coast Line Industries formed CSX Corporation on November 1, 1980. The southern roads became Seaboard System on December 29, 1982. CSX Transportation, to operate the railroad, dated from July 1, 1986. The Chessie charters lasted a while longer. Trains Magazine’s family tree: Western Maryland into the B&O on May 1, 1983; B&O into the C&O on April 30, 1987, a week after the B&O’s 160th birthday; C&O into CSX Transportation on August 31, 1987.

New locomotives in Chessie paint stopped with SD50s Electro-Motive delivered in the summer of 1984. The first CSX scheme was grey and dark blue. B&O’s St. Louis main was cut after 1985. WM’s Connellsville line was already gone.

Chessie System Baltimore and Ohio SD9 1834 leaving the main for the Frog Hollow Branch at Martinsburg West Virginia spring 1974

Chessie System/Baltimore & Ohio SD9 #1834 heading off the main onto the Frog Hollow Branch at Martinsburg, West Virginia, spring 1974. Warren Calloway photo.

Chessie System GP40-2 4303 southbound on the Buffalo Subdivision at Glenwood New York October 24 1982

Chessie System GP40-2 #4303 southbound on the Buffalo Subdivision at Glenwood, New York, crossing Route 240 on October 24, 1982. Doug Kroll photo.

What remains

CSX still runs the C&O and B&O spines: Newport News–Cincinnati, the James River Line, Baltimore–Cumberland–Chicago, Russell–Toledo. Most of the Western Maryland and much of B&O St. Louis and C&O of Indiana are gone. The kitten-C is on museum locomotives, including GP38 3802 at Baltimore, the Huntington shop switcher, and whatever GP40-2s still wear yellow in preservation. The holding company of February 26, 1973, is not.

Sources

Dixon, Thomas W., Jr. Chesapeake & Ohio Railway: A Concise History And Fact Book. Clifton Forge, Va.: Chesapeake & Ohio Historical Society, 2012. Kitten purchase; Chessie System name
Trains Magazine CSX merger family tree. Chessie System, Inc., February 26 / June 15, 1973; CSX Corporation November 1, 1980; WM into B&O May 1, 1983; B&O into C&O April 30, 1987; C&O into CSXT August 31, 1987
Chesapeake & Ohio Historical Society. Company history. Watkins; affiliation with B&O 1963; Chessie System
American-Rails.com: C&O; B&O (control February 4, 1963; WM 1967); Western Maryland; Chessie diesel roster; GM50 (serial 7365-14, later 4164 / CSX 6063)

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