Chessie System, Inc. was a holding company that owned the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O), the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O), the Western Maryland Railway (WM), and Baltimore and Ohio Chicago Terminal Railroad (B&OCT). Trains operated under the Chessie name from 1973 to 1987.
The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway was a Class I railroad formed in 1869 in Virginia from several smaller Virginia railroads begun in the 19th century. Led by industrialist Collis P. Huntington, it reached from Virginia's capital city of Richmond to the Ohio River by 1873, where the railroad town of Huntington, West Virginia, was named for him.
The B&O Railroad Museum is a museum and historic railway station exhibiting historic railroad equipment in Baltimore, Maryland. The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) company originally opened the museum on July 4, 1953, with the name of the Baltimore & Ohio Transportation Museum. It has been called one of the most significant collections of railroad treasures in the world and has the largest collection of 19th-century locomotives in the U.S. The museum is located in the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad's old Mount Clare Station and adjacent roundhouse, and retains 40 acres of the B&O's sprawling Mount Clare Shops site, which is where, in 1829, the B&O began America's first railroad and is the oldest railroad manufacturing complex in the United States.
Buckingham Branch Railroad is a Class III short-line railroad operating over 275 miles (443 km) of historic and strategic trackage in Central Virginia. Sharing overhead traffic with CSX and Amtrak, the company's headquarters are in Dillwyn, Virginia in the former Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O) station, itself a historic landmark in the community.
Chesapeake and Ohio 614 is a class "J-3-A" 4-8-4 "Greenbrier" (Northern) type steam locomotive built in June 1948 by the Lima Locomotive Works in Lima, Ohio for the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O) as a member of the J-3-A class. As one of the last commercially built steam locomotives in the United States, the locomotive was built with the primary purpose of hauling long, heavy, high speed express passenger trains for the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway such as the George Washington and the Fast Flying Virginian.
The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway's class L-2 comprised eight coal-fired 4-6-4 "Hudson" type steam locomotives numbered 300–307 and built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1941. They had roller bearings on all axles, and the first-built, No. 300, also had roller bearings on its side and main rods. No. 300 bore "Elephant ear" smoke deflectors from 1948.
Reading 2101 is a preserved T-1 class 4-8-4 "Northern" type steam locomotive constructed in September 1945 for use by the Reading Company. Constructed from an earlier "I10SA" 2-8-0 "Consolidation"-type locomotive, 2101 was originally built in March 1923 by the Baldwin Locomotive Works, the 2101 handled heavy coal train traffic for the Reading until being retired from revenue service in 1959. Withheld from scrapping, the 2101 served as emergency backup power for the three other T1 locomotives serving the Reading's "Iron Horse Rambles" excursions until being sold for scrap in 1964.
Ross E. Rowland, Jr. is a figure in United States railroad preservation. He has run public and demonstration excursions on existing railroads utilizing steam locomotives.
The Chessie was a proposed streamlined passenger train developed by the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O) in the late 1940s. The brainchild of C&O executive Robert R. Young, the Chessie would have operated on a daylight schedule between Washington, D.C., and Cincinnati, Ohio. The train's luxury lightweight equipment was built new by the Budd Company. A revolutionary new steam turbine locomotive would have provided power, including speeds up to 100 miles per hour (160 km/h). Although the equipment was delivered, a worsening financial outlook led to the cancellation of the train before it operated in revenue service.
The Chesapeake and Ohio class M-1 was a fleet of three steam turbine locomotives built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works for the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway in 1947–1948 for service on the Chessie streamliner. As diesel locomotives became more prevalent following World War II, the C&O was one of several railroads that were reluctant to abandon coal as a fuel source, and saw steam turbine technology as a possible alternative to diesel. At the time of its construction it was the longest single-unit locomotive in the world.
The Reading T-1 was a class of 4-8-4 "Northern" type steam locomotives owned by the Reading Company. They were rebuilt from thirty "I-10sa" class 2-8-0 "Consolidation" type locomotives between 1945 and 1947. Out of the thirty rebuilt, four survive in preservation today, those being numbers 2100, 2101, 2102, and 2124.
Western Maryland Scenic Railroad 1309 is a compound articulated class "H-6" "Mallet" type steam locomotive with a 2-6-6-2 wheel arrangement. It was the very last steam locomotive built by Baldwin Locomotive Works (BLW) in November 1949 and originally operated by the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O) where it pulled coal trains until its retirement in 1956.
The Chesapeake and Ohio class H-8 was a class of 60 simple articulated 2-6-6-6 steam locomotives built by the Lima Locomotive Works in Lima, Ohio between 1941 and 1948, operating until the mid 1950s. The locomotives were among the most powerful steam locomotives ever built and hauled fast, heavy freight trains for the railroad. Only two units were preserved; Nos. 1601 and 1604.
The Louisville and Nashville M-1 was a class of forty-two 2-8-4 steam locomotives built during and after World War II as dual-service locomotives. They were nicknamed "Big Emmas" by crews and were built in three batches between 1942 and 1949.
The Chesapeake and Ohio Greenbrier was a class of twelve 4-8-4 steam locomotives built by the Lima Locomotive Works between 1935 and 1948 and operated by the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O). The C&O did not name their 4-8-4s "Northerns", and instead chosen the name "Greenbrier" after the Greenbrier Hotel in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, a major destination on the C&O mainline.
The Chesapeake & Ohio Railway's Classes J-1 and J-2 were two classes of 4-8-2 steam locomotives introduced on the Chesapeake & Ohio for hauling heavy passenger trains over the Allegheny Mountains. The J-1s were the first 4-8-2s in the United States and earned the wheel arrangement the name of "Mountains" after the C&O's Mountain Divisions over which they would traverse.
Baltimore and Ohio No. 5300, also known as President Washington, is the sole survivor of the P-7 class 4-6-2 "Pacific" type steam locomotives. It was built by Baldwin in 1927, and it was used on mainline passenger trains across the Baltimore and Ohio system, particularly the Royal Blue train, until it was retired in 1957. After being stored for a few years, it was donated to the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Museum in Baltimore, Maryland, where it has spent several years on static display. The locomotive is undergoing a cosmetic restoration, as of 2023.
The Chesapeake and Ohio T-1 was a class of forty 2-10-4 steam locomotives built by the Lima Locomotive Works in 1930 and operated until the early 1950s.
Canadian Pacific 1238 is a preserved G5c class 4-6-2 "Pacific" type steam locomotive built by the Montreal Locomotive Works in June 1946. It was purchased by George Hart, who used it for excursion service in the 1960s. It was later sold to Jack Showalter, who operated it on his Allegany Central Railroad from the 1970s to the mid-1990s. In late December 2023, No. 1238 was purchased by the Waterloo Central Railway, and they have plans to restore the locomotive to operating condition.
Norfolk and Western 578 is a preserved 4-6-2 "Pacific" type steam locomotive. Built by ALCO's Richmond Works in 1910, No. 578 was assigned to pull premiere passenger trains for the Norfolk and Western Railway before it was downgraded to secondary passenger service. It was retired from revenue service altogether in 1958, and it was subsequently donated to the Ohio Railway Museum in Worthington, Ohio. The Ohio Railway Museum used No. 578 to pull some tourist trains on their trackage, until it was sidelined as a result of mechanical problems in the early 1970s. As of 2023, No. 578 remains on static display next to the Ohio Railway Museum's depot.
