The Early CSX Modeler's Information Kiosk

This is an in-progress information source for modelers of CSX Transportation, with a focus on the information applicable to HO scale and the early years of the company.  I plan to add to this information as time allows. Corrections and additions from reliable sources are always welcome, so feel free to send me a message.


Useful Links

www.trainweb.org/csxphotos/

www.rrpicturearchives.net/Railroad.aspx?id=CSX

www.railpictures.net/

http://www.bullsheet.com/csxroster.html

http://rr-fallenflags.org/csx/csx.html

http://rr-fallenflags.org/sbd/sbd.html

 http://rr-fallenflags.org/scl/scl.html

http://rr-fallenflags.org/ln/ln.html

http://rr-fallenflags.org/bo/bo.html

http://rr-fallenflags.org/co/co.html

http://rr-fallenflags.org/acl/acl.html

http://rr-fallenflags.org/sal/sal.html

http://rr-fallenflags.org/clin/clin.html

http://rr-fallenflags.org/awp/awp.html

http://rr-fallenflags.org/grr/grr.html

http://rr-fallenflags.org/wa/wa.html

http://rr-fallenflags.org/wm/wm.html

http://rr-fallenflags.org/rfp/rfp.html

http://rr-fallenflags.org/monon/monon.html

 

 

 

Timeline


1980- CSX Corporation was formed from the combination of Chessie System and Seaboard Coast Line Industries. There was little outward public appearance of  a consolidation, other than increased cooperation and coordination of operations and schedules; the company mostly existed in a legal and paper sense until the first paint scheme appeared in 1986.

Autumn 1982- The Seaboard System scheme first appeared, on a few Tampa-rebuilt GP16 units and an ex-L&N GP38-2.

January 31, 1983- Seaboard System was officially created by the absorption of the Family Lines component roads (L&N, Clinchfield, Georgia RR, Atlanta & West Point, Western Railway of Alabama) into Seaboard Coast Line Industries.

February 1983- Seaboard System took delivery of twenty-five SD50 locomotives from EMD, #8500-8524. They were noted for being the first **new** power to wear the Seaboard System paint scheme; the units were ordered by L&N and were originally intended to wear the Family Lines scheme, but the Seaboard System consolidation occurred between order placement and the painting of these units at EMD. These are the last units to have the headlight placement in the nose per standard L&N practice; later SD-50 orders have the headlight on the cab.



1984-1985- Chessie System ordered SD50 locomotives from EMD, numbered sequentially with the SD50's purchased by Seaboard System. This was a large clue that a merger between the two companies was being planned. In 1985 Seaboard System began a mass renumbering of much of its locomotive fleet to avoid conflicts with similar number series in the Chessie fleet.

May 1986- The first CSX paint scheme was debuted; blue/gray/black with the word "Transportation" spelled out on the side.  Nine locomotives were confirmed to have received this scheme; #5508, #5511, #6344, #6382, #7241, #8310, #8938, #8961, #8964.  It is rumored that the executive F-unit quartet, #116, #117, #118, #119 also wore this scheme for a short time, possibly as little as a few weeks, but I have not been able to confirm that with a photo, thus far. All units were painted at Waycross, GA, or South Louisville, KY, with the exception of #6344, which was painted at Huntington, WV; as a result the #6344 displayed a slightly darker hue of gray than the other units while it wore this scheme. (#6382 was the first locomotive to ever wear a CSX paint scheme, and it was a testbed shortly before the new company image was announced; photos show it wearing a lighter, almost clay-white hue of gray, with a dark gray roofline, smaller logos on the hood sides, light-gray pilot sheets, and a full "CSX Transportation" stacked logo on the nose; this was quickly painted over and never repeated.)

August 1986- The "Transportation" scheme was officially discontinued, making it one of the shortest-lived paint schemes ever used in American railroading.  The replacement scheme, nicknamed "Stripe", was essentially the same scheme but with 55-inch tall CSX initials in place of the small "CSX Transportation" logo. The "Stripe" scheme continued to be applied to various units for a little over a year, for a total of 178 units, when it was replaced by the next variation.

October 1986-  By this time, all but one unit in the "Transportation" scheme had their logos painted over and replaced with the large 55-inch tall CSX initials. Photos show that unit #7241 kept its Transportation logos into at least Spring 1990.  


September 1987- The third major paint scheme experiment by CSX debuted at this time, consisting of a blue walkway, roofline, and underframe, separated by a gray body. I like to call this scheme "Two-tone". This scheme, along with the ones that followed, were never applied at South Louisville, as the shops there were closed shortly before the "Two-tone" scheme was adopted. All painting duties were transferred to Huntington, WV and Waycross, GA. One notable variation on the "Two-tone" scheme were the eleven "Operation Redblock" units, which featured logos promoting a substance abuse rehabilitation program available to employees of CSX at the time. Each of the 10 units represented one of the nine divisions of CSX; Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Corbin, Detroit, Florence, Huntington, Mobile, Tampa. The Mobile Division lettering was actually applied to two units, #6387(#6483) and #2048. The first unit painted for Mobile was anticipated to be fully repainted after an overhaul, but only got a renumbering, giving the false impression that three Mobile units existed.     



November 1988- CSX tried yet again in the paint scheme department by debuting the "Stealth" scheme, a nickname applied by railfans because it was hard to see on rainy and overcast days. An attempt at cost-cutting, it was basically an all gray body with blue lettering, underframe, and pilot faces, the scheme is widely disliked and is probably the most notorious of all CSX schemes, for lacking imagination and promoting a lackluster corporate image. For the record, I personally like the way it looks on some locomotives. Also of note is that this scheme, while the simplest of all CSX schemes, also probably had the most deviations from standard practice; at least one unit, #2618,  had a gray (!!) underframe. Some units had blue walkways, others did not. Some units had black underframes and pilot sheets in place of blue. Some units had gray pilot sheets in place of blue. At least one unit, #5781, lacked the large CSX initials on its long hood sides for several months. Photos of a particular locomotive are essential when modeling this paint scheme.   .

October 1989- CSX took delivery of ten SD60 locomotives from EMD; these were notable for a few reasons, one of which being that they were the first new power on CSX to lack class lights. At this time CSX also began the practice of blanking out the class lights on older units so equipped, since they were no longer needed; this work was performed as soon as was possible, but it still took CSX shop forces well over a year to blank out the class lights on all units active at the time. In most cases this was done neatly with circular pieces of sheet metal; some CSX repaints had the full "auto body" treatment, eliminating any visible indication of ever having class lights. The SD40U rebuilds from Morrison-Knudsen and the RDMT slugs converted from GP30's and GP35 featured said treatment. 

March 26, 1990- The gray, blue, yellow, and black YN2 scheme is debuted by CSX on B36-7 #5895 at Waycross, GA. The flashy scheme draws lots of attention in the railroad press, would go on to become the most widely applied and admired CSX scheme, and would be the 'final' scheme selected by the company for over a decade. Railfans quickly attach several nicknames to the scheme, including "New Image", "Bright Future",  and "Hockey Stick".  

January 1991- CSX began the application of a small USA flag decal to the cab side sheets of all of its locomotives in observance of the Gulf War.

1991- The "100% Quality" maintenance program began, in which older CSX locomotives that met specified mechanical standards received a small, square, yellow-and-blue "100% Q" decal on the cab side sheets, typically below the roadnumbers. Like flag decals and blanked-out class lights, the presence of these stickers is useful to the early CSX modeler in approximating the dates of undated photos; however the program was relatively short lived and many locomotives never received the "Q stickers".

1990-1994- Based on safety concerns regarding the potential for grade crossing accidents due to the low visibility of the "Stealth" paint scheme, CSX began adding yellow patches to the noses, long hood ends, and side sills of the locomotives still wearing this scheme. As always, there were variations. Some units do not get yellow side sills, some did not get yellow long hood ends. Some got small CSX initials over their new yellow patches, while others did not.   .

April 1995-  CSX began a program of repainting certain older, less reliable locomotives in bright orange with black lettering, pilot sheets and underframe.  Nicknamed "Pumpkins" by railfans, these units were intended strictly for Maintenance of Way duty near their home terminals, where they could be quickly shuttled back for repair if a problem arose. By the time the program ended in 1998, a total of 69 units had received the "Pumpkin" scheme.

1994-1996- By this time, ditch light retrofits were becoming commonplace on older CSX locomotives. A federal law passed in 1992 mandated the installation of ditch lights, to be completed by 1997, on all locomotives to be operated over highway grade crossings at more than restricted speed. CSX kicked their ditch light program into high gear during this time, and generally used the opportunity to paint yellow nose patches on locomotives in predecessor and older CSX schemes (that didn't already have yellow noses). Interestingly, at least one Chessie unit got a yellow nose patch, which was a bizarre move, given the redundancy of painting a yellow patch on a locomotive that is already predominantly yellow.  This was a continued effort to increase grade crossing safety by making the locomotives more visible.