JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The 21st – and final – heritage locomotive in the CSX fleet is ES44AH No. 1981, a tribute to New England regional Pan Am Railways.
CEO Joe Hinrichs unveiled the locomotive Tuesday, Nov. 19, in a post on LinkedIn, as has been customary.
“Here is the 21st CSX Heritage Locomotive — Pan Am Railways #1981. CSX purchased Pan Am Railways in the summer of 2022 (a couple months before I started). Pan Am Railways (PAR) started in 1981 as Guilford Transportation Industries and took on the Pan Am name in 2006 after acquiring the rights in 1998,” Hinrichs wrote. “Today, this railroad is part of the CSX New England region and we have put significant capital to work to invest in the network and bring it up to CSX safety and speed standards. We are very excited about the future potential of this new connection on our network.
“This is the last planned heritage locomotive of this first batch of 21. The team at Waycross has done an outstanding job. We have some other ideas for some special locomotives as we build toward our 200th birthday on Feb. 28th, 2027. Stay tuned,” he added.
All 21 heritage locomotives were painted at the railroad’s paint shop in Waycross, Ga.
The 1981 joins others in the railroad’s heritage fleet, which includes locomotives honoring the Clinchfield; Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis; Seaboard Air Line; Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad; Georgia Railroad; Pittsburgh & Lake Erie; Family Lines; Pere Marquette; Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac; Baltimore & Ohio; Chessie System; Seaboard System; Conrail; Chesapeake & Ohio; Louisville & Nashville; Atlantic Coast Line; New York Central; Monon; Western Maryland; and Seaboard Coast Line.
Absolutely agree with Charkes, It should have been a B&M unit. I am not sure anyone in New England would agree that “Pan Am” was a railway. They were trying to preserve the Pan Am Airline legacy, logo, name or whatever.
Charles, Sorry!
I beg to differ Mr. Kinney. The B&M did not declare bankruptcy until 1971. It was a Class 1 railroad until the end of 1989, which, I think, qualifies as a “real railroad.” Mellon purchased the B&M for $25 million, after the longest income-based reorganization in railroad history, and, while not releasing details, Mellon claims the railroad was profitable from the day he bought it.
Was the B&M a real railroad? The fleet of (tax–subsidized) RDCs at North Station was impressive. But based on my very limited experience as a B&M patron (one and a half round trips), the New Haven on my side of town was better for the soul.
Hmmm. The 21st heritage unit for CSX and the last for this effort. Is it just a coincidence that Norfolk Southern’s heritage group numbered 20?
Projects like this are a great way of remembering history.
Class act CSX thanks for all these fine locomotives, now to get someone to make some Ho or what ever scale decals…………….
Nope. Thumbs down. Should’ve been Boston and Maine. Pan Am wasn’t the real railroad. It was B&M. And while I’m at it, how about New Haven? CSX has left off my two favorite fallen flags.
Scale Trains has already released several for pre-order with the first batch due any time now. All 21 of them are planned for release. This is HO scale. I don’t know if they plan to do this in any other scale or not.
Boston and Maine wasn’t a real railroad by any means. They were bankrupt on and off from the 30’s to the 80’s, until Mellon pulled them out of debt.