When did Chessie System Merger occurred, did the ICC approved the merger and did the 3 railroads retired the names in favor of CS.
There never really was a Chessie System merger. The C&O obtained control of the B&O in 1962 and the WM in 1968. The WM was eventually merged into the C&O in 1983, after the formation of CSX. Only after CSX decided to consolidate its rail holdings in 1987 did the B&O get merged into the C&O. Shortly thereafter the Seaboard System was renamed CSX Transportation (CSXT) and the C&O was merged into it. The Chessie System, like the Family Lines System, was more of a marketing identity and a paint scheme than a real railroad. There was a Chessie System Inc., but it was just a holding company that owned the component railroads.
I believe that the famous Cat-in-a-C paint scheme was first released in 1973, over 10 years after the C&O/B&O system was originally formed. If you look carefully at photos taken prior to 1987 you will see that all Chessie System locomotives carried sublettering on their cabsides to indicate which railroad each locomotive actually belonged to.
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I was present at the âunveilingâ in Cleveland in August of 1972.
Chessie System 1977 August 1972 by Edmund, on Flickr
Chessie News by Edmund, on Flickr
Chessie_news_6 by Edmund, on Flickr
The ceremony took place at the Clark Ave, yard in Cleveland.
1977_GP40 by Edmund, on Flickr
Iâd sure like to add a pair of Chessie Enchantment Blue hot pants to my railroadiana collection.
Hereâs more from that day:
Cheers, Ed
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The 3 railroads technically stayed separate kinda like the SP and Cotten Belt out west in terms of legal paperwork but were all under the control of one single board of directors. Yes the B&O and W&M existed on paper the fact was you literally couldnât even invest in the those 2 railroads without going through the Chessie System stock or C&O after 73 only. For all intents they didnât exist except for union contracts and ICC paperwork and equipment trusts.
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The Chessie System paint scheme was shown at an EMD open house at the LaGrange plant in 1972 before the GP40-2âs were delivered to the railroad. The gold GM50 and other Chessie units were present.
Mark Vinski
I always thought the Chessie System paint looked best on the SD50âs. Here are a couple of Big Cats rolling coal on the C&O back in 1986.
Photo by Doug Lilly - https://www.flickr.com/photos/149706553
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The EMD 50th anniversary open house was on September 9, 1972 and the Cleveland event was August 30, 1972 for the C&O board of directorsâ annual meeting.
Nits and picks, of course.
EMD actually misspelled Chessie (well, the i was missing for some reason)
More here: Electro-Motive's 50th Anniversary -- Part 3 -- Bill Howes
Cheers, Ed
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I still remember Chessie System being around when I was a kid in the 80s. I knew the logo was supposed to be a cat but I at the time I thought the cat was supposed to be running instead of sleeping until years later when I saw the sleeping kitten ads. A funny thing I remember back in them days was one time seeing a Chessie coal hopper where somebody graffitied a smiley face with the tongue sticking out on the cat.
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My paychecks read B&O from the time I hired out until I was âtradedâ to Chessie Computer Services Inc. in 1988 until 1990 when I was relocated to Jacksonville, CSX Transportation from my arrival in Jacksonville until my retirement in 2016. Now the Railroad Retirement Board is the largest depositor to my checking account.
For the railroad, Chessie System was a marketing name. The IT arm of âChessie Systemâ was spun into its own entity - Chessie Computer Services Inc.. In the same time frame Seaboard also spun their IT are into a company known as Systems & Cybernetics Inc.
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Really? Thatâs bizarre! 
But why the Chessie System name and not Baltimore and Ohio, Chesapeake and Ohio, and Western Maryland .
Happens more often than you might think!
https://rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=2135445816
Iâve been told not to cross threads! I hope this doesnât crash the forums.
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You are on the phone - which is the simpler response âChessie Systemâ or B&O, C&O, WM?
One thought occurred to me late last night - there almost wasnât a Chessie System. The N&W and C&O announced that they would merge in 1965 in response to what was anticipated to be the crushing effect of the huge Penn Central merger. This merger would have involved not only the N&W, C&O, B&O, and WM, but also the Reading, CNJ, D&H, Erie Lackawanna, and the B&M (aka the DERECO roads).
The ICC examiner in charge of the case recommended approval in March 1970. The bankruptcy of Penn Central and negative developments regarding the stock exchange ratio eventually persuaded the N&W and C&O to call the merger off in 1971.
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The inclusion of the above listed carriers were the prime reason no merger was consumated - the profitable roads looked upon them as a financial anchor capable of sinking and new merged company..
Those roads got added into the ConRail creation and the enhanced abandonment authorizations that let ConRail rationalize their original porperty down to something that was manageable and ultimately profitable.
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Because railroads are proud corporate entities that donât want to allow another railroad corporation to take top billing on the marquee and make like theyâre better than you are. So more often than not in the merger universe all names end up being thrown out in favor of a brand new corporate moniker that everyone can agree on. âChessieâ being a cute kitten with a rich history implies âfriendlinessâ which is a better image in the publicâs eye anyways. Shippers could care less if you have a fluffy kitten on your rolling stock as long as you deliver on time at a price they like.
The modern Chesapeake and Ohio and Seaboard System incarnation recognizes the previous Chessie System merger of the Baltimore and Ohio, Chesapeake and Ohio and Western Maryland and the Seaboard Air Line with the other members of the Family Lines as âChessie Seaboard Xâ with the âXâ standing for âUnitedâ because the lawyers working on the merger couldnât come up with anything else that the corporate big wigs would agree on. (According to CSX at 40 Kalmbach Publishing.)
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I wish CSX would bring back the kitty. I know they have it on a Chessie System heritage unit, but itâd be cooler if it was on more stuff.
CSX explanation of the X defined it as the multiplier. Chessie-Seaboard multiplied!