Following in the 2017 footsteps of C&O “Chessie” locomotive #8272, the THREE recently christened “CSX Pride in Service” locomotives are scheduled to visit the grounds of Erie Wabtec/GE where they were built. They will then move to Lake Shore Railway Historical Museum in North East, PA, for public display on Saturday, October 12, and Sunday, October 13. The museum will open at noon both days. An extended schedule of events, including a night time photo shoot with the “CSX Pride in Service” locomotives and parts of the “Locomotives that our Parents & Grandparents Built Collection” of GE locomotives at Lake Shore, is planned. Please follow their Facebook and website for schedules, updates and news.
The “CSX Pride in Service” locomotives were originally built between 2008 and 2015 at the Erie General Electric Locomotive Assembly plant at Lawrence Park. The specialty painting and lettering was performed by the same talented CSX railroad professionals from Huntington, West Virginia, shops who recreated the classical “Chessie Cat” Chessapeake & Ohio Railroad paint scheme on GE locomotive #8272 that CSX donated to Lake Shore Railway Historical Society in 2017. Each CSX locomotive is painted to honor the five CSX Pride in Service partners and to promote the CSX Pride in Service program, a signature community investment initiative with a goal of positively impacting 100,000 military service members, veterans, first responders and their families by 2020. Additional info about the Pride in Service program and these uniquely painted locomotives can be found on the CSX website.
“We honor our heroes in so many ways,” stated Lake Shore Railway Historical Society president, Alex Hummel. “It is fitting that we honor their service in this railroad setting, too!”The three “CSX Pride in Service” locomotives’ visit to Lake Shore Railway Museum allows another segment of the ‘hero population’ to have their day as well. The volunteer heroes of the Lake Shore Railway Historical Society, which was started in 1956 by community members mostly employed at Erie General Electric, have been preserving and sharing local railroad history and the story of the “Locomotives that our Parents & Grandparents Built” for over 60 years. The “CSX Pride in Service” locomotives will, briefly, become a part of that collection and will be available to have their story told while on display on Saturday, October 12 and Sunday, October 13.