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.
