Chessie System Railroads in West Virginia

Chessie System Railroads in West Virginia has 135 full color photos showing the colorful locomotive cars of the Chesapeake & Ohio, Baltimore & Ohio, and Western Maryland railroads during the time that they were part of the Chessie System. The illustrations show trains, locomotives and cars in the wonderfully beautiful settings of West Virginia locales along the main and branch lines of each of the three lines as they crisscrossed the state during the era 1972-1986.

The Chessie System paint scheme with the bright yellow locomotive accentuated with blue and vermilion stripes and featuring the distinctive “Ches-C” logo, was always a big attraction for modelers, rail fans, employees, and folks along the line who saw the colorful locomotives and cars every day. The “Ches-C” was a stylized representation of the C& O’s famous kitten corporate symbol, Chessie, which had been in use advertising that railway since 1934. When the three companies were combined in 1972-73, it was decided to use the familiar Chessie name for the new consolidated operation. The “Ches-C” logo served both as the stand-alone logo and as the capital letter “C” in the bold “Chessie System” name on the diesels and cars.

The book is 80 pages long, with photos printed in vibrant color to half or full-page size. Coverage on each railroad moves east-to-west over its mainline, with branches covered as they leave the mainlines.

An introduction gives background on the creation of Chessie System, and has some notes about operations on the three lines in West Virginia.

West Virginia was chosen as the geographical limits of the book because it provided the best backdrops for the trains, was the center of coal production so important to all three roads, and is a region that enjoys a major interest among people interested in railroading.

The book is printed on heavy coated stock that displays the photos extremely well.