Seaboard Surprise!

It's always fun when a railfanning excursion yields a heritage unit when you least expect it...

CSX began as a holding company in 1980; it launched the Seaboard System Railroad (SBD) starting in December 1982 via a series of mergers that eventually consolidated all of its existing Family Lines System and Chessie System entities. Family Lines System included the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad (SCL), Louisville & Nashville Railroad (L&N), Clinchfield Railroad (CRR), and several other smaller railroads; Chessie System consisted of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad (B&O), Chesapeake & Ohio Railway (C&O), and Western Maryland Railway (WM). In July 1986, the Seaboard System was rebranded as the CSX Transportation (CSXT) that we all know today. So for all intents and purposes, SBD was the last predecessor of CSX before it became CSX, giving it a special place in railroad history despite its relatively short operational lifespan.

So naturally, when CSX finally began rolling out heritage units to pay homage to the many former railroads that came together over time to create the current company, the Seaboard System was among the first to be honored. Following in the footsteps of B&O and Chessie heritage units (CSX 1827 and CSX 1972) and as a nod to the year when trains first operated under the Seaboard System name, CSX 1982 was the third heritage unit to debut in regular service in June 2023. The GE ES44AH locomotive, originally built as CSX 3066, was rechristened as CSX 1982 and painted to feature the old Seaboard System colors of grey, red and yellow.

By the end of 2023, the new CSX heritage unit series had also paid tribute to Conrail (CSX 1976), C&O (CSX 1869), L&N (CSX 1850), and Atlantic Coast Line (CSX 1871). Each heritage unit features the modern-day CSX livery on the front of the engine, with the long hood sporting the predecessor railroad's historic livery.

In this video, the Seaboard System heritage unit catches us by surprise at the Duesner Road crossing south of CSX Howell Yard in Evansville, Indiana, on June 21, 2024. A nice horn show gets the fun started as CSX 3144 leads CSX 3028 and CSX 3432 while hauling 13 autoracks and 136 intermodal cars southbound. The "Seaboard surprise" arrives when CSX 1982 appears as a mid-train DPU, which we did not expect after seeing a trio of engines at the front of the train!