Chessie System 3-bay coal hopper 4-pack with jewel cases

Chessie System 3-bay coal hopper 4-pack with jewel cases

road numbers 158941, 160103, 187348 and 188820

Chessie System can trace its origins back to the early 1960s when a successful Chesapeake and Ohio Railway gained controlling stock in the financially struggling Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. Although the two lines remained separate corporations, they operated in close affiliation through the decade and by the late 60s, C&O and B&O jointly acquired the smaller Western Maryland Railway. Following this consolidation, the Chessie System was created in 1973 as a holding company that retained ownership over all three railways and marketed them together with a vivid new paint scheme. A further series of mergers and acquisitions in the 1980s brought an end to the Chessie System as its constituent rail lines were absorbed into CSX Transportation.