1980 Erie-built General Electric B30-7 locomotive, CSX #5554
NORTH EAST, PENN. — Lake Shore Railway Historical Society is pleased to announce it has received a donation of a restored Chesapeake & Ohio “Chessie Cat”-era locomotive, C&O #8272, courtesy of CSX Transportation, Inc.
The 1980 Erie-built General Electric B30-7 locomotive, CSX #5554 (retired in 2009), received cosmetic restoration and has been returned to its ‘as-delivered’ C&O “Chessie Cat” paint scheme by the talented craftspeople of the CSX railroad shops in Huntington, W.V. CSX has donated the renamed C&O locomotive #8272 to Lake Shore Railway Historical Society where it will become part of the museum’s educational programming and display. At Lake Shore Railway Museum, operated by the Lake Shore Historical Society volunteers, C&O #8272 will join seven (7) other General Electric locomotives in the “Locomotives that Dad & Grandpa Built Collection.”
Ray Grabowski, Jr., president of Lake Shore Railway Historical Society, said “It is amazing what the dedicated professionals at CSX’s Huntington shops have accomplished. On behalf of Lake Shore Railway Historical Society and our entire community, I want to thank everyone at CSX for this incredible gift, especially the skilled craft workers who contributed to make the donation happen.”
CSX has strong ties to northwestern Pennsylvania where its predecessor railroads began operating more than 160 years ago. Today, CSX operates its former Conrail mainline between Buffalo, N.Y., and Cleveland, Ohio, past the Erie General Electric Transportation locomotive assembly plant where locomotive C&O #8272 was built. That same CSX mainline also passes the Lake Shore Railway Museum in the town of North East, Penn. CSX and its predecessor railroad companies have been long time customers of General Electric locomotive products.
General Electric Transportation of Erie, PA, and B&O Railroad Museum, Baltimore, Maryland, assisted the restoration of C&O #8272 by contributing historic paint records, logo/lettering information and paint chips. Plans to move C&O #8272 to Lake Shore Railway Museum have not yet been finalized.