Restored GE Dash-7 in “Chessie Cat” colors on private display at GE
The restored GE Dash-7 locomotive painted in its “Chessie Cat” livery is on temporary private display at GE Transportation’s Erie, PA facility. The following is the joint official press release from the Lake Shore Railway Historical Society, CSX Transportation and GE Transportation:
NORTH EAST, PA. — Lake Shore Railway Historical Society, in cooperation with CSX Transportation and GE Transportation, announces that a restored CSX locomotive, “C&O #8272” or “Chessie Cat,” paused on its trip to Lake Shore Railway Museum to relive that moment in history when it rolled off the assembly shop floor. The Chessie Cat was interchanged by CSX into the Erie GE Transportation facility where it will be on private display for a short time, prior to being publicly displayed at the Lake Shore Railway Museum.
The 1980 Erie-built General Electric B30-7 locomotive, CSX #5554 (retired in 2009), received cosmetic restoration to its ‘as-delivered’ C&O “Chessie Cat” paint scheme by the talented craftspeople of the CSX railroad shops in Huntington, WV. CSX 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 Railway Historical Society volunteers, C&O #8272 will join seven (7) other GE locomotives in the “Locomotives that Dad & Grandpa Built Collection.”
The Lake Shore Railway Historical Society’s “Locomotives that Dad & Grandpa Built Collection” is growing along the CSX mainline at the Lake Shore Railway Museum in North East, PA. There may never be a more opportune or convenient a time as now to share a portion of that collection. Defying the adage that “you can’t go home again,” C&O #8272 was rolled into the Erie General Electric by East Erie Commercial Railroad #22, itself also a 1980 product of Erie General Electric. Ray Grabowski, Jr., of Lake Shore Railway Historical Society expressed his thanks to the entire GE family, past and present, who are ultimately the inspiration for the “Locomotives that Dad & Grandpa Built Collection” at North East, PA.
GE Transportation of Erie, PA, and B&O Railroad Museum, Baltimore, MD, assisted in the restoration of C&O #8272 by contributing historic paint records, logo/lettering information and paint chips. Plans to move C&O #8272 the final leg of its trip to Lake Shore Railway Museum where it will be publicly displayed and enjoyed are currently being finalized.