Spotted going east at Keyser, WV in CSX train Q316-10 on Friday the 11th.

Didn't have the best shot of the sign in the cab door window but I was able to shoot it at Cumberland this morning.

Being preserved or their new shop switcher?

Tim W.

Wonder if it will get this paint scheme:

Will B&O Museum keep this?

I'd assume that, if they're getting it, they're planning on keeping it.

Unless they're just working on it for someone, but I doubt that.

[/quote]I'd assume that, if they're getting it, they're planning on keeping it.

Unless they're just working on it for someone, but I doubt that.[/quote]

I meant that a few years back B&O Museum got rid of some equipment that wasn’t B&O. If memory serves, I think it included quickly selling some off for scrap without even trying to find another place for it. An L&N U25B comes to mind. Maybe a GG1, Little Joe, and others as well? This GP15 isn’t pure B&O or even necessarily representative of a locomotive from the area. I hope they plan on taking care of this.

It really would be nice if CSX donated the three truly historic B&O Diesels that had been earmarked for the museum in the late 1990's, but had their stencils painted over since. One of them, SD50 8595, the last locomotive bought for the B&O, was recently sold to Larry's in Ohio. If it is still in one piece maybe something can be done about that one. The other two, both GP40s, 6341 (nee 4447) was the last GP40-2 bought for the B&O (or Chessie System, period), and 6093 was delivered as the gold commemorative EMD 50th Anniversary unit, #GM50 (original road number 4163). At one time 6093 had been assigned to Florida, but was last seen roaming the general system, and 6341 was assigned to the RF&P area for local service because it had cab signals for the RF&P. I'm hoping neither of them has been through the major rebuild program and greatly altered with new cabs and other upgrades.

A certain gentleman at CSX offered the 8595 to the B&O Museum - there was no interest.

6341 and 6063 still exist. I can't speak for 6341, but Jacksonville will certainly pay attention to the GM50 when it is retired, whenever that will be.

I find it odd that they would turn down 8595 unless a Chessie unit isn't considered true B&O. Also odd that they would pick up a C&O unit.

B&O RR Museum has plenty of non-B&O engines. In a way C&O's collection of later steam complements the B&O collection of older steam.

Check their roster: http://www.borail.org/Steam-Engines.aspx

Phil Mulligan

8595 was not offered to the museum. When calls were made after it was found to be sold to LTEX, CSX management tried unsuccessfully to trade back for the unit. The other engines that had been on the list were discussed and there is now an understanding about future donations (I am not sure whether the list was amended or not).

The GP15 will be used. Museum operations during Polar Express and Thomas require a shorter locomotive to fit inside the fence while at the west end of the train.

What is the significance of this locomotive? What makes it special?

I'm in no way connected with the B&O Museum or its curators except through occasional interaction, but let me suggest:

1) Sometimes the significance is its "plainness" or "ordinary-ness."
No matter how much we, and the American public, act otherwise, the "everyday" object is of greater significance than the superlative, the extreme, the flashy. An Alco RS-3, an EMD GP9 or SD40-2, or an Amtrak F40PH is far more significant, in both a historical context and public familiarity, than the "eye candy" of the UP Big Boy or gas-turbine electrics, the SP K-M diesel-hydraulic, or even possibly the PRR GG1.
(In truth, you need both. In cars, people go out of their way to see examples of the Tucker, the big Dusenbergs, a Ford GT40, or Ferraris, but people actually can relate to the "boring" Model T and A, the '57 Chevy, and even a Chevette or VW Beetle. They would flock to a fighter jet or SST, but the DC-3/C-47 is culturally more significant.)

2) Over the past several decades and since becoming independent, the B&O Railroad Museum, for whatever flaws it has, has dove a superlative job in selecting and pursuing "representative" equipment of not only the B&O/C&O/WM/Chessie family, but of American railroading in general. Some of what they've acquired exists nowhere else in rail preservation (granted, how many railroads had SD35's?).
GP15-1's handled local freights ("what are those?", little Joshua or Emma may ask in 2019) after the last of the first-generation road switchers were retired, stepping into the role formerly filled by GP7's, GP9's and the like.
As a usable piece of motive power, a GP15-1 may well be easier to keep in running order than a GP9, SW1200, or Alco. They should be able to draw from the same part sources as their regular "First Mile" motive power. (That is, provided that they even use it--the SW they currently use does indeed get used so as to not "wear out" the real artifacts.)

3) It is literally the JOB of the B&O Museum to save this stuff. They're "first in line" with CSX, it appears. And, seriously, if they were to grab an SD50 and it's simply too much track space, I see no problem with them loaning it out or selling it to another operation. Heck, the RR Museum of Pa. needs far greater B&O/Chessie representation; loan them an SD50 or something.....
Now, granted, we appear to be back into a cycle of "dropped balls" with CSX preservation efforts. It's possible this is something of a self-imposed "fine" CSX is paying for "dropping the ball" on SD50 8595.

In the last section above, there's a stark reminder for would-be preservationists:
If you seriously want that piece of rolling stock badly enough, make your interest known regularly and repeatedly to the point of obsessive stalking.
There can be a folder of annual requests for that car or loco somewhere in the company, and one new CEO or manager can inadvertently or maliciously toss it. And if that loco gives up the ghost five or fifteen states away, there's no assurance whatsoever that someone at the power desk knows it was promised to, or wanted by, someone--they'll just contact the regional manager to ask to junk it. (That reportedly happened to a previously-requested ex-WM loco on CSX, and we just saw it again with the 8595.)

Thank you for the response. I agree, the rank and file motive power says something quite strong about the business of railroading in the era.

An SD50 might not be the best Chessie/CSX unit to take up space in a museum, it is the model that made Chessie/CSX stop buying EMDs for a long time. When SD50s proved to be mechanically troublesome Chessie cancelled the order and the remainder of the order ended up on the Rio Grande. They had tried to squeeze an extra 500 HP out of the 645 by increasing the RPMs and it shook the unit to pieces, and the turbocharger had all kind of problems.

It was my understanding that the Rio Grande was in a power crunch and made a deal with CSX to get these at a time when there was a traffic slump out east, rather than wait months for new power.

I don't think CSX cancelled any SD50's. The 17 units ended up being built the next year as some of EMD's final SD50's, plus three additional units.

I believe the 10 SD60's are what finally scuttled the love affair. CSX/Chessie/Seaboard were patient with the teething troubles with the SD50, but when these SD60's came out of the gate with early issues again, that was it for a long time.