Chessie System, Inc - dated 1970's Set of 3 Different Color Railroad Stock Certificates - Three Railway Stocks - Railroad Holding Co. Stock Certificate owned the C&O, B&O and Western Maryland Railway

Set of 3 different colors. Nice vignette of surveyors by American Bank Note Co. Set of 3.

Chessie System, Inc., a prominent American holding company, was established in 1973 to oversee three major railroads: the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O), the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O), and the Western Maryland Railway (WM). Headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, the system was spearheaded by Cyrus S. Eaton and Hays T. Watkins Jr. as a strategic response to the escalating competition and significant mergers in the Eastern United States, such as the formation of Penn Central. Initially, the component railroads retained their individual corporate identities, but they operated under a unified brand characterized by a striking yellow, vermillion, and blue paint scheme.

Perhaps the company’s most renowned branding element is Chessie the kitten, a beloved mascot introduced by the C&O in 1933. The holding company later modernized this imagery into the “Ches-C” logo, which cleverly incorporated a kitten silhouette within the letter “C.” Primarily a heavy-haul system, its primary revenue sources included West Virginia coal and the transportation of automotive parts. This era of railroading concluded on November 1, 1980, when the Chessie System merged with Seaboard Coast Line Industries to form CSX Corporation. However, the Chessie name and branding persisted on locomotives until the system was fully absorbed into CSX Transportation in 1987.