Here they are, the motivepower of the new Chessie System. These 2 locomotives are the workhorses of the Chessie and gives this kitten a new look. first up, GE ES44AC #4400:
GE AC4400CW #4411:
And now, possibly the most well known GP40-2 and most famous Chessie locomotive, EMD GP40-2 GM50:
We are calling our units back tomorrow. Can you have them fueled up and ready to go? The crew that took them down is staying at a hotel in Spencer. If you want to do something like this again, let me know and we'll plan for another meet. Maybe i can convince our parent company the M&N to send one of there units down.
The paint department is preparing masks for your steamer. What is the steamers number if it has one? A cutout has been made for the tender. At the rate we are going now, the Hudson will be heading off to paint next week. We are conducting Hydrostatic tests (Pump water into boiler, warm it up to 70 degrees and raise the pressure to 25 psi above max. working pressure). This allows us to check for leaks in the tubing. Running tests wont take place until June at the least.
We didnt find any leaks during the Hydrostatic tests. We will conduct running tests next Thursday and continue tests over the next several weeks. The paint won't be applied until its ready to be shipped to you.
Chessie System's locomotives arrived home this morning. CSX said they won't allow our steam engines to run on their trackage powered. If you and the Chessie plan on another event, we'll have Chessie tow down one of our steamers.
The Northwestern wants to test a locomotive from the M&N. CSX is allowing us to run on their trackage to deliver the unit to you to take to the Northwestern. The train is X-25 and is led by Chessie 25 and 26 (ex-WM GP9s). They stopped outside Richmond, Va for the night. They should drop off the unit tomorrow evening.
"Chessie 25 to CS dispatch. We dropped off the CE-9 for the Northwestern Railroad. Is it ok if we can stay here overnight and head home tomorrow? 25 out."