By Railfan & Railroad Staff

CSX Transportation released its 21st heritage unit this week, an ES44AC-H painted in honor of Pan Am Railways. Beginning in 2023, CSX began painting locomotives in honor of its predecessor roads. The units feature a standard CSX yellow and blue front end with the historic scheme on the rear two-thirds of the locomotive. Railroads honored have included everything from Baltimore & Ohio to the New York Central. 

The Pan Am locomotive wears the number 1981 to mark the year Guilford Transportation Industries acquired the Maine Central (in 2006, Guilford was renamed Pan Am Railways after owner Timothy Mellon acquired the failed airline’s brand. Mellon, a reclusive billionaire, is also an aviation buff who in 2012 spent $1 million looking for the remains of lost aviator Amelia Earhart). CSX acquired Pan Am Railways in 2022. 

In a post on Linkedin, CSX President and CEO Joe Hinrichs wrote that 1981 would be the last planned heritage locomotive of the “first batch of 21.” 

“We have some other ideas for some special locomotives as we build toward our 200th birthday on Feb. 28th, 2027,” Hinrichs wrote. “Stay tuned.”