Ontario Southland Railway #175 has a long and storied history.
The locomotive was built by GM’s Electro-Motive Division (EMD) in LaGrange, Illinois. It was released in November 1956 with serial number 22576, one of more than 4,000 GP9s produced there and in Canada.
Originally it was lettered for the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad, number 6193. If you look at this unit, its C&O heritage is unmistakable. That cat!
“Chessie” was the symbol of the C&O. According to Wikipedia, its origin was a 1933 advertisement for the railroad with the caption “sleep like a kitten”. Four years later, its mate “Peake” was introduced. Chessie, and occasionally Peake, were featured in a wide variety of advertisements and merchandise.
The stylized cat logo was created when the C&O merged with the Baltimore & Ohio and the Western Maryland Railway to become the Chessie System. Eventually the Chessie System merged again and became today’s CSX.
C&O 6193 was sold to Ridgeway Coal in Kimper, Kentucky and soldiered on, presumably pulling cars through coal dumpers. It looks like Ridgeway Coal transformed into the New Ridge Mining Company.
It appears the mines ceased around 1988. They were served by CSX’s Coal Run Subdivision. Today there are still rails in Kimper, but they are very overgrown and the crossings are paved over.
The Canadian Trackside Guide says it was “Plusar 59” in 2000, then Znidar Brothers #59 before being acquired by the OSR in early 2002. The TSG says it was briefly #59 before being numbered OSRX 175.
You can see the C&O number dominates the small #175. I love that CAA sticker. Come give it a boost?
This locomotive was a delight to photograph, even in the rain.
Looking at photographs of this locomotive on RRPictureArchives.NET, I see it was operating up to at least 2016.
It is shown paired with ex BC Rail #644 in a few photographs. 644 has gone to the Chemin de fer Sartigan, a very interesting railway in Quebec that has become a bastion of MLW / Alco power.
Given that 175 is in the back of the property, with some obviously dead locomotives, I think its running days are over – at least for now.
Still, never say never… the cat may have at least one more life left.
Steve — As a huge Chessie fan from my childhood days watching the railway, it’s such a treat to see this old unit in Canada, with the cat still visible. Chessie had a number of units in its Sarnia and Windsor operations, although mainly GP38s on the main line. I don’t recall seeing any of these high hood GP9s when I was a kid, but I know they were active elsewhere in the Chatham and Windsor area. Thanks for sharing these artful shots of the unit, with your attention to the little details. This made my day.
I’m glad you liked these photos, Michael!
A great photo study of this unique unit, Steve!
It looks as if the builder’s plate on the side photographed is gone.
The unit is still very photographable but perhaps past its peak(e)!
Thanks for sharing,
Eric
Hopefully the builder’s plate is being kept for posterity, not stolen off the unit..
Nice photos! That was always one of my favourite OSR locomotives.
If it has indeed rolled its last mile, I hope it gets a good retirement in St. Thomas – and in these colours.
It would be great to see this unit on display.