Three new divisions comprise CSXT's central region

Chesapeake and Ohio Historical Magazine, Mar 2000

Effective the first of the year, CSXT issued new employee timetables to reflect the new organizational structure. As reported in the October issue of the Magazine, the CSXT operating department was reorganized into five regions: the Northeast, headquartered in Albany, N.Y; the Western Region, in Chicago; the Midwest Region, in Louisville; the Southern Region, in Jacksonville; and the Central Region, headquartered in Huntington. Under the new organization, business units and service lanes are out and divisions are back in use.

Previously the C&O Business Unit provided the umbrella for practically all the remaining former Chesapeake & Ohio trackage between Walbridge and Newport News. Only the few remaining miles of the old Chicago Division in Ohio and Indiana were not included. All of this plus the former Louisville & Nashville from Deane to Hazard, Ky., was included in the C&O Business Unit employee timetable.

The new Central Region encompasses the former C&O Business Unit, the Appalachian Service Lane, and the Cumberland Coal Business Unit. These areas have been reorganized into the C&O Division, the Appalachian Division, and the Allegheny Division.

The C&O Division is exclusively ex-Chesapeake & Ohio trackage from Hinton west to Melbourne, Ky. The Appalachian Division includes the former C&O Big Sandy lines, the former Clinchfield Railroad, and the old L&N between Spring Lake, Ky., HK Tower, Ky., and Etowah, Tenn. (the old Corbin Division).

The new Allegheny Division oversees two unconnected areas: the old C&O east of Hinton and the former B&O and Western Maryland trackage between Cumberland and Huntington. Also included are trackage rights over Norfolk Southern's recently acquired Conrail (former Monongahela Railway) trackage plus ex-Pittsburgh & Lake Erie trackage now owned by CSXT between Brownsville Jct. and Newell, Pa. The former Monongahela lines are part of the Shared Assets Area, which can be served by both railroads.

Like "Chessie the Cat," the C&O evidently has nine lives! We regretted the demise of the C&O Business Unit and its familiar monogram, but the venerable initials of our beloved Chesapeake & Ohio live on at the C&O Division, at least for a while. Someone at CSXT has a sense of history.