Headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, the Chessie System was the creation of Cyrus S. Eaton and his protégé Hays T. Watkins, then president and chief executive officer of the C&O.

An announcement from the New York Central (NYC) and Pennsylvania (PRR) railroads in November 1957 that they were considering combining prompted the B&O and C&O to consider a similar move.

The Chessie image continued to be applied to new and re-painted equipment until July 1, 1986, when CSXT introduced its own paint scheme.

In March 1979, the locomotive was severely damaged in a fire while stored in a Chessie System roundhouse in Silver Grove, Kentucky.

It has since been cosmetically restored to its American Freedom Train paint scheme, and is on static display at the B&O Railroad Museum, although has been exposed to the elements for most of its time there.

In June 2023, GE ES44AH unit #1973 entered service, being repaired and painted at CSX shops in Waycross, GA with a CSX blue and yellow color scheme on the front (nose) and cab of the locomotive and throughout the rest of the locomotive, the classic yellow and red Chessie System scheme.