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Above: Springtime 1984 at the Chessie System Railroads
Marine Department in Newport News, Virginia. The big new shipdocking
tugs Chessie and Seaboard have both been delivered
from Jakobson Shipyard, but for a few weeks they will be operating
in company with the older ex-B&O and CNJ tugs built in the 1950s
by RTC shipbuilding, which are being retired.
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The Story....
Back in 1983 and 1984 it was my priviledge to participate in the
delivery and inservice workup of the new ship docking tugs Chessie
and Seaboard at Jakobson Shipyard in Oyster Bay, Long Island,
and at the Chessie System Marine Department in Newport News, Virginia.
The Chessie System was a holding company operating several railroads
including the former Chesapeake and Ohio and the Baltimore and Ohio
railroads. The Newport News terminal had been a Chesapeake and Ohio
railroad facility.
Through the access to the terminal and the tug operations graciously
provided by Terminal Superintendent Cliff Booker and Marine Department
Superintendent Captain David Weaver, I was able to record hundreds
of images and take many hours of movies of the railroad's tugs at
work, docking and undocking ships at the coal piers and working
assistance jobs for the Navy and at other terminals in the Hampton
Roads area. This was a very memorable time, even if you are working
in the industry it is very difficult to get this kind of access
to marine operations.
This turned out to be a very brief moment in history, as the Chessie
System was in the middle of a merger with another combined railroad
operation, the Family Lines System, consisting of the Seaboard Coast
Line, Louisville & Nashville, and Clinchfield railroads. The
merger resulted in the formation of CSX Transportation. A short
time after CSX began operations, a decision was reached to discontinue
marine operations, and the still new tugs Chessie and Seaboard
were subsequently sold to McAllister Brothers towing, where they
operate to this day.
History will record the sisters as the last new tugboats built
for a railroad in the United States. These images remain as a record
of their brief time in service for their original owner. They are
part of a PowerPoint program called Diesel Railroad Tugs
which has been shown during special events at museums and at meetings
of historical societies. It includes tours of marine operations
at a number of railroads, the Chessie System being one of them....
Preston Cook, 2007
Above: We are underway in the James River on the
Chessie. The ship is inbound, headed up the river toward
the coal terminal and the older tug M. I. Dunn (what a
great name for a tug) has run out to mid-channel and made her turn
to approach and come alongside. The M. I. Dunn will be
handling the bow. The Chessie, which has three times the
bollard pull of the older tug, will be taking the stern, which has
to be held against river current as the ship approaches the shelter
of the pier.
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Above: We are trailing along closely now with the
Chessie, and the M. I. Dunn has pulled in on the
starboard bow of the ship and will take a line to help hold her
position and allow her to pull back when we make the turn to the
pier.
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Above: Chessie has pulled alongside now,
and the crew is watching as we prepare to transfer the docking pilot
to the ship. Notice the Fairbanks-Morse "haze" from the
older 1600 horsepower tug. The Chessie has a pair of EMD
16-645E6 engines, 4000 horsepower total, with 144,000 lb. bollard
pull rating.
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Above: Different ship, different day. Looking directly
up into the sun here, the docking pilot is climbing the ladder to
board the ship. He will direct the tug operations from there.
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Above: This image is another ship on another day,
with better sun than the sequence above. Sometimes I was shooting
35mm slides and sometimes 16mm movies, so I could get interrupted
by a movie film change and miss a few slides. The M. I. Dunn
is in the foreground holding the ship tight against the pier while
the lines are run out. That is probably J. Speed Gray in
the background.
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