CSX CORP., a natural resources and transportation company, is one of 2 major railroad systems (the other being the NORFOLK SOUTHERN CORP.) serving Greater Cleveland. CSX Corp. is the descendant of 2 of the oldest railroads in America, the CHESAPEAKE & OHIO and the BALTIMORE & OHIO, but the corporation is also composed of several railroads important in the early history of Cleveland. The CSX Corp., with headquarters in Richmond, VA, was formed by the merger of Chessie System, Inc., and Seaboard Coastline Industries on 1 Nov. 1980. In addition to owning coal fields and gas and oil wells, the corporation operated railroads, barge lines, trucking companies and pipelines. One of the chief parts of CSX was the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad, created in 1968 by the merger of the Seaboard Air Line and the Atlantic Coast Line railroads. In 1971 the Seaboard Systems gained control of the Louisville & Nashville and Monon systems, thereby giving it tracks reaching New Orleans, St. Louis, Cincinnati, and Chicago. The Seaboard System never had tracks or offices in Cleveland. The other major component of CSX is the Chessie System, the creation of the merger of the Chesapeake & Ohio and the Baltimore & Ohio railroads in 1962. It is through the Baltimore and Ohio and then the Chessie that CSX plays a significant role in Cleveland's railroad history.
In Cleveland, CSX owned 2 sets of tracks, one built by the Cleveland, Lorain & Wheeling and the other by the Cleveland, Terminal & Valley railways, both of which were controlled by the B&O (see Baltimore & Ohio). However, in the 1990s CSX used only the CL&W tracks, which ran from Cleveland to Lester and Sterling, OH. Two to 3 trains used these tracks daily. The CT&V tracks, which run from Cleveland to Akron, were considered by CSX to be abandoned. While CSX owned title to them and paid taxes, freight service was not operated on the line and, instead, was used primarily by the Cuyahoga Valley Railroad-a tourist line operated by the CUYAHOGA VALLEY NATIONAL PARK service.
In 1986 CSX Corp. eliminated its Seaboard and Chessie systems as separate components and reorganized itself into 3 separate firms: CSX Transport, headquartered in Jacksonville, FL, and CSX Distribution Service and CSX Equipment, both headquartered in Baltimore. In June 1986 all but 10 employees were transferred from the Chessie System's headquarters in the Terminal Tower to either Jacksonville or Baltimore, but CSX retained 2 floors to service its Cleveland clients. In 1999, CSX Corp. and Norfolk Southern Corp. took over the operations of CONRAIL, a company created by the federal government in the 1970s to help the ailing freight railroad industry in the wake of the failure of the PENN CENTRAL TRANSPORTATION COMPANY, then the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history. That same year, CSX Corp. paid the city of BROOK PARK $1.4 million to compensate for an anticipated increase in traffic, connected with the takeover, through the southwestern suburb. The funds were also to be used to construct a new overpass at Snow Rd. As of 2003, CSX Corp. maintained a sales and marketing office in the Terminal Tower, a freight station at W. 130th and Brookpark Rd., and a rail yard on Clark Ave. The CSX terminal agent was located at 829 Canal Rd.