Chesapeake Western No. 663

Chesapeake Western No. 663 is a DS-4-4-600 Baldwin diesel switcher that operated on the western Virginia shortline railway known as the Chesapeake Western Railroad. It was built in 1946 and was one of three first-generation diesel locomotives that served on the shoreline that helped to completely transition the Chesapeake Western from steam to diesel power.
No. 663 was retired in 1964 after being replaced by ALCO T-6's, and wound up in the Virginia Scrap Iron & Metal Co. scrapyard in Roanoke, VA, along with its classmate No. 662. The two diesels sat rusting away in the scrapyard for over forty years along with other rolling stock and four Norfolk and Western Railway steam locomotives, Nos. 917, 1118, 1134, and 1151. This small collection of railroad history became known as the "Lost Engines of Roanoke."
In 1997 the website The Lost Engines of Roanoke was launched as a call to action to save all of the locomotives and rolling stock from the Roanoke scrapyard to find them new homes in preservation. All of them were eventually removed from the scrapyard with Virginia Scrap Iron & Metal Co. donating Nos. 662, 663, and 1151 over to the Virginia Museum of Transportation.
In 2009 the Museum donated No. 663 to the Roanoke Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society (NRHS) who in exchange provided a cosmetic restoration of No. 662 back to its former glory wearing its striking blue and gold Chesapeake Western livery. No. 663 is still currently with the NRHS but is unknown if or when it receive the same cosmetic restoration treatment that No. 662 has undergone as well.
== Gallery ==
File:S 663 rj 001.jpg
File:S 662-3 ed 001.jpg
File:S 662-3 rj 001.jpg
File:S 663 ws 001.jpg
File:S 663 jh 001.jpg
File:Cw663-1.png
File:Cw663-2.png
File:Cw663.jpg
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Category:Diesel locomotives
Category:Built in 1946
Category:Baldwin locomotives
Category:Locomotives
Category:Switcher locomotives
Category:American locomotives
Category:Four-axled diesel locomotives
Category:B-B locomotives
Category:Standard gauge locomotives
Category:Chesapeake Western Locomotives
Category:Preserved locomotives
Category:American diesel locomotives
Category:Standard gauge locomotives of the United States
Category:Preserved diesel locomotives