"The name came about during merger talks between Chessie System, Inc. and Seaboard System Railroad, Inc., commonly called Chessie and Seaboard. The company chairmen said it was important for the new name to include neither of those names due to it being a partnership. Employees were asked for suggestions, most of which consisted of combinations of the initials. At the same time a temporary shorthand name was needed for discussions with the Interstate Commerce Commission. CSC was chosen but belonged to a trucking company in Virginia. CSM (for Chessie-Seaboard Merger) was also taken. The lawyers decided to use CSX, and the name stuck. In the public announcement, it was said that "CSX is singularly appropriate. C can stand for Chessie, S for Seaboard, and X, the multiplication symbol, means that together we are so much more, and T for Transportation." The T had to be added to use CSXT as a reporting mark, since company initials that end in X could only be used by non-railroad railcar owners."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CSX
By the time the merger went through, they had been using the "CSX" abbreviation for so long, and never bothered to come up with a more "friendly" name. Some suggested the letters sounded "cool" and modern, and better than anything else they could have come up with... so CSX stuck.
-otto-
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