Steam engine at Paducah, KY----IC-1518

[Bill Richardson]

This isn't about Norfolk Southern, but trains are trains, and nothing else is happening on here.  I wonder how many people out there not very far from Paducah know about IC-1518, an old steam engine parked by the floodwall.  People anywhere near Paducah probably have seen it, but there could be many railroad fans nowhere close to Paducah, yet not very far, who have not.  This engine was parked at a little park near the river back in the 1980s.  It sat there for years and the outside appearance gradually deteriorated.  Then it was moved by truck and trailer to a place by the floodwall, and then repainted.  As far as I know, it is still there, although the paint has faded again to some extent.  I haven't seen it in a few years.  Attached is a 2014 photo.


    I remember seeing one of these in operation, crossing a street in Paducah.  I probably saw them in operation at other times, but I vaguely remember that one particular time.  Traffic had to stop and wait while some rail cars were being moved to some business place.  One time when I was real young, I was taken inside the roundhouse that was at the Paducah Shops.  It had several steam engines inside.  I didn't take a camera; didn't even think about a camera.  That was regrettable.  I regret not using a camera later on, after I was an adult, to make photos of trains.  I could have had plenty of good ones, including photos of the IC passenger trains.  There is a big trestle in the Barlow Bottoms, and I saw passenger trains climbing that trestle to go over the river.  Too bad I didn't have a camera with me.  Anyway, here is a little about IC-1518.  Someday I'd like to go to a place that has several big steam engines.