Old diesel engines at Paducah, KY

[Bill Richardson]

   This isn't a Norfolk Southern subject, but old engines are interesting.  This is about old RR engines, relics, with various road names.  There was one former NS engine out there, #3818, an SD38.  It used to be Conrail 6954, then PRR-NS 3818, then NREX-3818.  The latter is what was on it when I saw it last.

       Last September my wife and I went to western KY to visit relatives.  While out there, I went to Paducah to look for some Paducah & Louisville (P&L) engines, and to check the junkyard out behind what used to be the Illinois Central RR Shops.  That facility changed hands and became VMV, and has since been bought by NRE, National Railroad Equipment.  I think it is still VMV as a subsidiary of NRE.  There is a big yard out back where they keep old engines for parts.  I have seen a lot of photos of that yard, from different angles.  They are long range shots mostly, with some zooms of particular engines, or clusters of engines.  The content of the yard changes, and that can be seen in the photos as time went on.

     I had picked up an old friend in Paducah and we went to 16th St. to see the junk yard.  There is another business alongside 16th St.  I pulled in there and asked somebody in the office if we could drive out the gravel lane on their  lot, which borders the RR property.  He said ok, so we drove back along the fence.  It goes back a long way.  The yard tapers down at the far end, and two or three tracks go under the road overpass and into another  working yard on the south side.  On down that way is a P&L maintenance building for locomotives.

Here is one of the photos I made of the junk yard, from on down the lane by the fence.  This one shows some of the old Illinois Central Shop buildings, which are still in use by another entity.




This photo was made near the front of the lines.




   I had to look and make photos from a distance, outside the fence.  I looked up a lot of the engines that I zoomed in on, to find out their history, and to see photos of them in a previous time while they were still in service, and looking like they used to.  All of them had various road names in their history.  I can't copy those photos, so I will have to include links to other website pages with earlier photos of those engines I'm going to show here.  The photos shown in this posting are mine, made in Sept. 2014.


Chicago & North Western  5515   GP40    There is another one there, but the last two digits of the number are blocked by an open door.  The number board is missing.  The first digit is missing from the number board of 5515.



http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=3630384




This is an old Alco RSD-1, built in 1941.   This page, and pages for the other engines, have a little bit of info.



http://www.alaskarails.org/pix/former-loco/JS-1042.html


TFM-1409  SD40-2    The former NS engine is right behind it.



http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=877193



NREX-3818   GP38     Built May 1970 as PC-6954>Conrail-6954 in April 1976>sold as NS-Prr-3818> became NS-3818>retired Sept. 7, 2012>sold as NREX-3818 Sept. 8, 2012  (info from Don Ross)



http://www.trainweb.org/columbusrailfan/conrailcolumbus/con25.jpg    (Conrail-6954)

http://www.nslocos.com/ns3818.html      (NS-3818)



NREX-3810, former Conrail-3810, former NS-3810.




http://www.railpictures.net/photo/397124




KCS-6100  SD40T-2




http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=845656




TFM-1407---SD40-2



http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=453360




LLPX-3108    GP-40



http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=135434




CP Rail-5476   SD40-2



http://trainweb.org/galt-stn/cproster/locomotive/5400s/cp5476.htm





NREX-7343   SD40R



http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=145979




NREX-7357   SD40-2



http://www.locophotos.com/Search.php?SearchSerialNumber=73687-10&Search=Search


http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1883202



NREX-6345   SD40-2



http://donsdepot.donrossgroup.net/dr0703/emdx6345a.jpg

http://donsdepot.donrossgroup.net/dr638.htm




CSX-6539   GP40



http://donsdepot.donrossgroup.net/dr1200/bo3763.jpg

http://donsdepot.donrossgroup.net/dr1625a.htm




WFPRR-2205   Slug      Formerly a CP GP35



http://wfprr.com/2205/index.html          (information and photos)

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    I would like to go inside the yard and have a closer look, and make photos of more of those old engines.  I got what I could from a distance.  There are some different ones farther in that I couldn't reach very well even with a 10x zoom.  I didn't run it out that far anyway because I was holding the camera, and for 10x it needs to be fairly rigid.  There is a lot of interesting stuff out there.  Some might be gone by now, and there may be some new additions.  I will be back, some time.

[Bill Richardson]

These photos are a little wider than what shows here.  The right ends are cut off.  I thought the whole engines would show up, but they didn't.

[steveiez]

Good pictures and aren't scrap yards etc cool?

[Bill Richardson]

   Yep.  They are interesting.  In looking up engines, I kept finding photos of engines that looked in similar condition, in a yard in Mount Vernon, IL, and other places.  It would be interesting to visit another such place.  I intend to go back to that junkyard at Paducah some time.  I'll try to zoom in on some other ones farther over.  There might be some new additions.  I have seen older photos of that yard, and there were other engines now gone.  There are plenty of photos of individual engines out there, and some overviews,  posted on the internet.  There is another C&NW out there, that I photographed, with some side doors open, and all I could see is 55.  The latter two digits were blocked.  I have been wondering which one it is, of the GP40s.  I did some searching today and found two older photos that show the whole number, 5529.   The doors were closed when those photos were made, so all the number showed.  I could tell by various elements of the engine and the scene that it is the same engine.  In older photos, there were some other engines close to 5529, but by last Sept., they were gone.  They get changed.  Some linger longer I guess.  I'd really like to go out there and walk around inside the yard.    Back in the '80s there used to be a bunch of F-units, and GPs out there.  I was escorted out there one time, as a favor, so I could make photos of the F-units, an old IC engine in particular.  Got a few various photos.  The place has changed since then.  Back then, some of the engines were closer to 16th St.   Now, they are way back, behind a fence.  Zoom lens necessary.

[JWall]

That CP SD40-2 with the high short hood is an ex Southern unit.  There were 10 or so NS returned to their lessor and CP picked them up and used them as B units for awhile.  Be nice to see it saved for a museum since NS rebuilt all the High hoods.