The Paducah and Louisville Railway (PAL) is a Regional operation based in Paducah, Kentucky that began operations in 1986 over ex-Illinois Central trackage. Today it operates over 260 miles of railroad and is owned by Four Rivers Transportation. The P&L also operates the Appalachian & Ohio Railroad in West Virginia in conjunction with CSX along the latter’s Cowen Subdivision, which heads south out of Grafton (this line was originally leased to Watco but in 2006 contracted out to the PAL retaining the A&O name).
To give a brief history and overview of the Illinois Central, it was one of only a very few railroads to serve markets with north-south running main lines and not the traditional east-west movements. What made its routing even more odd was that it served Midwestern markets that likewise traditionally moved goods east and west, such as Chicago, St. Louis, Memphis, and New Orleans. Regardless of this the IC carved out a living hauling goods from Chicago to New Orleans and while today the Canadian National owns the railroad, its name continues to survive after over 150 years of existence.
Throughout the 1990s the railroad remained strong and profitable and not surprisingly because of its new success, other larger railroads became interested in it. This railroad was the Canadian National and after negotiations were completed the CN took control of the IC in 1998.
Currently the P&L’s roster consists entirely of EMDs, all of which are Geeps. The below roster is courtesy of The Diesel Shop:
The Paducah and Louisville Railway Roster
#1998 - EMD GP38-2
#2100-2120 - Slug
#2101-2125 - EMD GP40-3: Odd numbers only, 13 units total
#3600 - EMD GP36: Ex-VMV, ex-Illinois Central Gulf, ex-Gulf, Mobile & Ohio
# 3800-3801 and #3803-3812 - EMD GP38-2
# 3817 - EMD GP38-2: Ex-Helm
#8327 and #8353 - EMD GP10: Ex-Illinois Central
#8507 - EMD GP39: Ex-VMV, ex-Atlanta & St. Andrews Bay
#8602 and #8603 - EMD GP10
Today, the Paducah and Louisville Railway connects with four of the seven North American Class I carriers; BNSF, CSX, Canadian National and Norfolk Southern. The railroad also interchanges traffic with Union Pacific, Regional Indiana Rail Road and shortlines, Louisville & Indiana and the Fredonia Valley Railroad.
And, being located along the Ohio and Tennessee Rivers the PAL offers transload and bulk terminal services.
For more reading on Regionals like the PAL consider the book Regional Railroads of the Midwest by Steve Glischinksi. While the book obviously does not feature every Regional in the country it does cover the "Chicago Central Pacific; Dakota, Minnesota Eastern; Escanaba Lake Superior; Iowa Interstate Railroad; Iowa, Chicago Eastern; Indiana Rail Road; Kyle Railroad; Red River Valley Western; Twin Cities Western; Toledo, Peoria Western; Wisconsin Central; and Wisconsin Southern" with plenty of photographs and information about each. If you have an interest in smaller carriers like Regionals, and/or are interested in learning more about their operations, you will almost surely enjoy the book.
