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37°5′3″N88°35′41.1″W / 37.08417°N 88.594750°W /37.08417; -88.594750ThePaducah & Louisville Railway (reporting markPAL) is aClass II railroad that operates freight service betweenPaducah andLouisville, Kentucky. The line is located entirely within theCommonwealth ofKentucky.
 | |
 The rail line crossing theTennessee River | |
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Paducah, Kentucky |
| Reporting mark | PAL |
| Locale | Kentucky |
| Dates of operation | 1986– |
| Technical | |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)standard gauge |
| Electrification | none |
| Other | |
| Website | www |
The 270-mile (430 km) line was purchased fromIllinois Central Gulf Railroad in August, 1986. The 223-mile (359 km) main route runs between Paducah and Louisville with branch lines from Paducah toKevil andMayfield, Kentucky and another fromCecilia toElizabethtown, Kentucky. The PAL interchanges withBurlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) andCanadian National (CN), formerlyIllinois Central Railroad, in Paducah. InMadisonville, the line interchanges withCSX Transportation (CSXT).
In Louisville, the line interchanges withCSX Transportation (CSXT) andNorfolk Southern (NS).Class III line connections are atPrinceton with theFredonia Valley Railroad (FVRR) and at Louisville with theLouisville and Indiana Railroad (LIRC). The line today carries over 200,000 carloads of traffic on aCTC-controlled mainline with welded rail and even a section of multiple main track nearly 20 miles (32 km) long between Paducah and just east ofCalvert City. This is a huge improvement from the little amount of traffic and poor condition the line was in by the time the ICG had sold it.
Today it is a bigregionalclass II railroad connecting with fourclass I railroads (listed above), as well as the three shortline connections it makes which are also listed above. It has 270 route-miles of track, of which 233 miles (375 km) are its mainline running between its namesake towns of Paducah and Louisville, as well as branch lines toMayfield,Kevil, andElizabethtown. The railroad serves "many chemical plants and other manufacturing companies, several coal mines, numerous clay and stone quarries, lumber and propane distributors, farm [including a few large grain elevators] and mine equipment suppliers, warehouses, transloads, bulk terminals, riverports, andone military base."
The parent company of the PAL,P&L Transportation, also operates theAppalachian and Ohio Railroad,Evansville Western Railway and theMidway Southern Railway.
| Model | Quantity | Acquired | Numbers |
|---|---|---|---|
| EMD GP7u | ? | 2002 & 8201 | |
| EMD GP10 | ? | 1798(UofL), 1978(UK), 8075, 8286, 8302–8303, 8305, 8314–8315, 8317, 8319, 8321–8322, 8333, 8336, 8344 & 8390 | |
| EMD GP35 | ? | 635 | |
| EMD GP38-2 | 17 | 1998(UK), 3800, 3801(UofL), 3803–3812, 3817 & 3831 | |
| EMD GP39-2 | 1 | 8507 | |
| EMD GP40-2 | 5 | 2123, 2125, 2127, 2129 & 2131 | |
| EMD GP40-3 | 11 | 2101, 2103, 2105, 2107, 2109, 2111, 2113, 2115, 2117, 2119 & 2121 | |
| EMD RDSLUG/RDMATE (ex-GP35) | 11 | 2100, 2102, 2104, 2106, 2108, 2110, 2112, 2114, 2116, 2118, 2120 & 2122 | |
| EMD SD40 | ? | 3053 | |
| EMD SD45 | ? | 6683 | |
| EMD SD70MAC | 9 | 2013 | 2012(UK), 2013(UofL), 4503, 4504, 4512, 4516, 4518, 4522(UK), 4523 |
| EMD SW9 | ? | 1236 | |
| EMD SW13 | ? | 1302–1303, 1305-1306 & 1308 | |
| EMD SW14 | ? | 1425 | |
| EMD SD70M | 6 | 2023 | 4120, 4121, 4122, 4125, 4127, 4128 |
