Louisville & Nashville 152 - September 2009
Louisville & Nashville No. 152 is a K-1 class 4-6-2 "Pacific" type steam locomotive built by the Rogers Locomotive Works (ALCO) in 1905 for the Louisville & Nashville Railroad (L&N). The locomotive was designed to haul passenger trains on the L&N, which it did successfully.
Pleased with their five Pacifics, the L&N purchased forty more, which the Rogers Locomotive Works (by now owned by the American Locomotive Company) sold to the L&N between 1906 and 1910.
When more powerful trains were purchased by the L&N in the 1920s, the Pacifics were assigned to the Gulf Coast, a geographically flatter area. Railroad logs prove that #152 was on one of the many "Pan American" passenger services.
As time went on, No. 152 was used for less and less important routes. On February 17, 1953, No. 152, the last surviving "K" class Pacific, was retired by the L&N, with its fate uncertain. However the then-L&N President John E. Tilford personally ordered the locomotive to be spared from the scrapper's torch, allegedly saying it was 'too lovely to scrap'.
No. 152, believed to be the last operating L&N steam locomotive, was donated to the Kentucky Railroad Museum, which leased six acres of land on River Road. It opened to the public on Memorial Day, 1958.
Eventually the #152 was sent to the Kentucky Railway Museum, then located at 1837 East River Road in Louisville, Kentucky; it was one of the museum's first pieces of equipment. When the museum relocated to New Haven, L&N #152 came with it.
On April 26, 1986, the engine was once again in back in service, and it was pulling seven passenger cars with a total of 365 passengers. In 1987, it pulled some excursions for the Norfolk Southern's steam program. On Saturday, 10 September 2011, #152 was withdrawn from service due to boiler issues. The (projected) overhaul of the engine was to start on July 1, 2015 with a projected date of July 1, 2017 for L&N 152 to return to service. This seemed a bit unrealistic, as a good deal of work (and a good deal of money) was needed to be done to get it back on the rails.
Today the engine is still at the Kentucky Railway Museum, but it's presently still out of service undergoing an overhaul.
Trivia[]
- No. 152 is the only remaining L&N K-1 Pacific.
- It pulled Theodore Roosevelt's campaign train between Louisville and Cincinnati in 1912.
- The #152 also pulled the car that was holding Chicago's notorious gangster Al Capone on his way to Alcatraz Island in the 'thirties.
- No. 152 is the only operable L&N steam locomotive until 2011, and was one of only three surviving L&N steam locomotives (the other two being C-1 number 2132, and ex-USRA heavy switcher number 2152, both big-boilered 0-8-0's)
- When it was originally placed on the National Register of Historic Places, it was located at the Kentucky Railway Museum's original location in Louisville, Kentucky.
- The L&N Steam Locomotive No. 152 is one of four rail vehicles at the Kentucky Railway Museum on the National Register.
- L&N President John E. Tilford personally ordered the locomotive to not be destroyed and turned to scrap that's why the 152 is the only remaining K-1 Pacific for the L&N.