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L&N 0-8-0 No. 2132 to come home to Kentucky
This is Great!
Louisville, Ky., is not usually considered as one of the great USA meccas of steam locomotives, and yet, its
company shops built over the course of many decades some 400 new engines, including over 280 to its
own designs and specs. The preserved 0-9-0 #2132 represents one of those engines, assembled as it was
in 1922 as part of the L&N’s C-1 class of heavy switch engines, which went into service just after World War I.
The class, along with other “Louisville” engines, was designed by Mr. Millard F. Cox, then one of the L&N’s
top mechanical Department officers.
The C-1s labored for most of their service years at major yards in Cincinnati (DeCoursey), Corbin,
Louisville, Nashville, Birmingham, Evansville and, maybe, as far south as Mobile. Seldom heralded as
opposed to their more exposed “road” brethren (especially the “Big Emma” 2-8-4s), the C-1s still rendered
a vital service over more than three decades marshaling cars at the above-mentioned terminals. Most
were retired and scrapped in the early 1950s as L&N converted to diesels, but it’s thrilling to realize
that one of their number, the 2132, survived and soon will be honored through preservation and
exhibition.
-Charlies B. Castner, retired L&N P.R officer and past president, L&N Historical Society