Paducah & Louisville Question

Why doesn’t PAL own any 6-axle units? Half of the units on their Evansville & Western are 6-axle power, and they also have a few on the A&O. Doesn’t PAL move a lot of coal? There is an abundance of SD40-2’s in the market right now, and even a few SD50’s and 60’s. Or is the track just too curvy for such large units?

I’m also curious as to why PAL has never made a play for the Louisville & Indiana? They connect in Louisville, and this would take them up to Indianapolis - making them a stronger competitor with some of the other southern Indiana regionals. Do these two roads interchange many carloads?

I’d like to see the PADL expand to Indianapolis. Perhaps it is because of the CSX ownership. It might be that CSX doesn’t see acquiring the L&I as being cost effective. They already have an over-abundance of secondary lines, and a list of projects waiting for room in the budget.

Most of L&I’s traffic is CSX run-through anyway, isn’t it?

When did CSX purchase their majority interests in PAL and INRD? Right at start up, or later on when the companies were more successful?

I may be mistaken, but I think there was a thread back in the Spring or ealy Summer that discussed the Watco loss of the A&O, and how CSX was recovering that property to operate. There was also some additional discussions at the same time, about an extention across Illinois utilizing existing routes into the St. Louis area. There was menton of Special Business Car trains being run by either CSX or NS in regards to inspection of the route and possible inclusion as a route from St. Louis to the East Coast–possibly tied in to the NS’s Heartland Corridor Project???

Any one have any further info or ideas on this?

PAL and INRD were both spinoffs from IC during its branchline selloffs of the 1970’s and 1980’s and were independent operations at first, although PAL also owned the Paducah Shops for a while. Both handle a substantial amount of coal. CSX interest in both roads came only in the last few years.