Illinois Central No. 2612

Illinois Central 2612 was one of 20 Illinois Central 2600 Series 4-8-2 "Mountain" steam locomotives built by the Illinois Central Railroad's Paducah, Kentucky shops in 1942. It eventually became notable for pulling fan trips for the Illinois Central in the early 1960's before it was sold for scrap.
==History==
Engine No. 2612 was manufactured by the Illinois Central's Paducah, Kentucky shops, as part of the railroad's 2600 class of 4-8-2 "Mountain" type engines, which were built between 1942 and 1943. No. 2612, along with the other 2600 engines, was used to pull heavy freight trains throughout Illinois, Missouri, and Kentucky. They were widely regarded as one of the largest Mountain type engines ever built.
On October 24, 1959, No. 2612 was leased by the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, who no longer had steam engines by then, to pull the railroad’s centennial special between Louisville, Kentucky and Nashville, Tennessee. Sadly, when No. 2612 was retired from active service, it was later scrapped, but its tender remained intact.
Later, Chicago area railfan, Richard Jensen, acquired the tender, along with that from fellow 2600 No. 2613, and he moved it to the Chicago West Pullman and Southern Railroad for storage. He had intentions of using both tenders behind Burlington locomotives Nos. 4963 and 5632, but as he fell into financial trouble in the 1970s, he fell behind on rent to store the tenders on the CWP&S. In 1981, the CWP&S gave up on collecting rent from Jensen, and they acquired the tenders, along with York Southern Railroad 4-6-0 No. 1, as compensation.They subsequently sold the tenders and No. 1 at a sheriff auction to William Latham of Rockford, Illinois. Latham had planned to create a small railroad museum with the engine and tenders, but this plan had fallen through, and No. 1 was eventually donated to the Monticello Railway Museum in June 2000. A Monticello member tried to secure one of the Illinois Central tenders from the Rockford collection for preservation, but this effort failed, and both tenders were scrapped in 2011, thus rendering Illinois Central No. 2612 and the Illinois Central Class 2600 completely extinct.
== See also ==
*Illinois Central 2613
*Canadian National 6218
*Grand Trunk Western 5629
*Illinois Central 790
*St. Louis–San Francisco 1522
Category:Scrapped steam locomotives
Category:4-8-2 steam locomotives
Category:4-8-2 locomotives
Category:Steam locomotives
Category:Scrapped locomotives
Category:Illinois Central locomotives
Category:United States
Category:Tender locomotives
Category:Locomotives
Category:American locomotives
Category:American steam locomotives
Category:Built in 1942
Category:Standard gauge locomotives
Category:Paducah Shops locomotives