Illinois Central No. 2613

Illinois Central No. 2613 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. 2613 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. 2613, 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. 2613 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. The Illinois Central then used No. 2613 to pull a few excursion fan trips of their own on the Kentucky division during 1960, beginning with a Farewell to steam trip on May 14 between Louisville and Paducah, Kentucky. During this time, 2-10-2 engine No. 2739 was kept operable inside the Paducah Roundhouse as a standby engine for whenever No. 2613 broke down, but it never ran.
On October 2, 1960, No. 2613 was refueled for the final time at Central City, Kentucky. It then pulled an excursion trip from Louisville to Dawson Springs, Kentucky and back, and this historically marked the very last run to be made by an Illinois Central steam engine. After the run, the railroad offered to donate No. 2613 to the Kentucky Railway Museum, but having no space for additional locomotives, the museum declined the offer. As a result, No. 2613 was scrapped, but its tender remained intact.
Later, Chicago area railfan, Richard Jensen, acquired the tender, along with that from fellow 2600 No. 2612, 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. 2613 and the Illinois Central Class 2600 completely extinct.
==Paducah Mural Wall==
Despite the engine is gone, there is a memorial art of the engine on the Paducah Mural Wall.
==See also==
*Gallery
*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:Standard gauge locomotives of the United States
Category:Tender locomotives
Category:Locomotives
Category:American steam locomotives
Category:Built in 1942
Category:Scrapped in 1961
Category:Standard gauge locomotives
Category:Scrapped excursion locomotives
Category:American locomotives
Category:Paducah Shops locomotives