Illinois Central(Gulf) extended the life of many steam and diesel engines by rebuilding them at Paducah, including for Conrail and Rock Island in the 1970s. My understanding is that the rebuild market has disappeared, and thus Paducah joins Silvis and the old MK Boise shops as closed.
https://www.facebook.com/20531316728/po ... 990506729/
"Illinois Central Railroad Scrapbook And Occasionally Other Railroads
1h
It appears that locomotive rebuilding has permanently come to an end at the Paducah, KY, locomotive shops....
History of the shops in a (big) nutshell: The Paducah locomotive shops were opened in 1927 by the Illinois Central Railroad and for decades were the IC's largest locomotive shops. Illinois Central became Illinois Central Gulf in 1972 after merging with GM&O. Then in August, 1986, the shops were sold to VMV Enterprises, owned by local business leaders Jim Smith and David Reed (at the same time, Smith and Reed bought the Illinois Central Gulf line from Louisville south through Mayfield to Paducah, which became the Paducah and Louisville Railway).
VMV was sold in 1994 to the investment firm of Dimeling, Schreiber & Park, out of Philadelphia. The company began struggling financially and in 2002 VMV filed for bankruptcy. VMV was sold later that year to National Railway Equipment, headquartered in Mount Vernon, IL. NRE had purchased the former Precision National Corp. facility in Mount Vernon a few years previously, and added Chrome Crankshaft, which operated (among other facilities) the ex-Rock Island shops in Silvis, IL.
NRE filed for bankruptcy on April 21, 2026. Court documents indicate that NRE had previously sold the Paducah property and was leasing it back. When NRE filed for bankruptcy, the company declared its intent to shut down the Paducah facility, but wouldn't say when. After some legal back-and-forth with its landlord, NRE agreed to vacate the Paducah property by August 27. That deadline was met - just barely. In mid-August most of the locomotives stored behind the shops were gathered up and shipped to their new owner in Ohio, Larry's Truck and Electric (LTEX), where they will likely be scrapped. On August 27 the rest of the equipment inside the shops was removed.
As for the buildings themselves, they've been resold. The new owners will use the facilities to fabricate steel parts for the mega-data center (yeah, rah rah) that will be built west of Paducah on site of the old uranium enrichment site.
Around 1976-77 locomotives rebuilt at Paducah began receiving plates like this one. It measures approximately 15" x 4 1/4" and about 1/15" thick and stamped from steel. The plates were attached to the frame under the cab. After VMV took over the shops, plates of the same size were applied to rebuilt locomotives, bearing the trademark Paducahbilt. The VMV plates were stamped from aluminum.
Ironically, the last day of business for NRE at Paducah (Aug. 27, 2026) came 40 years and one day after the Paducah shops were spun off to form VMV (Aug. 26, 1986). And it's just 4 days from Sept. 1, the anniversary when the shops first opened (in 1927).
Cliff Downey photo."

I wonder how KLW and Brookville are doing.