Photo of Illinois Central 4-8-2 taken at Wamac, Illinois in July of 1956:

http://abpr2.railfan.net/abprphoto.cgi? ... ic2500.jpg

This is the first of the 4-8-2's of this group that were rebuilt in the IC's Paducah shops starting in 1937. I once remarked that it was great that the folks in Centralia, Illinois were able to save the very first engine from the 55 or so engines in this group, but was told by a member of the organization that maintains it that they had actually wanted one of the slightly heavier and newer 2600 4-8-2's. The President of the IC at the time didn't want to donate ANY engine to Centralia, but finally gave in after a lot of pressure, telling the yardmaster to just grab the first engine from the scrap line, which happened to be the 2500. The organization maintaining the 2500 has supposedly done a good job keeping the Mountain is good condition. Anyone got a recent photo?

BTW, sister engine 2542 is on display in McComb, Mississippi.

Les

2542 was looking a little sad on outdoor display in a park in McComb; but is now under cover along with a caboose at the station in McComb. It too, is set up with posts on just one side, to make photography easy, and is looking very nice now. You can see it from Amtrak's City of New Orleans.

I have a hard time believing it's no longer recent, but I lived near Centralia in 1989 and saw #2500, fenced and in a park, several times. It sure was well cared for then.

there's a link on steamlocomotive.com with pics, but all you get are the dreaded red Xs

I saw the 2500 two summers ago. She appeared to be cared for.