Caching & Sightseeing in Paducah and A BIG OOOOOPS 4/18/2009

Well we left this morning with a few caches in the GPS to go into the downtown area on a caching trip and do some sightseeing. Our first cache was at the Paducah Railroad Museum and was near the front entrance. The Freight House was built in 1925 by the Nashville, Chattanooga, and St. Louis Railway The portion of the NC & St L, which runs from Bruceton, Tennessee to Paducah, was originally the Paducah, Tennessee, and Alabama Railway In 1895, the PT & A was acquired by the Louisville & Nashville Railway, and in 1895 was leased by the L & N back to its subsidiary, the NC & St L
In 1917 the NC & St L Railway and the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy Railway jointly constructed a rail line and a double track bridge between Paducah and Metropolis. The bridge (which is listed by the Encyclopedia Britannica as the world’s longest simple truss bridge) made a gateway connection between the NC & St L in the south and the CB & Q or Burlington Route for the north and west. Later; the Illinois Central bought a third interest, in the bridge and is now the primary user (as of May 1996).
While the freight house was built in 1925, plans were being made to extend this connection to include links with the Big Four, (part of the New York Central System) and other railroads. As a result, the Paducah freight house was constructed to handle a large volume of business and included a Division Superintendent’s Office on the second floor in addition to the local freight office and warehouse on the first floor.
For various reasons those other links were never consummated. However a large amount of freight business was done between the CB & Q and the NC & St L and for a number of years, ending in 1936, the Gulf, Mobile & Northern also ran into Paducah over NC & St L rails. Also until 1951, NC & St L passenger trains were operated between Paducah and Hollow Rock Junction (now Bruceton) Tennessee and Hickman, Kentucky.
From the 1930s through the early 1970s thousands of refrigerator car loads of fruits and vegetables from all over the nation were unloaded by brokers on the team track behind the freight house. This occurred because favorable freight rates to Paducah made it feasible for produce dealers in the states surrounding Kentucky to haul their merchandise out of Paducah on their own trucks.
In 1957 the NC & St L was absorbed into its parent, the Louisville & Nashville, and in 1972 the CB & Q became part of the transcontinental Burlington Northern. In 1956 the L & N, along with other roads, dropped its LCL. business which had been handled through the Paducah freight house. By 1974 the L & N reduced its employee force in Paducah and moved the freight office to the yards at 6th and Norton.
In November 1975, the freight house and adjacent tracks were purchased by Bob and Jack Johnston and Bill Backus who had for many years operated produce and food brokerage businesses out of the building. The house siding was rebuilt and realigned to allow the placing of refrigerator cars at the unloading doors, and for several more years the building handled large amount of rail freight
On August 10, 1972 the Illinois Central Railroad merged with the Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad to form the Illinois Central Gulf Railroad. In the 1980s, the railroad spun off most of its east-west lines and many of its redundant north-south lines, including much of the former GM&O. Most of these lines were bought by other railroads, including entirely new railroads, such as the Chicago, Missouri and Western Railway and Chicago Central and Pacific Railroad. On February 29, 1988, the ICG dropped the "Gulf" from its name and again became known as the Illinois Central Railroad.
By the middle 1980 changes in railroad policies toward perishable freight business, as well as new directions in the food distribution business, caused most produce businesses to move to large refrigerated trucks, and the warehouse was used as a cross-dock loading and distribution point for trucking produce from growing areas to wholesale customers in a four state area.
The 1990s have brought further changes. The L & N (now CSX) abandoned service to Paducah in 1983, and in 1986, the Illinois Central Gulf sold its entire Kentucky Division to an entity known as the Paducah & Louisville Railroad. The Burlington Northern began bringing Container and TOFC trains as well as mixed freight to Paducah for forwarding further east by Paducah & Louisville.
In 1992, because of lack of business, the P & L removed the lead tracks from the old L & N yards at 6th and Norton St. and the building became “land-locked”.
In 1993, after the Johnstons and Backus retired, they sold the building to Charles and Carolyn Simpson who renovated the warehouse and opened a large antique mall. Because of their interest in railroad history, the Simpsons upgraded the heating and air conditioning in a section of rooms on the second floor of the freight house and gave free use of it to the newly formed Paducah Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society to use for a railroad museum.
Our next few caches weren't really anything interesting as we had one in front of the library on a bench, one in a alley on a guardrail and one in a tree near a local monument. Next cache was in the Lower Arts District and it was at a Welcome Center where you could pick up a trolley ride around the city and it also had a old Texaco Gas sign. Next cache was at Grace Episcopal Church a lovely old church where they knew about the cache and welcomed people looking for it. Next was a cache in a small "Island" park in the center of the road. Our final cache of the day was a virtual cache located near the Floodwall Murals on a old steam locomotive. This where tragedy struck me. We did the cache as we had to locate some information on the engine so I laid our GPS down to look so I wouldn't break or scratch it and got what we needed. We then walked off down the street to see more of the murals and then back to the car. It was getting warm so I thought we should take the dogs back to the RV, so we did. We came out of the RV and got in the car and I said where is the GPS? Well I had left it on the engine and walked off without it. We drove back, in a hurry, and no luck it was gone.....totally expected though. We hoped whoever found it might call us when they opened it as it had our name, address and phone # on the info page. Well was I bummed out needless to say. Well Mom wanted to go back but I didn't want to ruin her day by something stupid I did so we parked and walked around the downtown streets. We saw lots of high end shops, restaurants and old buildings. We also saw the rest of the Floodwall Murals as we walked around. A little about the murals as renowned artist Robert Dafford and his team of muralists captured Paducah’s rich history in paintings on the city’s floodwall overlooking the confluence of the Ohio and Tennessee Rivers. This visionary project began in the Spring of 1996, and currently features 54 murals. We wanted to go to the Market House Museum but the doors were closed and locked so we couldn't do that. Well that was our afternoon, still no call either, so we drove back to the RV and had lunch and Mom did our logs for the caches we did. I also sent a couple of emails to cachers in Paducah to keep their eyes out for a Garmin GPS. We went out to dinner Saturday night at Whaler's Catch, a seafood restaurant, in downtown Paducah. The food was great and we had crawfish tails for an appetizer and Mom had frog legs and I had oysters and 3 Fosters on draught, to ease the pain. Still no phone call either. After dinner we drove back and called it a day. Well I'm sure you will like the pictures as there are a lot of historical markers and of course all the Floodwall murals and markers. Well until next blog we love you all. Mom & Dad