Dedication for restored L&N 2132 locomotive, tender set for Friday

The L&N 2132 steam locomotive and tender along with L&N 1056 caboose have been restored to their original appearance on the exterior.

The Corbin Tourism Commission will join with Corbin city officials and representatives from Bainbridge, Georgia Friday to celebrate the completion of the restoration work on the L&N 2132 locomotive.

Tourism Director Maggy Kriebel said the nearly two-year-long effort to return the locomotive and coal tender, along with an original L&N caboose to Corbin has been monumental.

“It is a humongous weight lifted off my shoulders,” Kriebel said when asked how she feels to see the work completed.

The C-1 switcher locomotive and tender were built at the L&N locomotive shop in Louisville in 1922.

Upon completion, 2132 worked out of L&N’s Decoursey yard in northern Kentucky before being transferred to Corbin.

After ending its service to the railroad, the locomotive and tender were sold to Gulf Power Company in Florida. It was eventually moved to Bainbridge, Georgia where, along with the caboose, it was put on display in a local park.

Upon learning of the locomotive’s ties to Corbin, Kriebel approached the Bainbridge City Council in 2014 about donating it to Corbin.

The pieces were loaded onto trucks and transported to Corbin in January 2016.

Wasatch Railroad Contractors began work on the restoration in March and completed the majority of the work by July.

The formal dedication and ribbon cutting will begin at 3 p.m. and is free and open to the public.

The dedication coincides with L&N Historical Society’s 2017 convention, which will be held Thursday through Saturday in Corbin.

The historical society donated $5,000 toward the restoration efforts.

Representatives from the historical society will also be on hand for the dedication.

Kriebel said with the restoration work on the locomotive and tender, along with the exterior of the caboose, is complete. The next step is the construction of the steel canopy over the pieces and the interior restoration on the caboose.

In addition to helping to preserve the work, Kriebel said the canopy would contain LED lighting to help showcase the pieces.

The goal is to have the canopy in place by April.

“This is an opportunity for the tourism commission to stand back and celebrate our success on this project,” Kriebel said of Friday’s ceremony.