Southeast Coal

Company History: In 1979, Southeast Coal was having a difficult time getting hoppers from Louisville & Nashville to move coal from their mines at Swanee and Tolson, Kentucky to their preparation plant at Calla and their barge terminal on the Licking River. Once they did get cars to load, L&N seemed slow to pick them up. Out of frustration, SEC bought a fleet of used 70-ton hoppers (likely former P&LE cars) and a fleet of six rebuilt GP20’s from Union Pacific. These were painted in the company’s institutional green paint and received SECX reporting marks. The green paint later gave way to black and the GP20’s were augmented in front line service with three new GP38-2’s. A fourth GP38-2 from Milwaukee Road later joined the roster. Trains were run with L&N crews. The operation ended in 1991 when SEC lost a court case to Kentucky Utilities and fell into bankruptcy.

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