Jonathan Lintner

@JonathanLintner

What's at stake for the Kentucky and Louisville basketball teams tonight?

Well, bragging rights, of course. There's that all-important trip to the Midwest Regional Final. And now locomotive leadership.

Paducah & Louisville Railway Inc. painted up two of its locomotives — one after UK won the national title in 2012 and again for U of L's 2013 championship — and this week moved them to its rail yard in Louisville, where they're facing one another.

They won't stay that way, though, as the winning team's locomotive will lead the loser's engine around the state's rails until the schools' football teams meet in November.

"They were thinking, 'They're both playing in the Sweet 16. What should we do?'" said Bonnie Hackbarth, a P&L spokesperson. "So they brought them up to the rail yard and stuck them nose to nose."

The locomotives are built like power forwards Julius Randle and Montrezl Harrell, at 415,000 pounds with 400 horsepower. Their width is on par with the Cats' and Cards' centers, at 10 feet,3 inches.

Which is a winner? You'll soon see on P&L's 256-mile regional rail system.

Jonathan Lintner can be reached at (502) 582-4199; follow him on Twitter

@JonathanLintner

.