This is another view in Hammond, Louisiana, apparently captured from the rear of a railcar. As in last week’s posting, we’re still looking north, but from a vantage point about one block further south. The street with the pedestrians and automobile is West/East Charles Street (West to the left, East to the right). You can see the turret on the depot beyond the group of trees at center. The street side of the depot faces N.W. Railroad Avenue, and W. Church Street intersects it at about the center of the depot.
This image is chock full of interesting details. That’s W/E Robert Street a block further north. Note the water penstock near there, it serving the southbound mainline track. It’s location is just about right to fill the tender of a steamer as passengers are departing or boarding the train down at the depot. The water tank itself can be spotted towering above that express reefer sitting just beyond the automobile. It’s located in a wye, which still exists today. The track, including the sidings and spurs, appears to be well groomed and in excellent condition.
The coaling tower can be seen in the far distance through the smoke. And note the one-story brick structure at the far right. I can’t make out the name painted on it, but in later years it housed Guy’s Quality Foods, a neighborhood grocery store located in the south end of the building facing E. Church Street. The grocer closed down just a few years ago, but the building remains.
The photograph is undated, so I’ll speculate it’s from the mid-late 1940s. The photographer is John Barriger, and it comes from the Barriger Library Collection.
Jack,
From the multiple tracks located between the buildings to the east and the west, was this are used for seasonal loading of strawberries “back in the day”? And when were so many of those tracks removed?
Matt, first, to order the tracks, the southbound main is on the left, the northbound main is next to the right, then a short siding which I think was generally used for MOW purposes. Beyond that were several tracks used for MOW and freight purposes. One of those heading south I believe was used as a team track. Another track curved to the right in the photo and crossed the side street and went between the two one story buildings on the right of the photo (you can tell where it was on Google Maps). I believe there was also a loading track curving around from north to east, paralleling the south leg of the wye. I seem to recall seeing a picture years ago that there was a large freight “shed” of sorts, with a long loading platform along the track. Strawberries were loaded into cars from that dock. Also it was common for cars to be about anywhere there was space on these tracks, and strawberries would be loaded directly from farmer’s trucks into the reefers. Most of this track has been removed, just a piece at a time over the years. I’ve seen much of it being removed just over the last 30 years or so. The last “action” I saw happening was years ago when they unloaded a huge transformer from a special car parked on that team track almost directly across from the depot.
-Jack
as usual cool