Two weeks ago this story began in Hammond, Louisiana with the post Clearing the Main. There we saw a group of trackwork machines clearing the Canadian National mainline track for oncoming traffic. It was a wet and foggy Saturday back in February of 2004 when I photographed the event.

A week ago I posted And Along Came the Train which captured that oncoming traffic, a southbound Canadian National loaded coal train at speed as it approached the train depot there in Hammond.

To wrap up the story: hot on the heels of that freight was Amtrak train #59, the City of New Orleans, as it arrives a bit late. Amtrak loco #156 apparently had a problem along the way and is being assisted by CN (formerly Grand Trunk) locomotive #6227, an EMD GP38-2. Hammond is the last stop before the train hits New Orleans, its final destination. And note the man carrying flowers to greet someone with as they disembark the train.

The passengers have to carefully get to and from the passenger cars by walking across the track ballast (sometimes a problem for the elderly, and infirm). Eventually this problem will go away when a new raised platform gets constructed here, making the boarding process much easier.