For the past couple weeks we’ve seen distant views of the Illinois Central facilities in Hammond, Louisiana. And here we move in for a closer look, now at the depot and still looking north. This image by William T. Harry is taken from the station’s platform. I’ve paraphrased the caption of the photograph below.

On May 18th of 1951 at around 10 a.m., Illinois Central mail-and-express train No. 25, the SOUTHERN EXPRESS, was pulling up to the station at Hammond, Louisiana behind 4-8-2 #2431. Despite its name, No. 25 was anything but an express, taking 23 hours and 10 minutes to cover the 921 miles between Chicago and New Orleans. Visible above the train’s last cars was the Hammond coaling tower, from which Coal Shoot (sic) Road got its name. The wooden caboose on the right was the #9231.

For the record, Google Maps shows that the city now has the more appropriate name Coal Chute Road on the street sign.