The Louisiana Cypress Lumber Company was a fairly extensive operation in the first half of the 20th century.  They had a store and mill complex located on U.S. Highway 51 just south of Ponchatoula, Louisiana. The company harvested a huge amount of cypress over the years, transporting the logs over an unusual railroad that was largely built over swamps.

Steam locomotive #1 was the company’s “mainline” power used for hauling the log trains from the swamps to the mill. In March of 1948 C.W. Witbeck recorded this view of the locomotive at rest at the mill. She is a standard gauge 2-6-2 “Prairie” built in April of 1921 by H.K. Porter. She’s powered by 12″x16″ cylinders using 170 psi steam and has 9,250 lbs. of tractive effort. She’s a coal burner and has 37″ drivers. I was fortunate to see this little steamer back in the early 70s. I had photographed the mill’s #3 which was on display out by the highway. Then driving down the gravel road alongside the mill, I spotted a whistle poking up from behind (I believe) lumber stacks. I stopped and walked around and there she was! I did take several photos, but they were unfortunately lost in a flood many years later.

According to the last information I was able to find, she was last owned by Samuel Warren Frye of Griffin, Georgia, and was on display at the Roosevelt Railroad Museum. Ralph Hawkins has several more photographs of the little Prairie on his website HawkinsRails. Be sure to scroll all the way down to see the #1 at work. Herron Rail Services produced a VHS tape years ago titled “Glory Machines 5”. It has some nice footage of the #1 at work in the swamps.

Photograph by C.W. Witbeck; Phil Kotheimer Collection

The date is January 19th of 1985, and photographer Tom Blackwell has positioned himself to capture a Kansas City Southern train as it slowly descends from the Huey P. Long – O.K. Allen Bridge. This bridge crosses the Mississippi River in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

The train is the #55, and is powered by GP40s #785 and #758, along with an unidentified GP38-2. The train has come from Dallas, and was headed to the Norfolk Southern Railway in New Orleans.

The bridge was built in 1940, and is similar to another bridge built down in New Orleans named the Huey P. Long Bridge. This bridge (known locally as the Old Bridge) is named after two of Louisiana’s past governors. At this time there was a large Kaiser Aluminum plant built on the bank of the river, and adjacent to the bridge. The bridge was constantly coated with bauxite dust from the plant, and in the mid 60s was repainted an orange color so that it matched the dust color for the length of the bridge. Eventually the aluminum plant was closed and dismantled, and the next bridge repainting brought it back to its original light grey color.

You’ve likely noticed the concrete/steel rail bridge crossing beneath the railroad bridge viaduct. This is the Illinois Central Gulf Railroad (now the Canadian National). The roadway beneath it all is U.S. Hwy. 190, the eastbound lanes at left, and the westbound lanes barely discernible through the bridge structure at right.

Photo by Tom Blackwell, from the collection of Michael Palmieri

Back in the year 2000, Ron Findley and I went exploring on the lower west bank of the Mississippi River. Our primary goal was the New Orleans Lower Coast Railroad. They had their “headquarters” in Belle Chasse, Louisiana, and we stopped there to examine the facilities. As I recall, this was a Sunday and the railroad was at rest that day.

The railroad was known to have a small fleet of EMD F unit locomotives that they had purchased from several sources, and they were stored there. I don’t believe any of them were in use on the road, at least not at that time. But they did have working locomotives, one of which was the #1229. She was originally an EMD SW9 built in 1953 for the ATSF Railway as their #2429. It was later rebuilt as an SSB1200 (the SSB designation stands for a rebuild at the ATSF San Bernardino shops, hence SSB for Switcher, San Bernardino).

After the NOLR acquired the locomotive, they repainted it with the rather unique striping done in “Mardi Gras” colors green, purple and yellow. Scuttlebutt has it that this paint job design was the work of New Orleans resident Mike Palmieri (who has since defected to Texas). Mike was affectionately known as Dr. Diesel while here due to his encyclopedic knowledge of diesel-electric locomotives.

Originally I decided not to use this photograph for today’s posting due to the clutter surrounding it. But after studying it a bit more, it grew on me. I rather like all that clutter, so typical of that found around shortline railroads. Note just a bit of an F unit cab at far right, one of several sitting patiently on the line awaiting a call to duty some day.

For this first posting in the month of June, I’m featuring a photograph from the 1986 calendar published by the Louisiana State Railroad Museum, it being for their month of June. I’ve paraphrased the caption for the image below.

“Born in 1835, the St. Charles Line has seen steam, horses, mules and electric propulsion. The 962, a Perley Thomas style streetcar, turning northbound onto Canal Street, NOPSI was still the operator and the fare was an incredible 15 cents. RTA celebrated the line’s sesquicentennial on September 28, 1985 with a massive streetcar parade. (Photo from the collection of Regional Transit Authority)”

The scene is New Orleans, Louisiana. The photograph has no date, but I’d estimate it to be in the early~mid 70s (the date mentioned above was for the later celebration). NOPSI is the acronym for New Orleans Public Service, Inc., the operator of the streetcar and bus system at that time. Also at this time, streetcar operation over the length of Canal Street (the “main drag” of the city) had been terminated, and buses took over the route (one of the new style “fishbowl” buses can be seen at the right). The St. Charles line was the only one left, and the scene is the end of that line, with the car entering Canal Street for a block, then turning again onto St. Charles Avenue for the journey in the opposite direction. As a side note, the city eventually restored streetcars to Canal Street, and has even extended service to a few other streets.

The image shows the car in it’s “updated” appearance at the time. Earl Hampton, a resident authority on the New Orleans streetcars, offered this brief history of the cars with information regarding their rebuilding:

“The rebuilding process started in the early 60s with the 35 cars that were planned to be saved, getting an aluminum roof and those rounded and gasketed windows. Then in the late 60s the cars were rebuilt again, receiving aluminum windows and vestibules. In 1971 the conductor was eliminated (the motorman now had to also collect the fares) and the cars received the look shown in the photograph. Then in the 90s another rebuild was scheduled. The RTA decided to replace the bodies, but preservationists objected. It was at a meeting with preservationists that l (Earl) suggested that they return to the original look, receiving the original rectangular windows on the sides, ends and doors.”

The cars look so much better with that restoration in my view. Fortunately, the cars still have the “old, original” look today.

In August of 1955 J. Parker Lamb paid a visit to the Mississippian Railway up in northeast Mississippi. Its work done, he recorded this view of the road’s #77 as it slides slowly back into the enginehouse where it will be checked out and lubed for tomorrow’s run. At left, the #76 rests quietly until she is again called back to work.

In a search on Google Maps, I see the enginehouse still there as of their latest street-view photograph taken in August of 2024.

Continuing our tour on the Mississippian, C.W. Witbeck photographed the simmering #76 while in Amory, Mississippi under overcast skies in December of 1965. The 2-8-0 was built by Baldwin in 1920 as the Jonesboro, Lake City & Eastern Railroad #40. The engine became SL-SF #76 when the Frisco acquired the JLC&E in 1926. The Mississippian Railway purchased #76 in 1947 (some sources say 1948). She remained in service well into the late 1960s.

She has 19×24″ cylinders powering 48″ drivers. I’ve noticed that the Carlisle brothers keep their locomotives rather clean and tidy. Brother James is likely the hogger (the engineer) on this day.

Today I’m returning to the Mississippian Railway, featuring the sister locomotive of the #76, the #77, a Baldwin built 2-8-0 that the road acquired, along with the #76, from the Frisco in 1947. And as mentioned in a previous post, a day’s run would start in Amory, Mississippi, and head up to Fulton, Mississippi, the northern terminus of the line. Since there are no means to turn a locomotive in Fulton, the locomotive would run tender first for the northbound run.

Photographer Phil Kotheimer recorded this view of the #77 with her train on an overcast day in March of 1967. And as usual, running in reverse, something that was simply routine on this line. To my eye, this image could pass muster to have been any time from the prior 40 years with perhaps the exception of the hopper car.

Note the doghouse on the tender of the locomotive. For those unfamiliar with the term, the doghouse is the structure on top of the tender behind the coal bin. In locomotives with small cabs, it gives the head-end brakeman a sheltered place to ride, especially useful in inclement weather. In the case of the Mississippian, it also gave another set of eyes with an unrestricted view during those reverse running movements.

Once again, for this first posting in the month of May, I’m featuring a photograph from the 1986 calendar published by the Louisiana State Railroad Museum, it being for their month of May. I’ve paraphrased the caption for the image below.

“Hard working six coupled #236 of the Illinois Central Railroad is busy shunting boxcars in this May 1950 action shot. The little product of Pittsburg (1913) locomotive construction is blowing smoke and cinders of a coal burner, at the New Orleans riverfront. (Photo from the collection of Harold K. Vollrath)”

The “Pittsburg (1913) locomotive construction” referred to above is actually the Pittsburgh Locomotive and Car Works, a railroad equipment manufacturing company founded by Andrew Carnegie and T.N. Miller in 1865. By 1901 Pittsburgh had merged with seven other manufacturing companies to form the American Locomotive Company (ALCO). In March 1919, ALCO closed the Pittsburgh facility.

A lowly little switcher like this rarely gets noticed. But they have character also, and I like seeing images of the less glamorous side of railroading. I was able to unearth only a bit of information about this little 0-6-0. Built in 1913, she had 51″ drivers, and her boiler fed 170 psi steam to a pair of 21″ x 26″ cylinders. This produced 32,487 lbs of tractive effort. At some point she appears to have spent a little time in the road’s Paducah Shops as evidenced by the twin squared sand domes and a bit of modernization of her appliances.

I’ve had a love for the Mississippian Railway since my early days, my first knowledge of the road coming in 1970 when I purchased a copy of Ron Ziel’s The Twilight of Steam Locomotives. The exposure in the book was brief, but it stuck with me. Back in the late 80s I was able to ride the line behind sister steamer #77 during a special two-day excursion. I wrote of this event back in 2018. You can read that post here.

Today I’m featuring locomotive #76, a Baldwin built 2-8-0 that the road acquired, along with the #77, from the Frisco in 1947. A day’s run would start in Amory, Mississippi, and head up to Fulton, Mississippi, the northern terminus of the line. Since there are no means to turn a locomotive in Fulton, the locomotive would run tender first for the northbound run.

It’s November of 1965 here in Fulton. The crew has put together the return consist, and topped off the tender tank with water. Photographer Bob Krone captured this view of the train as it was leaving town for the return to Amory while facing the afternoon sun.

Back in September of 2020 my daughter, Julie, and I were taking a trip to Covington, Louisiana. Between Denham Springs and Hammond, we were driving east on US Hwy. 190 which parallels the Canadian National’s Hammond Subdivision. While near Livingston, we spied this CN highrail truck with a flatcar in tow. I had seen these larger trucks on rails before, but wasn’t aware that they were equipped to tow railcars. Turns out they are. I’m told that they are capable of handling a few of them, depending on their loading. And note the loading on this flatcar.

My daughter grabbed her cell phone and captured this view when I slowed a bit as we came beside it. My daughter became a “railfan” that day, even if for only one event. 🙂

In January of 1976 railfan and historian Louis Saillard was exploring the Louisiana Midland Railway. He recorded this view of their RS-1 #1111 working the pulpwood yard in Rhinehart, Louisiana. The #1111 (nicknamed the Four Aces) was originally GM&O #1111. It was later sold to the Chattahoochie Industrial as their #1111, then to the Conrad Yelvington as their #262.

The Louisiana Midland was created in 1945, then came under Illinois Central control in 1967. The railroad was re-created in March of 1974 after its sale by the (now) Illinois Central Gulf to Trans-Action Associates. The railroad ceased operations in July of 1985.

Credits go to the Mississippi Rails and The Diesel Shop “Fallen Flags” websites for information about the LM Rwy.

For this first posting in the month of April, I’m featuring another photograph from the 1986 calendar published by the Louisiana State Railroad Museum, it being for their month of April. I’ve paraphrased the caption for the image below.

“At the east end of the cavernous Louisville & Nashville train shed at the New Orleans depot, L&N Pacific #261 heads up a heavyweight consist. Movie and railroad buffs can see this station immortalized in A Streetcar Named Desire on the big screen. (Photo from the collection of Harold K. Vollrath)”

I did a little digging for more information on this locomotive. The photograph was recorded by Max Miller on May 30th of 1948. She was a Class K-4B locomotive, and was one of eighteen built at the L&N’s South Louisville shops in 1920. She had 69″ drivers, and her boiler fed 200 psi steam to a pair of 22″ x 28″ cylinders. This produced 33,389 lbs of tractive effort.