In January of 1988 Edgar Dayries found himself trackside in Port Allen, Louisiana. He captured this view of the Union Pacific’s River Job as it was heading south across the Port Allen Canal bridge adjacent to the Port Allen Lock (to the Mississippi River). The train is headed up by former Missouri Pacific GP38-2 locomotive #2190 decked out in new Union Pacific paint with the “interim” Missouri Pacific lettering. She is followed by three other GP38-2 locos still in their “Jenks Blue” paint.

The Missouri Pacific lettering applied over Union Pacific paint began soon after a May 1984 corporate order and ceased being applied by January of 1986, with all units thereafter receiving Union Pacific lettering.

Back in January I mentioned in a post that in two Louisiana cities, Hammond and Ponchatoula, both claimed to be the strawberry capital of the world. You can read that post here. The image below shows farmers in Ponchatoula lining up to load strawberries into refrigerated rail cars back in the 1930s. Look closely and you’ll notice a second string of cars behind those in the foreground. The Illinois Central would build strawberry trains that would very swiftly carry this valuable cargo up to points north.

From the collection of the State Library of Louisiana.

One last photograph of the Illinois Central depot in Hammond, Louisiana, this view is looking south. On November 20th of 1954 photographer Charles P. Harrington recorded this image of train #4, the Louisiane, as it was making its stop for passengers and express. Headed up by E8 locomotive #4031, the train has several cars in tow for handling the mail and express, as well as the baggage.

Note the water penstock at left, conveniently located to fill the tanks of north bound steamers while stopped at the depot. Several weeks ago we saw another penstock located near W. Robert Street for servicing the southbound locomotives. The southbound track (located at right) was removed many years ago when the I.C. was doing some belt-tightening. In later years Amtrak constructed a raised passenger platform over the former roadbed. This image shows how it looks today. The brick paving (that wider area) is still there today, as well as the concrete milepost #859 at far right, though it’s paint is very worn with the black lettering virtually gone now.

From the collection of David S. Price.

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

In May of 1943 the country is at war and Southern Consolidation #6591, ex-Alabama Great Southern K class 296, is working some head end business at the New Orleans Basin Street Station of the Southern Railway. The depot, the tracks, the engine and the palms are long gone, having been replaced by statues and greenery.

From the collection of Harold K. Vollrath.

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.

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.

I’ve posted views of the train depot in Hammond, Louisiana a couple of times before: this view recorded in February of 2004, and this one from the year 2015. Going further back, below is how it appeared at an even earlier time. The image was recorded by C.W. Witbeck on April 20th of 1954.

Back at this time, the Illinois Central was running a double track mainline through here. The track closest to the depot is the southbound main running to New Orleans, the next over is the northbound main to Chicago. Note the small motorcar on the southbound track near the train order signal. If you look very closely in the open area between the train and depot, you can faintly see a track curving away in the distance. This track is the beginning of the Hammond Subdivision, the line heading west to Baton Rouge.

It’s likely that this was the shipping time for strawberries, evidenced by the reefer (refrigerated car) in the foreground that the photographer is using for his vantage point. Hammond (and Ponchatoula a bit further to the south) each claimed to be the strawberry capital of the world, and so many strawberries were shipped from these points that the I.C. would build strawberry trains that would very swiftly carry this valuable cargo up to points north. Indeed, the train parked in the siding appears to be a string of express reefers.

This Witbeck image was given to me by the late Tom Davidson from his collection. Thanks to Tony Howe for providing the photo credit and date.

New Orleans built (Algiers Shops, 1921), the Southern Pacific 2-8-2 #745 is seen taking a spin on the turntable at Avondale, Louisiana for its final time. It’s May of 1956, and in a few days she would be delivered for display at the New Orleans Audubon Park Zoo. That would be her home until removed in 1984 by the Louisiana State Railroad Museum/Old Kenner Railway Association, for restoration.

As a kid, I climbed all over this locomotive while it was on “park duty”. In later years, it became fenced off to keep the vandals at bay. I never imagined that one day she would be back under steam. You can scroll back in this blog to find several images that I’ve recorded while she was running back in the mid-2000s. Type “#745” in the search box and you’ll get a list of postings featuring the old girl.

This photograph was featured for the month of January in the 1986 calendar published by the Louisiana State Railroad Museum. It is from the collection of Richard L. Podawiltz.

The Arkansas & Louisiana Missouri Railroad had their shops in Monroe, Louisiana. Mike Palmieri made a visit there back in February of 1977 and recorded this view of the road’s tired, but serviceable turntable in front of the roundhouse.

The turntable appears to be an “Armstrong” type, in that it is rotated by personnel pushing on the bent-up pole seen in the foreground projecting out from the bridge. I’ve actually done this myself on the Reader Railroad’s turntable up in Arkansas (great fun for a railfan, perhaps not so much for an employee).

Note the pit is somewhat filled with water. I visited this facility myself many years later, perhaps the early 90s, and seem to recall that the pit was filled with water then. If it stays that way, I can’t help but wonder what shape the table bearings are in!

Edit: Ron Findley reminded me of some dates. He and I visited the road in May of 1989. Here is a photo of the roundhouse taken by Ron in May of 1989. The turntable was still in place at that time.

He and I again visited during an NRHS-SELA Chapter excursion on the now Arkansas, Louisiana & Mississippi Railroad in November of1992 (Georgia-Pacific had purchased the road by that time and renamed it). By that time the turntable pit had been filled in and the bridge lay on the ground nearby.

In February of 1975 Mike Palmieri was visiting the Louisiana & North West Railroad’s facility in Gibsland, Louisiana. The L&NW operates 62 miles of shortline pike between Gibsland, northward across the state line to McNeil, Arkansas. At this time, it interchanged with two railroads in Gibsland: the Illinois Central Gulf, and the North Louisiana & Gulf.

Once a day there was a flurry of activity lasting for several hours when the ICG and NL&G railroads came into Gibsland to interchange cars with the L&NW. The action could be intense during that time, and the activity became known as “The Gibsland Shuffle”.

While there, Mike spotted this interesting little structure, recording and labeling it as the ICG “depot” in Gibsland, La. Its sign is almost bigger than the depot! I would speculate that the building has a telephone inside, and the box on the wall held the paperwork covering the cars that the crew was interchanging with the L&NW.

This depot is too cool not to share! 🙂

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.