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.

Almost a year ago I posted some photographs taken at the ICG railroad facilities in McComb, Mississippi by my late friend Ron Findley. You can view that post here if you’d like to review those images and learn a bit more about the area. That trip was in February of 1988. Just days after those images were taken, the ICG Industries divested themselves of their railroad interests, and a new railroad was created under its former name, the Illinois Central Railroad.

In reviewing the photos that Ron had recorded in McComb at various times, I discovered that we had also visited McComb in late June of 1988 to see if things had changed very much since the new IC had been created. One of Ron’s images was similar to one captured back in February, and it caught my eye because of the nice assortment of power sitting in the locomotive servicing area. Shown are locomotives wearing three different paint schemes, two from the ICG era and a couple in the new “retro” black paint from the original Illinois Central. Back during the IC/GM&O merger the railroad had sold off its rights to the green diamond herald, so the new paint substitutes the name Illinois Central under the cab window where the green diamond used to be. <sigh>

This image is zoomed in a bit closer than the one from February, and the turntable pit just beyond and left of the sand tower is more visible. The turntable’s bridge is still laying upside down just beyond the pit. Soon after the pit would be filled, and four tracks installed leading up to near the three doors of the shop building. And to my satisfaction, the old steam-era wooden water tank (at upper left) was still in place.

Ron had noted on this photograph that the ICG GP38 numbered 9522 (at far left) was originally the GM&O #703.

In February of 2009 Ron Findley and I were touring around southern Mississippi looking for railroad “targets of opportunity” to photograph. We came across this Green Brothers steam locomotive at her display site located at the junction of Routes 27 and 28 in Georgetown.

She was built by Alco in 1923 for the Mississippi Central Railroad as their #141 at a cost of $49,745. This Mikado (2-8-2) type locomotive worked on the MSC’s Hattiesburg to Natchez, Mississippi route. As the railroad dieselized, #141 was one of two MSC Mikados (#127 and #141) that were sold to the Green Brothers Gravel Company in 1953. There she worked at the company’s Georgetown, Mississippi plant until retired, and was then donated to the City of Georgetown.

The #141 weighs 251,000 lbs, has 22″ x 28″ cylinders and 52″ drivers. She is a coal burner and operated at a boiler pressure of 195 psi, delivering 45,500 lbs of tractive effort. She appeared to have relatively fresh paint on the date photographed . . . hopefully she will be kept in this state.

Back in the early days of dieselization on the Louisville & Nashville railroad, the road purchased several EMD model E7 locomotives. The photographer captured this view of one of this latest model at the head end of a passenger train. The location is unknown to me, and I’m speculating that this was a publicity photo, based on the setting -and- of the “suit” leaning out of the cab window. I’ll further speculate that the train may have been the Hummingbird. Unit #459 was built in April of 1945, and this photograph was likely taken soon after its delivery.

I noticed in this colorized version of the image that the paint job isn’t one I was accustomed to seeing, so I searched and found this photo by Elliott Kahn taken in 1947. I also found photos of sister units, #758 & #760 (the entire series was renumbered from the 400s to the 700s. #459 became #759). Apparently this paint job was created to match the train cars it pulled. At some point many, if not all, of these units were shopped and had some modifications done, including changing the earlier side-of-nose number boards and class lights to the newer angled number boards with the class lights above (by then “standard” with newer EMD units). They also had several grab irons added for better access for workers to clean and service the windshields. I’ve seen an image of the #760 with a newer version of paint (what I remember in my youth), with the nose striping modified and wrapping further around the nose, and a narrower cream band running down the side. The cream color bands were outlined with orange pin stripes. You’ll note the discrepancy of this colorized image as showing the orange pin striping on the left, but most of the right with none. The black and white images I’ve seen don’t seem to show anything that resembles pin striping on this particular paint job. If anyone knows the facts, please report them in the comments!

At any rate, I do like this image. Unfortunately there was no information as to the photographer or date, with the only information being the watermark Colorized 2016 by Imbued With Hues.

. . . the end of the line, that is. In 1952 William Harry recorded this view of streetcars at the end of the line for the Canal Street run in New Orleans, Louisiana. At this time Canal Street was the main thoroughfare in New Orleans, and the heart of the retail business district. The New Orleans Public Service streetcars ran quite frequently on this line to handle the passenger traffic.

The mighty Mississippi River is just out of view in the background. At this end of the line, the streetcar track merely circles around on a loop, then branches into the several holding tracks seen here. There was a partially underground break room for the crews here, located in the center of the loop. The cars will depart shortly at timed intervals.

The long viaduct behind the car at center is for pedestrian passengers of the river ferry. Vehicles enter the ferry at near ground level, while the pedestrians enter the ferry at its upper level cabin. The tracks of several railroads pass beneath that viaduct, following the riverfront and serving the various warehouses along the wharves. The two fellows at right are likely dock workers leaving work for home, my assumption based on their dress and the long afternoon shadows.

Seen directly behind the viaduct is the turret of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad passenger station and its train shed. It will be closed and demolished in a couple years, with the L&N transferring their passenger service to the new Union Passenger Terminal on Loyola Avenue.

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

“May, 1948, and New Orleans Public Belt Railroad #32 is running light westbound past the New Orleans riverfront wharves. The practically new Baldwin prominently displays her rerailing frog and push pole, both used often on the tight curves and light track winding through the river industries.”

Photo from the collection of Harold K. Vollrath. Read more about this unique locomotive at The Baldwin Diesel Zone.

This is a Baldwin model 8-DE-900/1 E (Class 8-DE-900-1-E, 2 per the card) using a De La Vergne, Model VO Diesel engine. It’s an 8-cylinder, 4-cycle engine which delivers 900 brake horse-power at 600 rpm. This unit was 1 of 3 built in 1937 for the NOPB. It’s interesting to study this locomotive . . . a steam locomotive manufacturer’s vision of how to make a diesel electric machine. The hand fabricated, “make it fit” mentality is visible. I’m tickled at the location for the air reservoir below the cab. And note the ladder and railing arrangement at the front of the hood. Below is the Baldwin engine card for the locomotive:

A side note: The card lists the locomotive’s minimum radius with cars at 130 feet. In model railroading’s HO scale that works out to a 17.9 inch radius. For the locomotive alone, the minimum radius is 50 feet, equal to less than 6.9 inches (though you’d better remove the rerailing frog before attempting that!). Sounds like perfect power for a tiny HO layout.