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.

Last week I posted a photo of some trackwork machinery clearing the mainline for an oncoming train. The location is milepost 859 on the Canadian National line running through Hammond, Louisiana. And it’s a rainy Saturday in February of 2004. We didn’t have to wait long for the train to arrive, a loaded coal freight headed up with two (former) Illinois Central SD40-2 locomotives.

Note the consecutive locomotive numbers, 6101 and 6102, with the 6101 showing off its CN paint job (and note the IC subscript at the bottom of the cab). The 6102 would soon also wear this new paint.

It was a wet and foggy Saturday back in February of 2004 when I recorded this view of some trackwork machinery clearing the Canadian National mainline for an oncoming train. The location is milepost 859 at the Amtrak depot in Hammond, Louisiana. The signal indicates there is traffic ahead, likely a freight train as it isn’t time yet for Amtrak train #59, the City of New Orleans.

The day after Christmas in 1988, Ron Findley and I took a journey west from our homes to check out the Louisiana and Delta Railroad (the L&D) at their headquarters in New Iberia, Louisiana. The railroad was quiet that day, and we found a couple of ex-Santa Fe CF7 locomotives resting quietly at the service area near the depot. Ron recorded this view of locomotive #1501, the City of New Iberia, late in the afternoon.

The L&D railroad had been created just the year before. Initially they had a few EMD GP9 locomotives, but soon received several of these CF7s. The Santa Fe had done a massive rebuilding program back in the 70s of tired, old EMD “F” units, producing these “Geep styled” units, of which some are still operating today on shortlines around the country.

Note the CF7 numbered 1503 just behind the 1501. Still in Santa Fe paint, she would soon receive the L&D colors, and would be named Bayou Sale.

On a hot Saturday afternoon in August of 1990, Tom Blackwell was exploring the Arkansas & Louisiana Missouri Railroad facility in Bastrop, Louisiana. He found locomotive #11, an EMD SW7, resting near the scale house. To the left is the road’s Bastrop office and freight house (and often referred to as the depot). That structure is curious and interesting, and folks I’ve spoken with each claim it serves as one, some, or all of these functions.

It’s near the end of time for the A&LM. The road will soon be purchased by the Georgia-Pacific Corporation and renamed as the Arkansas, Louisiana & Mississippi.

Back in the early 1970s the Illinois Central Railroad merged with the Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad, becoming the Illinois Central Gulf. Over the years the road began spinning off much of the old GM&O trackage, especially the east-west lines. In 1988 the parent IC Industries spun off the railroad operations altogether and the road renamed itself back to its roots, the Illinois Central. The road eventually put together a new business train which reflected their new image.

In the spring of 1996, photographer Edgar Dayries was able to record this view of the train as it passed him by on a heavily overcast day. The location is in the southernmost part of the Baton Rouge area, on the rail line paralleling the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge and New Orleans.

While many were surprised that the road didn’t paint the train in the original orange and chocolate livery (and it was a beautiful color scheme), I think management was attempting to present the “new” image of the railroad with the gray and black coloring. Note that it follows the pattern of the original orange and chocolate, with the road’s new “global” herald on the nose in lieu of the original green diamond. That new herald (a logo in present terminology) was created at the time of the roads renaming as the green diamond was no longer available for the road to use. A side note: some in the railfan community named this new herald as the Death Star.

The Mississippi Railway steam locomotive #203 had received work in Mobile, Alabama sometime back in the latter part of the 1980s. Charlie Ake captured this view of the steamer and its train as it was crossing the Bay St. Louis Bridge in Mississippi on the way back to its home in Port Bienville. The rather ragtag train consists of an auxiliary tender, an Illinois Central baggage car, the Southern Railway coach Leaf River, and a private car The Survivor.

At this time the little railroad was hosting weekend steam excursions, running between an industrial park (Port Bienville) and its connection to the nearby CSX Railroad (formerly The Family Lines / L&N). Eventually forced out of the port, the operation moved over to Meridian, Mississippi where the equipment was essentially stored (I don’t think anything turned a wheel while there). Then an agreement was struck with the Columbia and Silver Creek Railroad and the railroad moved to their trackage. While a small bit of trackage work was done on a very small portion of the line, I don’t recall the railroad ever getting into operation while there. In 1995 the steamer was purchased by the Gulf and Ohio Railway and she was rebuilt for service on the Three Rivers Rambler, an excursion train line running out of Knoxville, Tennessee.

A bit more of her history can be seen on Three Rivers Rambler website.

In March of 1994 I spied this southbound train slowly moving through Ponchatoula, Louisiana. I decided to quickly head further south on U.S. Hwy. 51 to Manchac to catch him again as he was crossing the South Pass on the long trestle there. I managed to get positioned on the south bank just in time to record his passage. The three gondolas behind the pair of SD40-2 locomotives have an interesting cargo: per-fabricated track switch sections that contain the switch frog.

The boxcars are passing through the Bascule drawbridge. The bridge is normally kept raised for boat traffic, and is closed when needed for a passing train. The abandoned piers at left supported the original U.S. Hwy. 51. After the new “high” bridge was built to its west, the old bridge had its moveable bridge section removed for boat traffic, but the remaining roadway was left in place for fishermen and sight-seers. I believe it eventually caught fire and the remains were removed leaving only the pilings.

The South Pass is a waterway that connects Lake Maurepas (to the left of this view) to Lake Pontchartrain (a short distance to the east), which has New Orleans located along it’s southern edge.