In my early days of “railfanning”, my dad used to drive me to locations where we could see the trains (how wonderful). My dad had no particular love of trains . . . his passion was for boats. So we’d split the day, spending some time hanging around a rail yard, then some time strolling on the docks of the yacht harbor at Lake Pontchartrain in New Orleans. The arrangement worked well.

One weekend day back in the early sixties (likely ’61 or ’62), we found ourselves poking around the rail yards by the warehouses along the Mississippi River. The Louisville & Nashville was one of the railroads with a presence in that area, and we spied this old wooden caboose sitting by itself. Naturally I wanted a picture of it so my dad whipped out his trusty Argus 35mm camera and snapped this view.

The image is a bit blurred, likely due to slight camera shake, but it’s still adequate enough that I enjoy having it. The number 21 is still in reasonable condition despite the weathered paint. And it seems to be “all original”, look closely at its trucks. The title of this post reflects the message chalked onto its side, the “Original House of Shock”. There are a few other scribes by the door, but I’m unable to make them out.

Unfortunately the valued slide was lost in the Great Flood of 2016 . . . I was fortunate that I had scanned it.

The MidSouth had this 120 ton capacity railroad crane stored at its yard in Vicksburg, Mississippi. I photographed this crane sometime in late 1989, or perhaps in the early 1990s. The original slide, from which this digital copy was scanned, was destroyed in the flood of 2016, hence my uncertainty of its date.

This crane was constructed in 1913 by the Industrial Works of Bay City, Michigan as serial number 2868. According to information posted by Mike Palmieri, it was originally owned by the Chicago & Alton as their #053, then became Alton X-39, then Gulf, Mobile & Ohio #66408 (where it was converted to diesel power), then Illinois Central Gulf #100406, then MidSouth Rail #1600 before being retired and sold. I’m not sure of its disposition after the sale, so please feel free to chime in if you have further information (or corrections).

On a rather mild day in late December of 1971 while waiting in Avondale, Louisiana for my next assignment to begin, I ambled over to the locomotive shop where my assigned locomotive was waiting. Sitting there and receiving service work was a pair of T&P GP35 locomotives, numbers 647 and 645, along with an unidentified F7. Having my Polaroid camera with me that day, I quickly snapped this photograph before hustling over to my locomotive (a well-worn GP7).

The GP35s, usually just referred to as the 600s, were the most powerful locomotives running out of south Louisiana on the T&P at this time. Usually running in trios, I always relished the call for the freights running between New Orleans and Alexandria as they typically had these on the front end. What a change from the usual GP7 or GP9, or even the “powerful” GP18 engines! They rode well, were relatively quiet yet sounded good with their turbo whine, and just felt powerful. Always a treat!

The EMD GP18 locomotive wasn’t the best selling model (by far) in the company’s history. Only about 350 of these machines were produced for American railroads, and the MOP was by far the biggest customer for them.

Back in the early sixties, my dad took me for another “railfan” trip on a Saturday morning. We were down by the riverfront in New Orleans, and came across the Missouri Pacific roundhouse at the Race Street yards. And there sat several brand new model GP18 locomotives, almost glowing in their fresh and shiny Jenks Blue paint. Man, they really got my attention! Not only were they brand new, but they were the first locomotives I had seen in person that had the ‘then-new’ low nose.

Scarcely 10 years later I spotted this rather tired looking GP18 sitting by the engine house in Avondale, Louisiana. That blue paint didn’t hold up very well, and she looks like she’s been “rode hard and put away wet”! I snapped a Polaroid photograph of the thing, and I just came across it the other day. So, even though it’s a terrible shot, I scanned it so I could post it here.

I had ridden on these locomotives a number of times back during my (very) short career as a brakeman on the Texas and Pacific. I remember that they had a slight side-to-side sway when at speed, something akin to the ride of the streetcars in New Orleans (though not nearly as rough as them). I suppose it was because they rode on old Alco trucks rather than the usual Blomberg models that EMD normally provided. This wasn’t terribly uncommon, as the Alco trucks were obtained from older locomotives that had been traded in for the new locomotives. I recall an email conversation I had with retired MOP engineer Bob Currie some years ago. I mentioned the ride on those Alco trucks, but he said he didn’t remember that swaying motion as I described it. I suppose he had never ridden those New Orleans street cars . . . the resemblance (to me) was unmistakable.

On a spring day earlier this year, I spent the day in Hammond, Louisiana with a few friends. We were gathered at the north end of the Amtrak depot there to shoot the breeze and watch a few trains passing by. Amtrak train #59 arrived at 1:41 PM that day, headed up with one of their new ALC-42 locomotives. The train was there but a few minutes to discharge several passengers, then departed for the last leg of its trip to New Orleans. Photograph recorded on April 29, 2023.

Several years ago I came across this image of a Cass Scenic Railroad train headed up by one of their Shay locomotives. This is in West Virginia and I can’t think of a better railroading scene to represent the fall season and our time of Thanksgiving here in the United States of America. This photograph was taken by Mr. Walter Scriptunas II. The date is unknown to me, but the scene is timeless.

Another of the slides rescued by my friend Ron Findley, GM&O RS1 #1116 is seen here at rest in the servicing area in Bogalusa, Louisiana. The edge of the turntable is located at the left and the sand tower spanning the track just in front of the unit. Note the bunk car beyond and one of those beautiful GM&O cabooses. Again, I’m not sure of the exact date. Your estimate of time would be appreciated.

I’ve mentioned before that I lost my slide collection in the Great Flood of 2016 in South Louisiana. My friend Ron Findley had copies of a few of those images and he sent them to me awhile back. This scan, while a bit poor in its quality, features a Gulf, Mobile and Ohio RS1 locomotive sitting in front of the depot in Bogalusa, Louisiana. I’m not sure of the exact date. I’ve always been rather fond of these locomotives!

In the trackside photograph of the Hammond depot a few posts back, I mentioned that the view presented wasn’t able to be duplicated due to the now present Amtrak platform. The photograph below was taken in 2015 and shows the facility as it looks today.

In March of 1965 I visited the Illinois Central Mays Yard in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana. It was right at dusk that day when I spotted this switcher with its cut of cars patiently waiting for a couple Geep locomotives to clear. This view is looking West, with the yard throat just behind us.