{"id":4380,"date":"2025-08-17T12:27:05","date_gmt":"2025-08-17T17:27:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lacentralrr.com\/Blog\/?p=4380"},"modified":"2025-08-17T12:46:48","modified_gmt":"2025-08-17T17:46:48","slug":"the-i-c-miss-lou-in-ponchatoula","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lacentralrr.com\/Blog\/2025\/08\/17\/the-i-c-miss-lou-in-ponchatoula\/","title":{"rendered":"The I.C. “Miss Lou” in Ponchatoula"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I came across this image recently and it was labeled as “The Green Diamond in Ponchatoula”. I have seen photographs of this Illinois Central train before, but didn’t remember it ever running through Ponchatoula (in Louisiana). Researching the train, I learned that it only ran between Chicago and St. Louis. So digging further yet, I learned that this trainset eventually ceased operation as the Green Diamond<\/em>, and was renamed the Miss Lou<\/em>. This new train operated between Jackson, Mississippi and New Orleans, Louisiana. Read on below for further details.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"IC<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Green Diamond<\/em> was a five-unit articulated trainset (each truck supported the ends of two cars). The problem with this arrangement is that the consist was fixed . . . couldn’t be added to, thus couldn’t handle the additional traffic as the train became popular. Therefore, management decided to retire this trainset as the Green Diamond<\/em>, and transferred that name to a conventional train with separate locomotives and cars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Green Diamond<\/em> trainset was built in 1936 by Pullman-Standard and powered by Electro-Motive Corporation with a single 1200 H.P. engine. The four cars it pulled were a baggage\/mail, two coaches, and a diner\/lounge\/observation car. The train operated between 1936\u20131947. After it’s discontinuance as the Green Diamond<\/em>, the train set was shipped to the ICRR’s shops at Paducah, Kentucky for a complete overhaul. The train emerged still in its two-tone green, but with the Green Diamond<\/em> names completely removed. It then re-entered service on April 27, 1947, as the Miss Lou<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The trainset was finally retired on August 8, 1950, and sold for scrap. Unfortunately I don’t have the name of the photographer, or date of this image. Here are a couple links with more detailed information about this trainset: Illinois Central 121 (Wikipedia)<\/a><\/strong> and Green Diamond Train (no longer extant) \u2013 Chicago IL (Living New Deal)<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I came across this image recently and it was labeled as “The Green Diamond in Ponchatoula”. I have seen photographs of this Illinois Central train before, but didn’t remember it ever running through Ponchatoula (in Louisiana). Researching the train, I … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26,13,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-photos-i-like","category-proto-research","category-railfanning"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lacentralrr.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4380","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lacentralrr.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lacentralrr.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lacentralrr.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lacentralrr.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4380"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.lacentralrr.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4380\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4387,"href":"https:\/\/www.lacentralrr.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4380\/revisions\/4387"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lacentralrr.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lacentralrr.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lacentralrr.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}