{"id":5031,"date":"2026-09-13T14:03:39","date_gmt":"2026-09-13T19:03:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lacentralrr.com\/Blog\/?p=5031"},"modified":"2026-09-13T14:03:42","modified_gmt":"2026-09-13T19:03:42","slug":"lcrr-progress-report-september-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lacentralrr.com\/Blog\/2026\/09\/13\/lcrr-progress-report-september-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"LCRR Progress Report \u2013 September, 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Back in December of 2025 I posted an end of year progress report. This featured the new rail yard installation in the town of Willis, Mississippi. After completion of the wiring and switch motor installations, I turned my attention to the town of Monterey, Louisiana. This is the eastern terminus for the Louisiana Central Railroad. I’ve finished the rail yard there, as well as the industrial trackage that is served in Monterey. I also have completed the industrial park trackage for Willis, which happens to be just beyond the Monterey limits. As you study the photos, along with their descriptions, it may be a bit confusing when looking at those industrial areas. If so, follow this link<\/a><\/strong> to see a track plan where structure outlines are seen. This may help your understanding. For information, all images were taken while standing on a short stool. Actual grade here is 53″ above floor level. So, let’s move on to the photos.

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\"Monterey-Looking-West_1\"<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n


The view looking West. Monterey is on the opposite side of the aisle from Willis, which a part of is visible at left. Unfortunately I can’t show the entirety of the yard as I’m standing in an access pop-up (which we’ll see later). But we’ll see the missing section when I show views looking back to the East. There are 10 tracks in this view. Starting from right to left, they are: #1) the T&P connection for their local train to swap interchange cuts on the LC trackage. #2) the MOW equipment track (also has room to hold a commuter train during the day). #3) the Louisiana Central mainline . . . it literally ends at the slight curve to the right in the distance. #4) the passing siding. #5~8) the 4 track yard. #9) the industrial lead and a run-around. #10) a second industrial lead for the team track platform, and also industries and a wye (which we’ll see when the camera turns to face East).
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\"Monterey-Looking-West_2\"<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n


Zooming down to the far end of the yard, we see the industrial trackage. It’s quite compressed in this view, but another later view will give a better sense of its size. it you draw an imaginary line cross-ways between those two center tracks that don’t connect (one has a small curve at its end), everything below that line is in Monterey. Everything above that line is actually in Willis (note the tracks curving off to the left at the top). What we have here is a double-ended industrial complex. The view from this side is into a kraft paper plant. The view on the other end will be into a plywood mill. The structure placement, and arrangement will (hopefully) give the impression of a different industry depending on which end you’re viewing it from. Those two outside thru tracks will be used for both wood chips and pulpwood in a loads in\/empties out scenario. If you click that link I mention above for the railroad’s plan, it might be clearer what is to happen here.

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\"Monterey-Looking-West_3\"<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n


I’ve moved into the aisle to get a little different perspective of the yard complex. Again, I can’t show the eastern end, as my back is against benchwork curving behind me. The distance from the camera to the far wall is about 23 feet (the overall room is 27 feet). The two tracks at left coming toward the camera are (at left) the lead to a wye and a freight house, and (at right) a spur to a bulk oil dealership.

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\"Monterey-Looking-West_4\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n


I turned the camera horizontally here to capture a broader view of the yard, though it compresses things a bit. Those little “towers” seen along the wall are supports for infrared LEDs that are part of the detection system for the hidden staging tracks that aren’t going to be visible once the layout has scenery and structures in place. If you look very closely at the T&P track along the wall, you may see that it’s actually a downward grade that extends almost to the far wall. The T&P train will come into the scene from behind a tree and bush line a few feet from the first switch that it comes to.

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\"Monterey-Looking-West_5\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n


Again, another aisle view of the industrial area. This view isn’t quite as compressed. More of those LED supports are seen grouped at upper right. Some are for the T&P staging track, the others for an Illinois Central staging track that enters the layout at “downtown” Willis.

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\"Monterey-Looking-East_1\"<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n


Turning the camera to look to the East, the length of the industrial area is more apparent. Again, the industry “divides” where those two center tracks don’t connect. Pulpwood will be loaded on the left-most track, wood chips on the right side near the aisle. The industry structures won’t allow the tracks to be easily seen as continuous. There will be structure blocking the view of the “ends” of the tracks.

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\"Monterey-Looking-East_2\"<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n


And we move up to the yard itself. Now we see the big picture, with the mainline curving in at the top of the right side of the view. It crosses the tail track of the wye, then has a left hand curved switch leading into the yard’s ladder. The first right hand switch leads into the T&P track coming from staging, and the switch-back is to the Sean Cannery Company at the upper left.

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\"Monterey-Looking-East_3\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n


Moving even closer, the wye is in full view. The right side of the wye leads to the freight house. The track just below the mainline is to a wholesale grocer’s warehouse. The tail track of the wye is long enough to hold two Alco RS3 locomotives. The 40′ boxcar helps to give a sense of scale to the scene. If you look closely, you’ll notice the somewhat rectangular seam in the table top. Scroll down to see what that is.

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\"Monterey-Access-Pop-Up\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n


The access pop-up where I was standing to record those first few views of the yard looking West. It was necessary so that I could reach easily into that corner behind it. Wherever you don’t have access, that’s where you’ll have your problem. \ud83d\ude42
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If you have questions about any of what you’ve seen here, please leave a comment and I’ll address your question. There\u2019s still much to do to get the yard operational. All track switches will be powered by Tortoise motors, and those need to be installed. While every length of track and all the switches have power feeds soldered to the rail bottoms, those feeders need to be connected to the power bus. And finally, the control panels need to be constructed and installed. Lots to do, but it will happen!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, that\u2019s it for now. I\u2019ll post more updates as the visible work takes place. In the meantime, I\u2019ll keep posting images of real railroading that I\u2019ve taken a fancy to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Back in December of 2025 I posted an end of year progress report. This featured the new rail yard installation in the town of Willis, Mississippi. After completion of the wiring and switch motor installations, I turned my attention to … 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":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5031","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-roadbed-track"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lacentralrr.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5031","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=5031"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.lacentralrr.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5031\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5041,"href":"https:\/\/www.lacentralrr.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5031\/revisions\/5041"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lacentralrr.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lacentralrr.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lacentralrr.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}