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Louisiana Central Railroad Company

Louisiana Central Right-of-Way

Here is a small group of images taken along the right-of-way (ROW) of the railroad.  The towns along the line are fictitious, however they roughly coincide with actual towns along the route.  The line begins at the east bank of the Mississippi River near the imaginary town of Monterey, Louisiana, then extends generally to the northeast, with the modeled portion ending at Willis, Mississippi (near the actual town of Gloster).  The line continues (unmodeled) to a connection with the Mississippi Central Railroad at the actual town of Bude, Miss.

Also, at the bottom of this page are a couple photos of the Spencer Lumber Company's timberlands.
Click on image to enlarge



Here's where it all begins, at the mighty Mississippi River.
 Panning a bit to the right (looking north), it is evident that there is no levee here.
 This is typical of the many wooden bridges in the area crossing a small riverbed.
 Standing down in the riverbed, one can see the simple construction of the bridge.



The north side of the bridge reveals the sandy riverbed.
 This is the Little River.  The Louisiana Central spans this waterway with a 150' long Pratt truss bridge.
 Another view of the Little River.  This is the largest river the Road crosses.
 This road is approaching the summit of a hill, cutting through those last few feet of elevation.



This is the heart of the Tunica Hills, and threading a rail line through this terrain is no easy task.
 The many waterways threading throughout the hills require a good number of bridges.
 Another typical creek bottom, mostly sand.
 The biggest attraction to this region is the hunting.  It is teeming with deer.



The terrain elevation is getting progressively higher as we advance to the northeast
 This is the City Hall in Woodville, Miss., just a few miles south of our railroad town of Whitcomb, Miss.
 Here is the view in the opposite direction from above.  The courthouse is barely in view at the left.
 The Louisiana Central crosses dozens of rivers and bayous in its ramble through Louisiana and Mississippi, both large...



...and small.
 We're in Mississippi here.  As in Louisiana, the roads in this area often follow the ridge lines.
 We are steadily moving higher in elevation.  Notice also that the woods are becoming dominated by pine.
 ...and more pine.



Here we're approaching the summit of one of the largest hills on the route.
 A view across the valley from the summit.
 The road plunges down again, but will rise abruptly just a few curves away.
 Here is one of the Road's trestles.  Actually, this one is abandoned, but it is similar to many along the line.



A view along a stretch of ROW.  You do see the tracks there, don't you?
 This particular crossing has been abandoned twice.  The current trestle is just around the bend.
 The rail line has just come into Willis, Miss., the midpoint of the line.
 We've moved a block to the east.  The model town of Willis will emulate this scenario.



This is the portion of the building complex at G-P where the plywood is loaded.  At the side of the building is a loader for wood chips.  There will be a similar plant at Willis, only backdated to 1964.
 A few miles the other side of railroad Willis, is the actual town of Crosby, Miss.  Again, Willis will emulate this scene on the Louisiana Central.
 Here is the abandoned IC roadbed leading up to that trestle.  The track still is in good shape and used daily in 1964.
 This is all that remains of the giant Crosby Lumber Company in Crosby, Miss. (these aren't the original buildings).  The Louisiana Central supports a similar operation; the Spencer Lumber Company.



A closer view of the mill buildings.  The Spencer operation will look somewhat different, as it will be depicted as an older facility.
 We're at the end of the line in Bude, Miss.  Here, the Louisiana Central interchanges with the Mississippi Central Railroad.
 This is the Mississippi Central Depot in Bude.  The Louisiana Central also shares this depot over trackage rights extending here from the interchange.
 Panning to the left, we see downtown Bude.

As I refine the railroad's plan, I hope to take additional photos of the areas that the railroad will traverse, especially of the towns and industries that the model will emulate.  Below are a few photos of the logging acreage of the Spencer Lumber Company.




This is one of the logged over areas of the Spencer Lumber Company.  That highway at the right is a railroad roadbed in 1964.
 Panning to the left (looking north) we can see the vast swath taken by the loggers.  Erosion starts in immediately after the land is cleared of trees and vegetation.
 Panning even further left, a recently replanted area is seen next to this section.  It won't take many years before this stand is ready to harvest.
 Here is another area recently logged over by the Spencer.  Again, the logging road  is a railroad track in 1964.





Looking out over these areas is in stark contrast to the low, but rugged Tunica Hills just a few miles to the west near the Mississippi River.
 One final image of the Spencer's timber land.  These shots were taken in early February.  The spring will produce a very thick, green blanket of cover in short order.




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© 2006-2019 Jack C. Shall - All rights reserved. Last page update: 23 Jan 2019