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For some reason I've become nervous like someone is watching me. I'm also very nervous because I have so much information that I'm afraid I'm going to forget something. The next stretch is between Packton and Georgetown. Georgetown was so confusing as I wanted to be at the point of the cross tracks of the L&A, later the Louisiana Midland, and the Missouri Pacific which was the Iron Mountain, and is now the Union Pacific, but, there is a big road construction project going on there and I was afraid of getting run over by one of those big old graders. Even Al retired from the field. That scene depicted later on this page.
La.500 goes through some of the Kisatchie forest. There are gravel roads that intersect the old right of way. If we had had more time I would have suggested we visit the ROW from the highway. But I didn't, having a very good sense of time and space. We did visit one spot. Al remarked that we needed to come back in the winter when we could actually see something and the snakes would be sleeping. From time to time Al is really encouraging. Ah, now I get it, I had just offered to let him use the red cold weather riding outfit Mark had given me and he was already planning a ride. Nothing "slow" about Al, well, except showing up on time.
Here's the forest stop east of Packton.
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Visualizing trains here is a stretch. Visualizing my 4 wheeler
here is not a stretch.
Here's the cross track area, speaking of stretches of the imagination.
The almost invisible rail is the UP was MP was IM is confusing.
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At Georgetown you are met (me introducing you) with the realization that this
stretch is about 2 railroads, the second being the Louisiana Midland.
The La. Midland is no longer around and seems a sad story to me.
But, then I'm emotional. Looking at these pictures brought back
a line I had read about the Missouri Pacific removing the diamond
that connected the Midland to its rails. Possibly that was its demise? Possibly
my memory stinks.
Here's a few more pictures while I look up what I've found on the La.Midland.
Here you see the Union Pacific (was MP) looking north. You can see the arms of the diamond
connector rails launching from either side.
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Seems the UP is still using an "arm" as a storage track.
The L&A/LM /and Iron Mountain/MP cross track, was at the approximate location of
the bridge in the background and was the location of the Georgetown depot according to
something I read on Abandoned Rails written by a Mr. Rambo who I think is really
Sheriff Rambo possibly related to the famous politician, State Senator or Representative Rambo.
Any connection to the movie is unknown but could be fabricated. Roaming these woods
you learn stuff. That tidbit is just the tip of the iceberg.
Looking east, the L&A/ LM heads out of town.
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On an earlier visit, I had hit it right. There's not a whole
lot of Georgetown. I've been warned to watchmy P's and Q's
when visiting.
This is from a Wiki Page. Click Here to view it.
It is a little of the history of the LM.
The First Louisiana Midland (LM) was formed on January 1, 1946 by H.H. Holloway,Sr. Mr. Holloway owned a gravel pit at Rhinehart, LA on the Louisiana & Arkansas Railway's (L&A) main line. When the L&A made plans to dispose of the branch Mr. Holloway knowing without the railroad his gravel pit operations would ultimately fail. The LM would consit of 76.7-mile branch line from Packton, Louisiana to Vidalia, Louisiana from the Louisiana and Arkansas Railway. Passenger service was discontinued in 1953. On April 28, 1967, the Illinois Central Railroad absorbed the Louisiana Midland as part of its absorption of the Mississippi Central Railroad.
On April 28, 1974, the Louisiana Midland resumed independent operations, being controlled by Craig Burroughs' Joliet, Illinois-based Trans-Action Associates, Inc. The Louisiana Midland operated first with three ALCO RS-1 locomotives and later with three ALCO RS-3 locomotives.
In the 1980s, through freight service was discontinued between Packton and Ferriday, Louisiana because of poor track conditions and lack of demand, reducing the Louisiana Midland's operations to switching service at Packton and Ferriday. Traffic at the time included pulpwood, wood products and general commodities.
Operations ceased in July 1985. On July 1, 1986, the property was sold at a sheriff's sale.
Abandoned Rails has a couple of good pages on the LM. Click One Click Two
Virgil sent me this link. It's pretty awesome, also. Al, it has big pictures. CLICK HERE
The next big attraction going east is the Little River Bridge.
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The 180 ft steel truss bridge was built in 1904 and completed in 1905.
In Feb. of that year, traffic to Jena began.
Toward the end, crews would let the trains cross in "low" with no one on board. They would catch the train on the other side after a pickup ride across the La.500 bridge. I wonder if
they ever got stuck in traffic creating a little problem down rail.
Past the bridge, Al skidded to a stop. I had told him we were going into his namesake parish.
C.Alfonso de LaSalle beamed with pride. Understandably, "de"LaSalle Parish was reclaimed for France once again bringing home the bacon for the de LaSalle family and making the King of France very happy. [He's holding a gun on me] Al's g....... grandfather is THIS GUY.
Added later: Al is possessed among other things.
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More a little later. This is Al's Paw Paw. See? Next page link below.
