I start a lot of stuff and never finish. I have a folder that I call "Desk Top 2". I throw stuff there that starts accumulating on the real desk top. I can't throw away all those great starts because I might actually finish one if the time is right. Desk Top 2 now holds 20 or 30 folders. It's bothering me. I've compromised with myself, an easy task, and decided to post the stuff before it is lost in the swirling pot which is my picture collection. So here goes. Don't expect much because the following has no continuity besides the fact that all of it is stuff.
The first folder is titled Addis to Alexandria. It holds all the pictures I've collected for the virtual freight train ride from Addis to Alexandria. I was very excited about the project on YouTube but only George expressed any positive feedback, saying, "I like YouTube". As a member of YouTube, I accepted his statement as a sincere compliment. But, alas, it's not enough to keep my boiler boiling. Remember, I don't need to finish stuff, it's a gift with a price, like writing this.
There were other problems. Evidently "speed reading" was not taught in Southern schools that much and there were a number of complaints. One unnamed person said he couldn't keep up and when the text slide was gone it was too late and he didn't have another 14 minutes to get back to where he'd lost it and would probably lose it again. So, here's a few pictures you'll never see on the Addis to Alex write because it's been cancelled.
Yo ......... It's a train at Meeker.
Next:
Cheneyville, La. This is the exact spot where the Southern
Pacific came into Cheneyville. I speculate what railroad it
met, possibly the Texas & Pacific. The white flowers mark
the spot, nice of the town to landscape the area.
OK, that does it for the Addis to Alex Folder.
Yesterday I got sucked into looking at Google Earth as I was
once again drowning in the LR&N route beneath St.Francisville.
As usual, I became tired of that and started looking for
views of stuff I had found on ground level but wanted a bird's
eye view to finish off the experience.
The Morley Bridge was part of the Texas & Pacific system.
It crosses what was called the Port Allen Canal west of
Plaquemine. It was part of the failed You Tube experiment.
What is interesting to me about this shot is the automobile
on the swamp side (west) of the bridge. How did it get over
there? Not from the east according to my memory, unless it
had rail adapters on. So, I followed the rails to Grosse Tete.
Dang, each bridge had a ramp from the little road to it
where a car could cross on the tracks. Sounds like a project.
The next folder lying around was the ride to Melville.
I needed to stop by Mark's on the way home to drop some
stuff off. My timing was perfect as I saw a rare occurrence,
the AKDN was out on the Ville Platte branch further than
usual. This stirring shot was taken, but I'm not sure I've
shared it internationally or not.
Next, I was taking a few pictures of pictures I found. I found
one that really struck home. It is of a gas turbine engine
sitting on a flat car in Arnaudville. It is bound for the United
Gas Compressor Station near there. A semi would deliver
it from the railroad. Now, this is important because my
father and father in law and Wally's stepfather all worked
for United Gas. In fact, I'll bet Jim helped install that baby,
ask him Wally. This picture places the functioning Missouri
Pacific rails in Arnaudville in 1963.
The next picture is from outer space. I have searched
the computer for my pictures of the Bogalusa rail yard.
I had a bunch of great ones. This will have to do. The
yard was a part of the GMO Railroad which I followed
here and yonder for several years over in East Louisiana.
The next folder contains a bunch of stuff I collected after
I found C.T. Crowell mentioned in a 1900's Railway Age
magazine.
Here are some links I visited while in a hunting frenzy.
http://www.ttarchive.com/Library/Biographies/Frost-EdwinA_AL.html
Scroll down to Lufkin Land and Lumber at
http://donsdepot.donrossgroup.net/dr707.htm
More:
http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/eqt05
And a Block write
http://www.wtblock.com/wtblockjr/Manning.htm
Everett verified that it was the same C.T. Crowell who stepped off the train in Glenmora.
Next, I found some more stuff in Railway Age.
This proves it.
Below is the route I could have explored but never did.
That was a moment in time which has passed.
Next Mark laughed about me not being able to find a bridge.
Seems I was looking in the wrong place, where he was with
his merry band of men.
I'm proud of the following shot. It is surely one of a kind.
Google Earth really ruins initiative. Oh, that's the LR&N's
route down US 61, but you obviously knew that, the whole
world does, so why should I bother?
Enough of the LR&N project folder.
The next folder has a shot my grandmother took of the
Mexican Football Team at the Lafayette, La. depot.
The university had invited the Mexicans to play a football
game in the newly renovated NcNaspy Stadium in what
was called "Little Abbeville". When the two teams took
the field it seemed that Mexican football did not
coincide with the university's version. There was no
translation, everyone returned to their street clothes. My
Granny then offered to take the Mexicans' picture in front
of the historic steam engine, Sabine, for 5 pecos, which the
Mexican team agreed to fork over. Today it is a custom
for Mexicans to offer to take tourist pictures for 5 dollars.
Little do they know they'd come out ahead asking for 5 pecos.
The next folder is labeled, "Melville Ferry, the End"
Not much more can be written about it.
Next folder is labeled, "Napoleonvile Project". I was going
to take my "friends" over there to show them the area.
I sent an email and got no response. I can't figure out why.
Next one is marked "New Orleans Tour". I had lined
up Willis to ride us around but, again, no takers.
The next one is "Red Bluff". I've always wanted to hike
down that embankment to the railroad where there is
supposed to be the remnants of a wreck. Oh, Red Bluff
is in MS near Morgantown. The road with the camera's
on it is 587. The white line between the cliffs and the river
is the railroad. It is a .23 mile mostly straight downhill
walk to the rails from the crest.
The last folder is marked Rigoletts Rail Bridge. It's another
GE shot. Look closely, there's a train on the bridge.
Oh, and one more. This was a reminder.
I really should go by. Seems like it was open in 2002.
Oh, well. More later or not.