Down at the Depot

Being me, my timing was great. I'm a train magnet. While doing the Icing on the Cake fill in the blanks hunt, I took a picture of the depot. Something was strange. There were people waiting on the benches. I had hit the mother lode. I went down there and parked by the Jefferson Blvd. underpass. It is a gathering place, so I moved to the south side of the depot at the Lee Ave. crossing. After it crosses the tracks, it is 6th Street. Go figure.



I sat for a long time, finally asking a fella when the train was
coming. He said, "2:30". It was 4:oo.



I had time to take a few "orientation" shots. This is facing
north. The Hub City Hunt / Icing Hunt happened up there.



I, like all the potential passengers looked south. I assumed
that since they were looking south, from the south it
would come. It originates in New Orleans, 125 miles away.



I yelled to the assembled, "Here it comes". A loud applause
was heard. It was a jovial group who understood that
the age of the gold watch hung by the chain was gone.



I knew I had an opportunity for a shot. The jag in the
tracks would provide that. Why is there a jag? Was it a
surveying mistake like what occurs in our highway and bridge
building? I think there is a story here.



















As each passenger exited, they shook the conductor's hand.
It is obvious that a train trip is different.



I walked behind the train and sought an angle to get the
whole train. I had to work at it.





I strolled back.



The depot was a beehive of activity.



It was All Aboard Time.













Al had written that he liked the picture of the train
coming in and that he thought it was the first time I'd
gotten a close up. It was the first time from a moving frontal. I
wrote back telling him about the picture I'd gotten in Rayne.

It was doing the snake on a side track so the freight could get by. That explains why it can't keep a schedule. It was an hour and a half late getting to Lafayette. It had departed from New Orleans, 125 miles away and it was already that late. By Los Angeles it could be a day late according to a reader. So, you never use it for appointments. Everyone getting off was smiling. Everyone getting on was smiling. I don't think it is considered serious transportation.

Here's the Rayne shot.



This is west of Rayne out on the Cajun Prairie alongside US 90.
It was dead stopped.



And here is my New Iberia shot.



That's it. Not quite. Andy in Jennings added this.

Thanks Steve,
Reminds me of when my cuz and I use to sit near the old depot in Jennings and watch the trains stop or keep on going and snatch a message from the depot hung out on a line. Sometimes the train would just throw out a pack of stuff instead of stopping all the way. We would also wave at the passengers going by and once in awhile at a hobo going through on a freight train. Great days.

Thanks again to Andy for his contributions to this rag.