Friday Morning

These daily rail events are no more than soap operas. I decided to display this one in that format. I have a feeling the participants do see themselves as actors in this, the most romantic and exciting of occupations.

The Characters

Last night I'd gone home from Billeaud, La. on La.94, stopping by the Gargill Salt Mine to check if a train was there. I've never followed a train on my home branch, the BR. So I stopped. 1708, which will be known as Moose in this write, was there, parked for the night. I went on home.

Friday morning: Moose, moving out, I thought.



This morning I remembered Moose. I also knew the L&D, in Lafayette, seems to operate on banker's hours. Granted, the office is in New Iberia and they may start there and then have to travel north. But, I know Moose sleeps in Lafayette, albeit at different locations. Bottom line, I'd have time to get there before the action started. In fact I did and came home, then went back to catch the show just starting.

These are the box cars, aka, The Boxers. They didn't do
much but sit around. Later, I'd find out why that's all they did.
The Salties, the salt carrying hoppers, are on the right, the main line.
You'll see them is action shortly since this isn't long.



This is The Truck. It carried the Rail Gang.



This is Cowboy. He is the star of the show being the hardest
worker. At the salt mine he was busy. But, he really got
into high gear in Breaux Bridge.

Here's he's riding on the TANKERS, tank cars
made by Union Tank which has a shop in Ville Platte.



This is Cowboy climbing onto Moose. (No this is not THAT
WESTERN MOVIE)



Let the show begin.

Moose was hooked up to a bunch of Tankers and went toward
Breaux Bridge. I rode down to the Neil Industries crossing
to see it cross.

There sat the Rail Gang in the Truck.



I rode over to identify myself and explain that I was not
a terrorist or sympathized with their philosophy and that
I was a sun damaged bored old gent with a lot of time on his
hands and basically no motivation to use it constructively.
They nodded in a sympathetic manner.

We all shook hands and I returned to my post and they
remained at theirs.

After a while, the younger member of the crew exited the
truck and went to look down the tracks. He seemed anxious
to do something. I remarked to him that there was a lot
of waiting in the railroad business. He agreed. I asked him
if he knew what the plan was. He said they were waiting
for the train to go into BB so they could fix a broken rail at
a siding. We looked down the tracks, many times. You can
start imagining a train moving. I call it a mirage. The mind
starts playing tricks and you think that you see movement when
there is none. It was off on the siding where the box cars were.
Why?



Moose moved forward.



He stopped.

The Truck started up and the young fella shook hands and
was off on his way. He'd been working on the RR for 3 months
and loved it. He called me "Sir". That grated.



They moved out of the Neil siding.



They cleared the switch.



They backed toward the Salt Mine. Moose had backed up
past the siding which was evidently the siding that needed
repair which had possibly marooned the Boxers.

I rode down to the Salt Mine and shot toward the siding.
Indeed, the Track Gang was doing their job.



Pretty cool, huh?



Moose had become occupied with the Salties.





He was backing them into the salt loaders. At the end
of the red arrow are the hopper loaders. I would guess that
is salt.



Having done this and that, Moose was headed to BB with
both empty tank cars and, I'd guess, full salt cars. He was
moving slowly and I just knew that he'd be switching some
more.



I stationed myself in the ditch. The rails turn at the crossing,
thus this shot. The large version is awesome.



I don't mean to be morbid, but this could be your OS
Moment if not respectful of the tracks.



These things, though not as big as the cross country behemoths,
are not V W Bugs. Yep, that's an RV type AC on top of the
cab in a screened box. I suppose it is to protect it from limbs.
Good idea. I'd like an RV that looked like that.



I wanted to get Moose to BB in this segment.

Page 2

Moose proceeded across La.94 at Breaux Bridge.



He gave me his best profile.



He rounded the turn and headed toward the Bayou Teche
Trestle which is there no more.



Cowboy got ready.



He cut the cars that would not fit between La. 31 and the
switch and pulled those that would forward all the way to
the old road crossing. It is not everywhere you can get the
feeling of old time railroading which featured huge machines
on or very near to roadways. It is thrilling.



Before you settle into total confusion, here's a map.
The train comes in from the 94 crossing. It goes to
where you see "Breaux Bridge Junction", a historic
place. There it cuts the cars and pulls forward up
to "End of tracks now". Then the switch is thrown
and he backs north west into Enterprise Products.
Then he pulls forward, the switch is thrown and he
grabs another handful and repeats the procedure.
Pulling full cars out is this process in reverse. It
can take some time and our man Cowboy is busy,
not only switching, but cutting cars loose and hooking
them up. The following pictures are about this dance.



Picture taken of waiting cars on the main line ready to
be brought to the Enterprise Spur.



While waiting I took a shot of the small yard on the E. Spur.
looking toward where it crosses La.94.



Here they come, 5 or 6 at a time.



Moose



Car on the right is on the Enterprise Spur. Cars on the
left are on the main line.



After all the Tankers were pushed up into Enterprise, the
Salties were left on the main line.



Moose waited for the gates at Enterprise to open. Taken
from a dead end street.



Then he shoved them all in.



Crossing La.94. the rails are not level. There is a definite
downhill into Enterprise.



Below, picture taken from La.31, north of La.94. This is the
Enterprises storage line which was the old Southern Pacific
to Port Barre. I had to get up closer.


So I did. The DR 650 is so cool because I can cross very
"uneven" country with it. This was a stretch of even my
"go for it". You never know when you'll drop off into
a mud hole or whatever hole. This is old oil well country
and there are "remnants". To avoid a mishap, I rode
on the old ROW hump almost all the way in. That, in itself,
was a thrill. High grass and this pipeline kept me from going
further on it.



Shot taken from Mulates Restaurant on La.94. Moose started
the process of bringing out the filled cars.







Cowboy was working.





I returned to La. 31 at the end of the line where the old
rails have last been torn up. They fed into the Teche Bridge
and Breaux Bridge Sugar Mill, then on to the Basin and
Anchorage (Port Allen, Baton Rouge) That is why these
rails are called the BR Branch.





I wonder if Moose still gets a kick out of intimidating a few
motorist?



He then backed in for another handful.





I looked down and saw the old ties.





And thought about what the young fella had said, "Railroads
will be around for a while". In fact, while we were talking
he told me about how old the rails were that they received
as replacements. He said some were as old as 1962. In fact
he showed me that on the side of the rail we were standing near.
I was 15 in '62. Those are "old rails".



I think this is a pretty good place to shut this project down.
Adios.