Train Chase: A View from the Hidden Lake Ditch

Not having the expertise to deal with the cerebral side of railroading, I must resort to appealing to your auditory and visual primal senses. Unfortunately, here, you can't hear a darn thing so I'm left with the "visual". I better make it good or this is all for naught. For this special occasion I've uploaded larger pictures than normal. You'll have to click what you see to make the larger version appear, then hit your back button to return. Moving on:



I have found that ditches are great for taking pictures of fast to slow moving trains. They do have their drawbacks like ants, snakes, burrs, vines, poison ivy, spun off road kill, mud, water, and really gross litter. With greatness comes responsibility. I guess putting up with all that is the "responsible" part here? Moving on:



Between Cade, La. and Broussard, La. (which you know about if you read the last one) is a fine ditch where Hidden Lake Rd crosses the BNSF tracks exactly at the St.Martin/Lafayette Parish line on La.182 . I suppose saying that may qualify this write as a "Watching Location" on the forum I just joined? Maybe, if they allow ditches in there. Moving on:



The ditch does have a nice parking lot across the road from it. I could at all times monitor my bike if any other train person came along and parked there. I carry bananas and would hate for them to get ripped off. I know how train persons are. Moving on:



The only problem I incur with ditches is depth perception. I have little which makes each ditch experience a little different for me than maybe for you if you do not share that frailty. I usually use my whip to test the percentage of slope and depth. Not doing so has resulted in, well, I won't go into that. Let's move on:



Having tested the depth, surveyed for snakes and ants, high water and all of the aforementioned, I descended into the ditch. The wait would be short thanks to constant contact with the train. He had waited at Cade for Amtrak (in the last write) to zoom by and now was slowly lumbering up the hill to Broussard.



From my position in the ditch you can see that, as I said,

I was at the parish boundary which I think is another special

aspect of this place. It's not the Grand Canyon but it's close by.

Explanation: the ditch is close by. The Grand Canyon is a

heck of a drive from my house.







I could already feel the rumbling.



















Oops. Was I having an "anticipation moment"?

(a subset of a "senior moment")







No, the dadgum pictures get out of sync sometimes.

Boom, there she was.







Crossing Hidden Lake Rd. Or maybe it's Lost Lake?







The name is not important. You'll never come here, I bet.

But maybe. The "Lake" part of the name should be sufficient

to find it.











Now it was time for me to move on. I went on home. My

two hour outing had netted an Amtrak Pass and a Freight Pass.

I guess I could have waited for another, but why press my luck?

More later.



PS: I just got a surly note noting that the last shot was not

from the ditch. That is true. A ditch is not the best place to

run after a train.