activity on the BNSF rails between New Iberia and Lafayette.
Having been out of touch, doing an important historical investigation
in West Feliciana Parish, I had lost the pulse of what was going
on around Cade. The last thing I remember was being told
by a local federale' that I had been under surveillance in an area
where drug dealing was rampant.
Being the leading source of rail information between New Iberia
and Lafayette, I felt I needed to get to it or lose my title as
surely there were contenders vying for that position.
The rumor was true. There were new ties laid along the
tracks from Cade to New Iberia, and yes, eastward, also.
Rumored was news on the signals which I did not fully
understand since my knowledge base sorta stops at "ties".
Never pretend to be what you are not and you'll always
win that game. Anyway, work on the signals has stopped.
Don't ask, I'm only the messenger.
At the New Iberia yard I saw a bunch of flat cars. I think they
had carried the ties. It's nice when you can connect up a story.
My engine count for the afternoon would start.
1!
2!
3!
1 passenger or greeter was at the depot.
Then a big dog showed up, 4! and 5!. (the BNSF engines)
The pass was on.
Games people play.
Yep, games people play, and I'm one of them, I'd chase him.
Out of south New Iberia we'd fly.
I've never stopped and taken a shot of one heading east
in this area just east of the 4 lane. The light is always terrible here.
I'm still wondering why I did this time.
Between Jeanerette and Baldwin, I set up at Penn Road
since I knew he was stopping short of Baldwin to wait
on the Sunset Limited passenger train to come through.
This was taken from the thruway service road.
When I was racing into Baldwin I almost got hit by a
vulture. I went back to see what they were up to.
They remind me of monks.
What I think was a male was standing guard while what
I think was a female gorged herself. I like it the other
way around.
There was one in a nest. Was I in buzzard world?
Having a warm feeling, for some reason, I went back to
Penn Rd., or these pictures are out of order. Every 5th one
is and after a while you lose count. Oh, yea, I remember,
since I had time and the vultures made me think of the
fella trying to move in on my train territory, that there
were new ties on the side of the tracks at Penn Road.
You heard that first, here at Steve's Blog.
Zooming in, you can see the train waiting and the signals
that either work or don't. Remember the sci-fi movie,
something of the something kind? Those lights remind me
of where they were studying the spacecraft or some kind of
something.
I don't think I've mentioned the sea fog that was upon south Louisiana.
I got to my favorite place in Baldwin. I'm going to bring
a rocking chair and a barbeque pit there. This is the
best place in the world for watching trains.
What is interesting in that tie pile is that the plates are screwed
onto some of the ties. Could they have come off the bridge?
Or, probably the crossing? I'm saying the Baldwin Bridge.
Wham Bam, here came Mz Amtk 67. Now this is weird. She'd
make engines 6 and 7 for the day. I'm not joking about this
stuff. It sets me back into kinda uh stupor when numbers
just appear. That happens a lot watching trains.
It happened again. I call it the Ground Hog Day effect.
I waved at them. I think they were pretty drunk. The car
was the Patron Tequila Express. Jose' and Phillipe' were
hanging lose in the caboose.
Right on their heels was a NS engine.
Notice, if added up, they total to 38. Divided by 2, since there
are 2 sides with numbers = 19. 19 is made up of the numbers
1 and 9. The smaller of the 2 is 1 which detracts from
9. Detracts, subtracts, same difference so, 9-1 =8, this is my
8th engine of the day. Weird, huh?
The second engine would make 9. Maybe it should have
been the lead engine?
Engines 4 and 5 were making a move toward the bridge.
They had been sitting for a while. Baldwin is a big bottleneck
which makes it great for train watching if you have the patience.
I've got my bike fixed up where I can practically lie down
on the seat. Of course, now I could fall asleep and miss some.
I'd chase him to Bayou Sale, but knew I couldn't catch him.
I also knew that L&D 1501, my 10th engine of the day, was waiting
there for 4&5 eastbound to get by. By the way, 4 and 5
add up to 9. Since it would be the last 1 of the day, you add
1 to 9, the sum of 4 & 5. That all comes out to 10, uh huh, the L&D
was the 10th engine of the day, number 9 being that second
NS engine over the bridge. So number 9 was the last engine going
west and engines 4 & 5 were the last engines going east. There's
balance there. You can't escape this stuff. BTW, "10" was also the
number of cars L&D 1501 was pulling.
Naw, I made that up.
I chased it into Baldwin where it parked for the day.
More cousins had showed up at the picnic. More later.
(More rail stories later, not more cousins later, unless there
were more cousins later?)
