I'm not now, so here's the fix.
This one was different. What started out to me as a pretty fair
outing, even with my extended history of doing these things,
ended in a euphoric, surrealistic few minutes in Cade.
This is the story of how it all unwound.
I have skipped a lot of mundane pictures that only
die hard train nuts might enjoy but not enough to comment.
The following will be pure car chase energy.
Two trains waited at the west switch.
I have never gotten such good pictures of the track layout.
It seems that there are two alternative entrances to the yard
besides the main line where the yellow engine sits. Some may
say, "the UP engine", some may say the "the ST40D1apLDX-1
engine". I'll keep it simple because this blog is meant for regular
people as well as those irregular ones.
So, without including a bunch of introductory pictures,
here is what they were waiting on, 1.. oo7, coming from the
west. No, not in an Aston Martin DB5. (James?)
The big freights move very slowly in this area which is greatly
appreciated by the folks using the Pecan Grove Rd crossing.
I really really enjoy these slow dances. There is such anticipation
and I actually have time to pop one or two or too many.
Several intermediate pictures were skipped here.
I knew from the radio, that UP 9372, the yellow one,
was going to make a break for it and head only as far west as
Crowley where it WOULD HAVE TO WAIT FOR THE SUNSET!!!
I was later than Obama to a jobs fair, but I wasn't going
to miss the Amtrak. It was after 1:00 PM. It should have
been gone east from Lafayette at 10:19. (that's what the
schedule says)
In Crowley you take a picture of the old depot.
And other stuff if it comes along.
I didn't have much time for more stuff to come along.
I was at the site of the old freight platform, a good place to
shoot if it's not inhabited by truants smoking cigarettes and
jiving their girlfriends.
The east Crowley sidetrack starts here.
The yellow engine stayed stuck long after the Sunset's pass.
kI didn't care to wait so I'd go on home.
The east end of the Crowley sidetrack is here.
That's the tail end of the train with the yellow engine.
The Crowley sidetrack is an important part of the whole
scheme of things. Goodbye Crowley.
I headed south on Ebenezer Road. I once followed a band named
Ebenezer. Tommy Shreve where are you?
That patch is where the south loop of the Opelousas Gulf &
Northeastern RR crossed the road. Why did it cross the road?
To get to Crowley from Melville via Opelousas.
That's the right of way. Most people think it's a rice pond levee.
Well it is, but it started out as a railroad bed.
Somewhere down Ebenezer Rd. I looked at my clock and
decided to make a run to Cade. About halfway, I looked at
it again and it was after 3pm. I was too late. Then I looked
at the right clock, the one that was changed last Sunday,
and I was given an hour. I pulled into Cade and look what
was down on the Cade sidetrack. I can say stuff here like
"BS", "damn" and "hell", but I can't say what I said real
loud inside my helmet. I said it soo loud I hurt my ears.
I need to restrain from that until opening my helmet.
I rode down to Captain Cade Rd, got off the bike and walked
up to her popping shots. The better ones are for sale at the blog store.
Then she pulled forward up to the old station.
I didn't catch it, but the cute lady engineer opened the door and
waved at me.
That is a wave, isn't it? Wait, those are hairy tattooed arms.
Had I waved back at a cute man?
Then, I knew why the train wasn't proceeding.
The euphoric surreal stuff was starting to happen.
Here came the Crowley Amtrak train.
Yes, I was in a poor location, but...........
Don't get bummed out. Those are huge pictures and I was
able to zoom down within them and look what I found, this from
the above.
And this from the above.
Hey, better than nothing considering the lack of preparation
and thought about positioning.
After the pass, here came 77. I had found a high pile of dirt
on which to stand About midway in her pass I realized it was the
mother of all mothers ant pile.
She/he was still waving that cute little one finger "hi".
Naw, I made that up. I really was concerned about the ants, though.
All the passengers were waving the same way.
This had been a time and space miracle for me. Amtrak had
bungled into a Dr. John song, "Right Place, Wrong Time",
very nicely. The publish date was 11/11/2011. Is that weird or what?