Mother Livonia

First, a sad moment for me.

Riding north from Breaux Bridge, just south of Arnauville, 

I came upon what I believe to be very old sharecropper homes.

I have seen and waved to folks on those properties for years.

I believe they were farm hands.

Now those homes are deserted and are being taken down meticulously.

Why, probably the wood is worth something.

Maybe it's old cypress.

I have painstakingly recorded sharecropper, or even slave

quarters in Ponte Coupee, but not these because they 

were inhabited and I did not want to violate their privacy.

I wish I'd caught them whole. Another bit of history

and Louisiana has bitten the dust.

This one seems to be on another property, but close by.

Its future is probably dim, also.

 Here we go:

 No.1

You can see its location on the shore of a sea of fields.

No.2

 From above:

 There was a third one I missed.
Blanking that out ...

I rode east to Krotz Springs and made the usual stops.

West of town, work was being done.

 Below the mainline is a spur to a oil tank filling facility.

In reality it is the  cut off old rail route across the wilderness to Catableau.

It was located between the present elevated rails and Old US 190 that lies

beneath present elevated US 190. The advent of the Morganza Floodway required the change.

 This is looking east where it climbs to meet the Krtoz Springs  Atchafalaya rail bridge.

 Whoa. Coming off the bridge was UP 360.

I would see this little train of tankers later, much later.
Notice: No yellow car.

 Leaving Krotz Spring I went through the neighborhood.

What caught my eye was "Front Street".

"Front Street" is usually the road next to the tracks.

That is repeated over and over from town to town. 

Either the name is Front Street or Railroad Ave.

Front St. ran parallel to the tracks but 2 blocks away.

I did not look at the names of the streets between Front and the tracks until now.

I can't connect Front Street (red) with the railroad.

The rails I mentioned coming off the mainline were 

originally the main line. The old ROW is in yellow.
You can see the present ROW below it.

 On the southside of the mainline (green) is Railroad Ave.(red underlined) There is a large open area to the

west of RR.Ave. I'm guessing a  yard was there occupying where the yellow mainline is now.
I will bet 9th Ave. is blocked.

Krotz Springs Rail Bridge.

I took this shot on the east side of the bridge to emphasize the height of the embankment.

Realize that the height you see includes the levee and the natural levee's high ground. 

Going east into the Morganza Floodway requires staying  high.

The water you see is normal for a Spring without the Spillway being opened.

Mother Livonia would provide a choo choo just west of town.
The scrapped area reflects the building of more sidetracks.

There it went to points west.

Notice the Tropicana Orange Juice cars.

They are always behind the engine because they are refrigerated and must be monitored.

I will bet this was a "Z Train", one with high priority.

I next heard there would be a "North Bound".

That would mean that a train would be coming from Livonia headed to Alexandria 

by way of Melville.

This is the exchange at Livonia.

 US 190 is at the top.

My train would be coming from the yard which is south.

A side note: How does a train from Baton Rouge (right) get to Opelousas (left)?

Could "Not easily", be the answer?

 I felt I could chase this one, even with 45mph Fordoche and the gravel road,

once known as La.Highway 10 to deal with.

I set myself in the blocks at "River Station", a name I do not fully understand.

I do think I can see where a depot may have been.

I first thought it was a river gauging station but there is no river very close.

The train was crawling out of Livonia.

I had time to look around.

The cemetery here has graves grouped in different directions.

I was under the impression east - west was the tradition. 

Presuming that Bing is oriented east - west, none

seem to be aligned.

Alas, zooming down on the cemetery reveals what might have been

a stream.  Now I remember a "ditch" off to the side of the road coming in.

I found "my place", stood and waited as the rumbling increased.

Mother had sent me a big one.

Seeing the Southern Pacific engine tickled me. I knew there were a few at Livonia.

6 engines would create a rumble.

6 x 4000 hp, hum? 24,000 horsepower has a way of making a noise and shaking the ground.

Do I like trains or herds of horsepower?  Might be time for therapy.

Shizam, what was I waiting on. I could race 24K hp with my 27.

I'd even go the long way and spot them a lead.

This was taken at Fordoche. The 24K horses had stopped to graze.

I'd go to McKneeley Spur and wait. I wanted to make this fair.

The original purpose of this ride was to check on the progress of the side track at McKneeley.

Work was progressing but ..... The Irish and  Chinese could have built a transcontinental railroad

in the time it's taking these cats.  Assume the reason why.

Exiting the area, I did see some ties being delivered by truck. A truck? No wonder.

Here the 24 came. They were moving fast. I did a bat turn and popped the whip on my 27.

I even made sure none were left behind.

I covered 7.7 miles, a portion of which was fishtailing down  graveled Old La.10.

The train took the yellow line, I, the blue.

My aim was to catch them at "Stonehenge", the high bridge that approaches the Melville Atchafalaya River

crossing. My timing was amazing.

I slid sideways to a stop, fished for the little inadequate camera and shot wildly. 

It was the moment that counted, not the resulting picture.

I have not completely convinced myself of that.

A second win was asking too much. This was at the bridge.

As an afterthought I went to the old ferry landing.

I headed out of the McKneeley Triangle very satisfied.

I stopped to check the date on a bridge and was reminded of where I was.

I should have zoomed in more to make him more fearsome.

I was done with the east side of the Atchafalaya.

I wanted to check out the rails at Palmetto.

And, I wanted to take the levee top there, a ride I'd missed in the blowing, freezing winter a few years back.

I came up US 71 and veered east on the levee top.

For the highway heads, this is the southern terminus of US 71 at US 190, west of Krotz Springs.

Going down to the Basin's floor.

Riding north.

Stopping before the levee at Williams Spur, the 

route of the Opelousas Gulf and North Eastern RR, 

later the Texas and Pacific, Opelousas to Melville.

There it goes to Port Barre

It had come from Second Lake and Melville.

Yes, it had connected with the rails across the river from where I'd come.

The levee lay ahead.

US 71 to the right, Palmetto straight ahead, sorta.

It got long and I was cruising.  The levee road is like a roller coaster. My rear suspension was pogoing 

like a 400 pound punk at a Ramones concert. (today, 8/16 in 1974, the Ramones 

had their first gig at CBGB's, NYNY)

To intercept the OGNE / T&P, you can leave the levee and follow that road.

I felt like Lawernce of Arabia finding "the canal".

I had reached the railroad.

Here is where the "gates" are heading west. The rails officially leave the Basin at this point.

West of town, a tied down freight waited. 

I knew better than to wait.

At LeBeau, I noticed that the curve in the tracks that head north here have been shored up by a lot of 

big rocks (not shown) Evidently the strain of the turn has tried to move the rails west. Not good.

But, I was not finished.

Between Port Barre and Opelousas I stopped.

I laughed. Here came UP 360, seen in Krotz Spirngs earlier, compare time stamps.

It had been coming from Livonia, mother of all the trains today. The day had symmetry.

It had picked up the strange yellow car. It looks like some "safety car" to protect the engine and crew.

Symmetry, yes,  but this had been the peaking bulge in the circle.