Tuesday Afternoon


The Players on the rails this Tuesday afternoon were:
An Eastbound Freight
A West Bound Freight (the unnoticed star of the bunch)
A Louisiana & Delta RR freight.
An Amtrak Sunset Limited Eastbound
And Kathleen calling the play by play.

 The places: Cleco Power Plant, Baldwin, La.
The Bayou Sale US 90 Overpass
Bayou Sale/ Yellow Bayou (MP 97)
New Iberia's Depot
La.182 South of Cade (the dip)
And Several Other Places I Can't Remember
Here we go:

Exiting my driveway I heard  Kathleen wishing the crew of the  Eastbound Freight a good  trip.
By way of exact time and space coordination I decided to meet it at Baldwin,
a much more scenic spot than others. I'm being vague as not to offend others taste in spots.

West side.of the bridge in Baldwin taken from the Cleco driveway.
Closer, the bridge was "passing two boats", quoting the bridge tender.
 East side of bridge. I don't like waiting anywhere.
 The East Bound Freight waited for the boats to get by.
I didn't think it was moving, you?
I figured I had time to catch it at Bayou Sale.
I went down the levee to my MP 97 perch.
A Westbound Freight was slowly sliding by.
It just got by me. I missed the engine and something else
 by 10 seconds.
If I had known what it was pulling I would have gotten manic and caught it.
 I chose to let it go and wait for the Eastbound.
The Eastbound, again,  never moved.
The Westbound moved off.

More watercolor time.
Looking back east, nothing showed but the North Bend rails that dip south to the carbon black plants, 
the truck stop to the left, and a rail maintenance machine. 
 Nothing more.
 Then entered from the South Bend, another player, a L&D tug.

The lights of my Eastbound were still on.
Nothing seemed to be happening.
Had Katleen gone to powder her nose?

My rendezvous with the Eastbound Freight
was going  like an E-Harmony.com date from Hell.
It wouldn't even give me a descent shot.
 It wouldn't even give the L&D the time of day.
It didn't even honk.
I don't know if it ever did anything.
It may have stayed there until the Tuesday Afternoon Amtrak got by.
I bet it was nice to it. But maybe not. Yankees are unpredictable.

See ya around UP 8432
 I followed the L&D back to Baldwin and lost interest in it.
I headed west, thinking about the blown off Westbound.
It and the approaching Sunset Limited (appropriately named this late afternoon)
were all that was left and I was 60 miles
on down the line.


I had heard Kathleen tell The Westbound to grab the sidetrack at Baldwin.
I was late catching it at the bridge and besides, I have a few train pictures there.
The sidetrack is actually west of Baldwin toward Penn Rd where I would go.
I'm starting to lose interest in this write, are you?
Oh, there is a surprise at the end. Maybe that will keep me and you going.
 Zoomed down. Amazingly the Baldwin Bridge is in the picture.
There sure is a pile of  something  where the sidetrack rejoins the mainline.

 Now you know how I feel just sitting out there.
 I had time to notice that
the  Penn Rd crossing is getting high tech. 
No one stopped for the stop sign.
What can you do?
So  I shot a far off home.
The West Bound continued waiting. It was tucked in because the Sunset was barreling east.
I'd go and find it making a stand in the Albania Plantation Rd. Ditch.
Ditches are great. You never draw attention standing in them.
Looking into south Jeanerette. Notice the bend north (to the right).
OK?
The Sunset's horns are a calliope. Whoever was pulling that rope had to be severely tweaked.


The sun was getting serious. I will bet the crew was happy to get around that turn.
Off to New Orleans by 9:30.
I was going home but bayou traffic had opened a bridge I needed.
I went on into New Iberia. It was getting late.
Maybe the Westbound would come along.
Then:
I heard the MP 120 detector report. It is 
on the southeast  side of New Iberia.
The Westbound finally had its act together and was
making for the Lafayette Yard barn with horns blaring.
The quiet of a sleepy Tuesday Evening would be severely disrupted.

Wait, why so many engines?  And the last ones were small.  Did 2 small engines equal one?
(just kidding don't write).

I tried popping a few shots of them. My camera... don't get me started. I got one whole engine.
Maybe not so bad. These were dissected from large shots.

They are NO&GC engines from New Orleans.
Wiki says this:
The New Orleans and Gulf Coast Railway Company (NOGC), is a former Union Pacific Railroad branch line located outside of New Orleans. The NOGC is a 32 mile long railroad that interchanges with the UP in Westwego. The railroad serves over twenty switching and industrial customers and is the only railroad operating east of Avondale, LA on the Westbank. Predominate shipments include a variety of food products, oils, grains petroleum products, chemicals and steel products. The Rio Grande Pacific Corporation maintains a 100% equity interest in this property. It is a subsidiary of the Rio Grande Pacific Company.

Here's that link:
The Rio Grande Pacific Corporation is a railroad holding company. It owns four railroads:
Rio Grande Pacific Corporation is a short line and regional railroad holding company with operations in six (6) states. Rio Grande Pacific Corporation plans, designs, implements, manages and operates short line railroads in the United States.
Do you see how much can learn on a Tuesday Afternoon?




Tuesdaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay Afternoooooooooooooooooon
Whew, I'm glad it's Wednesday and they didn't write a Wednesday song.