HISTORY HUNTS WAREHOUSE: A Good Buzz Off a 45

"A 45" at one time was short for a Colt 45 Malt Liquor. They came in 16 or 24 ounce chilled cans at times hidden in humidity soaked brown paper bag as if that was going to conceal the fact that you were getting loaded on the most powerfully intoxicating beer known to man. It might make your day but more likely it would make you pay.

In the very early 70's two friends and I were out for a putt. We found ourselves on north Moss St. Moss St., at that time was "the country" and it was one 90 degree turn after another. It was hot and being us we each got a 24 oz can of the above mentioned beverage. Ah, instantly we joined the great riders of the era. Throwing our cans in the trash we mounted our steeds. The hot dog of the bunch, Warren Jackson, was on his highly tweaked Yamaha RD 350, a version of which had or was about to win the Daytona 200. Warren was a great amateur rider and for us to keep up with him, Ronnie on his Norton 750 and I on my 650 Triumph, was senseless, though we probably tried, senses be damned. Warren took off in a blaze touching his knee to the ground in the first left turn and then he straightened up and did the same thing in the next right-hander. Then, he and the bike went 10 feet into the air and I do believe I heard screaming. He had hit a patch of gravel and then caught traction which resulted in what we motorcycle riders refer to as a "high side", and he and it sure went high. It would not be the last time I would think him dead. Finally, he, at 60, did die, leading the pack.

A "45" had one saving grace. It really didn't taste good and your conscious drinking time got over quickly so it was not a good party drink unless the parties you went to were on the order of Animal House. It may still be the poor man's tequila as the result of drinking it is similar. I've done a study.

As I can recall, I never did a buzz inducing "45" again until today. When I rolled into the driveway after this ride my trip meter showed exactly 45 miles. That was from the point I saw the train at Cade to turning the key off while savoring a pretty good chase buzz. You don't think I do this to take pictures, do you? The pictures are so I can remember the high. I sure wish I had a pocket sized digital camera in the 70's. But then the shots might hold up in court.

These shots won't. They are sadly just pictures of a train I chased after giving it a 5 mile lead. The one really funny thing on the ride was this race I had with this jerk in a white car. They all look alike so the color is more of a significant description than any other.

Anyway, he'd race ahead and get stopped at the light where I'd choose the lane with fewer cars and putt putt past his stopped self. I don't exceed the speed limit. It is a rule of the game I play. He did by a lot. That went on between Broussard and Lafayette where I passed him before turning west on US 90.

Driving like an idiot will buy you a few minutes, or possibly eternity or eternity for some other poor person and a jail cell for you which will feel like eternity.

My buzz may be wearing off. Better look at the pictures.

The first 2 shots were taken over my right shoulder as I rolled toward New Iberia.

That is why you see more engines in the second picture.

I knew you were going to ask.

I should take all my shots over my shoulder. They would be better.

It was going slow.

I wanted to hit New Iberia as I'd heard a train going that way evidently behind the Norfolk.

I did find out it was 3 L&D engines running light back to NI.

Along the way there were several instances of BNSF crews working on the signal boxes.

After flipping around in NI I caught the three amigos headed to the L&D barn.

I have no idea what that BNSF crew up ahead in the truck was doing.

In the middle of the big turn west in Lafayette I caught the Norfolks stopped.

I had to lower my shoulder for this shot.

Doing so caused the throttle to advance which ...

... well .... it wasn't pretty.

At Cameron / Mudd she sat.

Of interest to me is that those dump cars were "Norfolk & Western".

Now, there's some history.

It is like us seeing Santa Fe or Southern Pacific cars in this area.

From Wiki:

The Norfolk and Western Railway (reporting mark NW), was a US class I railroad, formed by more than 200 railroad mergers between 1838 and 1982. It was headquartered in Roanoke, Virginia for most of its 150-year existence. Its motto was "Precision Transportation."

NW was famous for manufacturing steam locomotives in-house at the Roanoke Shops as well as their own hopper cars. Around 1960, NW was the last major American railroad to convert from steam to diesel motive power.

In December 1959 NW merged with long-time rival Virginian Railway (reporting mark VGN) in the Pocahontas coal region. Later it grew larger by merging with other railroads including Nickel Plate Road and Wabash to form a system serving 14 US states and the Canadian province of Ontario. It extended from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River and Great Lakes. At the end of 1970 N&W operated 7,595 miles (12,223 km) of road on 14,881 miles (23,949 km) of track, including the Pittsburgh & West Virginia Railroad (P&WV) but not including the Akron, Canton and Youngstown Railroad (AC&Y), Chesapeake Western Railway (CHW), the Dereco railroads, Lorain & West Virginia Railroad (L&WV), New Jersey, Indiana and Illinois Railroad (NJI&I) and Norfolk, Franklin and Danville Railway (NF&D). In 1965, the Nickel Plate Road merged with the Wheeling and Lake Erie which in 1966 then merged into Norfolk and Western lines. Norfolk and Western by 1970, controlled rail lines from North Carolina North to New York and Virginia West to Illinois.

In 1982 NW merged with the Southern Railway, another profitable carrier, to form the Norfolk Southern Corporation (NS), but it continued paper operations until it was merged into the Norfolk Southern Railway in 1997.