Baton Rouge to Alexandria

Baton Rouge to Alexandria

This started when I was trying to put together a strategy for chasing a train north on the rails between
Baton Rouge and Alexandria.
The purple lines you see  in the GE pictures are remnants of a route I put together.

Then I got interested in these places along the way.

In order going north. I will see what I can find on these place names.
It's more than the rails. It is about the history  around them.

Lida Grove: This is a mysterious place on the south side of the  La.415 / US 190 overpass.
It is just south of where I now believe Lobdell Station was.
Lobdell Station
Allendale   
Registered Historical Places

The registered historical places in Port Allen include: Aillet House, Allendale Plantation Historic District, Cohn High School, Monte Vista Plantation House, Poplar Grove Plantation House, Port Allen Middle School, Sandbar Plantation House, and the Smithfield Plantation House

Winterville
Chamberlin La.620
Smithfield
Rose Hill
Alfords
Walls
Glynn La.416
Chenal Crossing La.414south
Spur Abaonded mysery (GE)
Island La.414 north
Wickliffe La.415
Patin La.415
Powerplant spur
St.Dizier

New Roads

Majors
Ploup
Beaud
Kelsey
Morrison
Bamuels
Dawson Switch
Brownview

Morganza

Lacour Spur
Bachellor
Innis
Lettsworth
Keller La.15
Legonier

-------------------

Simmesport La.105

--------------------

Yellow Bayou
Rosewood
Hamburg
Moreauville
Mansura
Hessmer
Echo
Latanier
Roxana
Whittington

This set of pictures came from other people, Google Earth and my collection of rides along La.415 and La.1, the route of the Texas and Pacific RR and the Louisiana and Arkansas RR now used by and partially owned 

by the Kansas City Southern

KCS in Baton Rouge

Sorrel & Choctaw.  KCS seems to be on the CN rails.

Sorrel St. is important to this adventure which begins in Baton Rouge.

1401 Foss KCS Station

Yes, the KCS depot still stands in downtown Baton Rouge.

I did GE out to the bridge.  I have no idea where the other GE pictures are.

Gulf States Utility Rd Crossing looking  south.

GSU Crossing looking north. That might be the bridge in the distance..

On a ride from Amite to home I encountered this beauty on Choctaw & near Sorrel.

How about this Google shot.

Then I gathered a few bridge pictures.

Huey P. Long Bridge

West Bank

Backing up a bit.

Great shot, had to include it,  by a forgotten who by me  photographer.  Going up from the west bank.

I'm sure you can figure out who. This is the only shot he posted.

10 years ago.

Going up on the west bank.

Going up on the east bank.

Coming down on the east bank.

History

Going up on the west bank.

Friday Afternoon

The purple line is part of my west bank route planning.

The "elevator" looking structure seen on the left is in a previous shot up above.

Then I set off to find viewing points for my train chase. This is very close to where the rails descend on the west bank.

RIVERVIEW ROAD

Looking toward the bridge.

Looking south on Riverview.

Looking west on toward New Roads.

This is my attack plan. I'd come in from the west, do the La.1 exit shooting wildly over the bridge precipice, go south on La.1, cross the road and do the circle under US190, go west and maybe jump over and catch the train descending at Riverview crossing.  What can go wrong?

LOBDELL STATION
The picture below is taken looking northwest from the US 190 approach from Lobdell (La.415)

Oops, look below. I have Lobdell Station before Lida Grove.
I think I have Lobdell Station misplaced.
I think it was right above Lida Grove.
It is where La.415 crosses the track.
I think (notice a repetition here)  is an area  used by KCS there that has to be old railroad property.

Disregard the labeling on Catherine Rd. (below)

LOBDELL (La.415) OVERPASS

 Looking east toward river.

Looking north toward New Roads.

Looking north.

When you come to the end of  Lobdell, US 415 and US 190, you will see an old sugar refinery smokestack

ahead. It is the Catherine Plantation. This is the big house there. I'll include more and more points of interest along this route as I get the aunvie.

 CATHERINE PLANTATION (I think)
I've seen "Catherine Cemetery" on the may so I suppose the plantation was named that.

ALLENDALE ROAD HISTORIC DISTRICT

I knew this was an important place when I was there.

WINTERVILLE RD

DOWN WINTERVILLE

North Shots

Back to the River

ORANGE GROVE STORE

Storm damage. Maybe Katrina.

 La. 620 ABOVE ORANGE GROVE

North

South

SMITH FIELD Plantation and Refinery

Coming from the east on that curves north before entering the refinery.

February

March

Coming from La.415

A note from a geocaching site:

His words.

"Very fine private home. There is not a lot of traffic along River Road in this area, so it was pretty easy to locate and enjoy the home. Everything looked perfect, the grounds and home appeared to be in excellent condition.

Could not find any information on the home, so a brief history from the Register (of historic buildings) application here".

The Smithfield Plantation House is locally significant in the area of architecture because it is a landmark within the parish of West Baton Rouge. This landmark status is based upon the home's pretentious Eastlake ornamentation, its distinctive massing, its elaborate interior staircase, and its size. A partially complete survey combined with extensive staff knowledge reveals that West Baton Rouge Parish has very few buildings reflecting the influence of styles popular during the years between the end of the Civil War and the beginning of the twentieth century. In fact, only a small minority of buildings could be considered to be styled at all, regardless of the period. The surviving 50+ year old buildings in this rural parish consist mainly of utilitarian plantation buildings and small, very plain galleried houses in the Creole cottage form. Very few major plantation houses survive. The parish's small communities are characterized largely by vernacular commercial buildings featuring no particular style, plain cottages and low-key bungalows. It is against this background that Smithfield's landmark status emerges. Of the 211 structures surveyed to date in West Baton Rouge Parish, only ten reflect the influence of the Eastlake style. Were the survey to be complete, this number would not be dramatically higher (based on staff knowledge and the fact that the survey has already covered high probability areas). Of the ten Eastlake influenced buildings covered in the survey, most are low key examples in which perhaps a series of columns or brackets are applied to otherwise small, simple, one story homes. Staff knowledge reveals that this overall lack of quality is indicative of the parish as a whole. There are only two known buildings which would be considered landmark examples of the style -- Smithfield and Poplar Grove (NR). Both are fully articulated, combining Eastlake columns and brackets with turned balusters and spindle screens outlining their galleries. Smithfield is the only example to display Eastlake features on both the upper and lower portions of a double gallery. Thus, it is one of the parish's most prominent examples of the Eastlake style.

Street address:

12445 N. River Rd.

Port Allen, LA USA

NORTH OF SMITHFIELD

LA 985 ALFORDS

Away from the river.

South

North -- Levee to right.

 

LA984 BUCHE RD

North

South

North

GLYNN

South

North

South again.

House west of tracks.

GYLNN TRAIN DERAILMENT

Small pictures from an online report.

The truck was probably the culprit.

La.414 SOUTH CROSSING 

South

North

Toward River

La..414 NORTH .... VENTRESS (village of)

North

South

415 CROSSING SOUTH  NEW ROADS

NEW ROADS IN AND OUT

This is right after the first crossing coming into New Roads.

NEW ROADS RAIL

Texas St. is on the east side of the tracks. "Texas" refers to the T&P RR.
The Freight Platform
Looking North
In 2010 the platform was there.

Looking West
Shed is to the right, north.



Looking South



Platform is gone a couple of  years ago.





See Texas St There is a yard which I believe to be KCS at the end of Elm, the road on the opposite
side of the tracks.

Looking south
.

Not to frequent now.

RAILROAD AND RAILROAD DISTRICT
Far North End

Farmers' Market

Pecans
North La. is just up the tracks.

 MYSTERIOUS BUILDING
near Morganza.

Did it belong to the New Roads RR collection?
This building was longer. It has been cut in two,
thus the window / door less end seen here.
What was a door to another room can bee seen.

Nothing has changed since this picture was taken in 2007.

Below is Mike Palmieri  shot of the New Roads Depot.
The above building was not part of it.

The opposite track side view (opposite end)

Below is probably the track side of the building.
Did it have the platform in front on it?

Another MP picture.

The wood supports  under the roof over hang are not present on the  NR depot.

Below is a description by Mike Palmieri sent to me by a contributor.

New Roads is the seat of Pointe Coupee Parish, and the railroad there was built by the Texas & Pacific in 1900 as a branch line from Addis to Ferriday. At Ferriday, the T&P line connected with the MP branch from McGehee, Arkansas, providing the MP-T&P with a through route from Memphis to New Orleans along the west side of the Mississippi River. Unfortunately, traffic on the line never amounted to very much, and 48 miles of track between Ferriday and Torras was abandoned in 1940. At about the same time, the L&A (by then a part of the KCS) obtained trackage rights over the T&P branch between Torras and Lobdell so that it could abandon its ferry operation between Filston and Angola and begin using the new Mississippi River Bridge at Baton Rouge. L&A traffic began running through New Roads on 10 August 1940, and the SOUTHERN BELLE was inaugurated on 2 September. So, sInce 1940, New Roads has been on the main line of a railroad which uses the branch line of another railroad! These two photos were taken in New Roads on 3 December 1984, and a real "find" was a pulpwood car in maintenance-of-way service lettered LA 3299. By this time, there were only five cars with the Louisiana & Arkansas reporting mark: three pulpwood cars and two gondolas. The 3299 had been built in April 1939 and was last serviced at
Shreveport in August 1980.

UP/KCS depot at New Roads - 12/3/1984 http://rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=2175144 UP/KCS track at New Roads - 12/3/1984 http://rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=2166026 Michael M. Palmieri - Ft. Worth, Texas


Below are shots I took of the poor caboose in the New Roads recreation park.

Caboose Inside
All pictures taken from one end.

Vagrant

I  had to paint the walls. Graffiti was authored by trash.
This was the "john" room.
I have no idea what this was. The structure on top looks to be a bottle holding device.

New Roads North

Neeley
The new store.

The old store. (a contributor's picture)

 Bachelor

I made a joke one time about the "Marion Monk" and Bachelor, La.
No one got it.

A whole page is needed for Morganza and New Roads.

Another will be needed for the rest of the trip north.