The Log Bayou Sequence

Yesterday's hunt for the Circus Train, though ending in disaster, did have its fun moments.

Though frivolous to most, I am infected with the simple sense of anticipation that long past  

generations enjoyed, the entry of the train into their world. In some instances

it would be a daily celebration. Often those celebrations were spaced at longer intervals.

Places that didn't have trains suffered  financially and I think emotionally.

I'm lucky to have  many sets of tracks available and the opportunity  to see the train

"arriving" any time I desire, cheaply while satisfying that "arrival" emotion.

If you share in this genetic DNA, here's a sequence of the Monday's westbound 

into Log Bayou, a place east of La Hwy.317 and Bayou Sale' (say Sally).

I thought I was late as it was after 10:30.

I lingered under the  US 90 bridge at Bayou Sale' for a while.
Lingering is tough. 

Lingering can be interrupted and the simple act of waiting for the train can become more involved.

 

 I decided to push the envelope and move east into the schedule.

 Log Bayou Rd offers no shade.

The heat was compounding and the humidity was along for the ride.

 Having nothing to do I shot a few pictures. 

This is the "hot box detector", probably at about MP 94.

 I haven't  done any  water color prints in a while and figured this a good place to scribble.

Mark, there's an antenna for your collection.

I included the wire as it's a part of my new hobby,  photographing power poles.

 I wanted to include the detector in this one.

BNSF's don't give the ambient temperature, a real failing.

And, it uses  a male voice.

UP's uses a female voice and gives the temperature.

I find that endearing, especially when she closes with, "sweetheart".

Though some think that UP is a big old nasty yankee company, they are trying to endear themselvs

to us mild mannered Southerners.

The sun may have been getting to me at this point. 

I was becoming giddy with what I perceived as "all that was wonderful" around me.

Maybe I was just becoming more receptive.  

 There was a slender monolith, what was its meaning?

There was even an offering for my new hobby.

 I sensed that I had not missed the train.

The fact that the dispatcher and conductor were on the radio supported that sense.

The train was at MP 89.

80 is Morgan City.

 The tension rises at these moments.

It's like Drew Brees flinging a long one as his receiver races for the goal line.

Are you with me? 

I backed  up.

 Though Log Bayou is not a stop, it serves the purpose. 

And I can't be selfish.
There are people waiting in other places for the train's arrival.

Most of the time they get to wait a lot.

To them I'd suggest humidity and power pole photography.

The End.

A Presentation of Louisiana Truck Parts, Broussard, La.

Frankly, I needed a sponsor. Gas is getting expensive and there is little reward for my work.

La. Truck Parts came to the rescue.  They are good people. If you need a over drive sensor  for you Peterbuilt, they have it.  

Here goes the first LaTP ride report.

The sky was blue. Did you know it was blue? I'd forgetten.

The container train was on the side at Cade.

The Sunset Limited was on time. 

And I really couldn't have given a damn.

I'd lost it. I wondered why I was here.

I wanted to go home.

I dried my eyes and went to New Iberia.

I did a u-turn and wondered why  I was there.

I rode back to Cade and wondered why.

Then I remembered not wanting to be in New Iberia.

The train was coming. I'd go north and if I caught it, fine. 

If not, fine.

What did it matter?

 The container train did its best to cheer me up.

Most of the time it does.

It reminds me of Easter Eggs on  Mardi Gras floats.

Matson is an old west name.

Bart Matson was a famous gun fighter as was Doc Hollywood.

Western movies are my favorites.

 The new cars at north NI didn't cheer me up.

I knew there was no hope.

My enthusiasm for trains was gone.

 As I sit here I'm giving it one more try. Still, nothing.

No tingle at all.

 On the north side of Broussard I tried taking pictures of power poles.

I did get a little tingle from that.

As I panned down to get the rest of the pole what should appear.

 Here, my new hobby and my old one converged.

I became confused torn by forces out of my control.

 OK, I will grant you that my heart rate did rise a bit when they tooted at me.

I wondered what number the second bore.

Addictions.  They are the Devil's work.

 I stepped back.

 I had to whip around quickly.

 OH MY GOODNESS.

Amtrak had sent its Number 1 engine to cheer me up.

 I stepped back.

I posted these pictures on one of those sites where everything that ever rolled on rails has a picture.

I was thinking maybe I had the only shot of AMTK 1 since one is one.

Who should respond but Rufus Jagneaux of La. Truck Parts.

He said he'd pay my gas if I included his sign in each of my pictures.

That's easy and for free gas, that's a gas.

While I was on that site with all the pictures I did find that No. 1, if the same one, has been around a while and that these guys beat me to it. But still, those are their shots and I  have my own. Not everyone can say that.

Remember, you can click the pictures and hope your screen doesn't blow  up because they are really really big.

Seems like Rufus and these guys have a deal going too.

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.

 At the Underpass it was stopped. 

I heard that there was some problem with the signal or switch

which  would not let them into the yard.

 I crossed the tracks near the 902 switch and shot east toward the waiting engines.

 I rolled into the yard and took a few shots of the Easter Eggs.

 A replacement crew waited in the "limo".  Another "limo" waited to take the spent crew back home.

 This area of the yard is called "The Flag Pole" for obvious reasons if you look hard. This was once a 

public road.  It connects with US 90 at what  was the Sunbeam Bakery. 

I spent 8 months incarcerated in that roach dump.

I think it is where I started hating unions.

They struck and closed the business and all those ignorant jerks were out of a job.

 I knew she'd be coming so I headed east.

 I know they were glad their time was up.

Mine was too. I was getting hungry.

 Mz Utah was content sitting in her padded bleacher seat on the BR.

She'd just let all those others do ..... and all that jazz.

I think she had a large wet brown paper bag in her hand.
And, I might have heard a dainty burp .....
.... and a Bo Diddley song.

Down by the tracks in McComb, Mississippi.

I'm sure Jerome, his maraca man, and the Duchess,  his gorgeous sister,

are with him.

2010 Ralph Smith Smith and the Red River Railroad

In LeCompte, La.

That's the short story on the railroads temporary demise.

While looking for something else, I found this in "Louisiana:

A Guide to the State", by the Louisiana's Writer's Project.

I was looking for "Natchitoches Railroad", yet another

project. This is part of an explanation of what lead up to

the Battle of Mansfield, a Civil War landmark battle.

Here's is the down and dirty of the RRRR's fate.

I was told that this is the RRRR's depot in LeCompte, La.

It now serves some civic function.

I suppose the railroad was rehabilitated after the CW

since he sold it in 1881. Or possibly it was only a property

sale? Possibly that information will just show up?

The information did just show up. Patrick Jacob sent this in.

Steve,

This comes from the ICC valuation records:
"On March 6, 1878, the roadbed of the Red River Railroad Company between Alexandria and Le Compte, La., about 16 miles, was purchased for a cash consideration of $5000, conditional upon this company utilizing the roadbed by laying iron upon it. On January 5, 1881, the property, rights, and franchises of the New Orleans, Baton Rouge and Vicksburg Railroad Company were purchased."
I suspect - but don't have evidence to back it up - that they only used the roadbed from Alexandria to LaMourie and at LaMourie laid out a new roadbed to the east of the old.
This comes from the New York Times dated 12/11/1881:
"Shreveport, La., Dec. 11. The last rail on the New-Orleans Pacific Railway between Shreveport and Cheneyville was laid at 1-13 to-day. This gives an all-rail route hence to New-Orleans, by connecting with Morgan's Line at Cheneyville. Forty-two miles of the New-Orelans Pacific remain yet to be completed below Cheneyville."
This comes from a "Caddo Parish" history web site
http://www.caddohistory.com/railroads.html
"Trains also ran from Shreveport to New Orleans. In 1880 Jay Gould, the chairman of the board of Texas & Pacific, along with Thomas A. Scott, the president of the railroad, began negotiating to complete a railroad between Shreveport and New Orleans. On April 3, 1880 they made a proposal to E. B. Wheelock, the president of the New Orleans Pacific Railway, to complete the New Orleans Pacific line from the Texas-Louisiana border to New Orleans. The line then opened from Shreveport to Provencal on May 1, 1881 and to Cheneyville on May 1, 1882, and finally to New Orleans on September 12, 1882. The first train on the tracks was the Louisiana. This wood burning locomotive had a diamond-shaped smokestack and was painted bright red with brass inlays."
This comes from "Alexandria Burns" web site
http://www.libertychapelcemetery.org/files/a_burns.html
"Giles Smith also saw a man set fire to the car house of the Ralph Smith-Smith railroad nearby."
This comes from Railway Locomotives & Cars, Vol. 5:
"4. The Atchafalaya railroad is intended to connect Opelousas with the Mississippi and afterward to extend to the Sabine - the lst line being 30 miles and the whole 150. It will have a branch to Cheneyville and thence to Alexandria on the Red River. - The cost will be $500,000.
5. The Red River railroad is an adjunct of the latter for the purpose stated, for which a company has been incorporated with a capital of $500,000. The route has been surveyed and the line is under contract."
I'm not sure if this is one and the same and Ralph Smith-Smith's line - I think probably not and that it refers to the Opelousas to Chenneyville branch that ultimately ended up being part of the Southern Pacific.
This comes from Louisiana - A Guide to the State, page 242 concerning General Banks' damming of the Red River to escape the our boys:
"... Finally the idea of damming the Red River was conceived. Cotton gins, sugar houses, and other structures were demolished to provide materials; and rails, cross ties, bridge timbers, and rolling stock of the Red River Railroad were dismantled and dumped into the river. ..." Damn Yankees!
Then from page 665 concerning LeCompte:
"In the early days slaves poled clumsy barge loads of sugar up Bayou Boeuf, a stream winding lazily through the town. The sugar was then carried by the Ralph Smith-Smith Railroad, built in 1837, one of the earliest railroads in the South. It consisted of a string of small cars drawn by horses over wooden rails and connected Lecompete and Bayou Boeuf with Alexandria and the Red River."
I've got a feeling the railroad improved a bit from this description until it was destroyed during the War of Northern Agression.
See if you can locate these books:
Sugarcane, Cotton Fields, and High Water: Building the Louisiana Branch of the Texas and Pacific Railroad Nathaniel Means
Louisiana History: The Journal of the Louisiana Historical Association
Vol. 45, No. 4 (Autumn, 2004), pp. 445-461
(article consists of 17 pages)
Published by: Louisiana Historical Association

A Small Contribution: Louisiana's Short Rural Railroads in the Civil War
Lawrence E. Estaville, Jr.
Louisiana History: The Journal of the Louisiana Historical Association
Vol. 18, No. 1 (Winter, 1977), pp. 87-103
(article consists of 17 pages)
Published by: Louisiana Historical Association
There should be some good information in them!
I've got to get back to my day job!