Barney Leads NOGC Grain Train – 1 December 2007

[Jimbaux remembers the day that he met you.  The politics were already strong.  I think you knew like me that it’d never work out, and I’m surprised that it even lasted this long . . . ]

If Only . . .

How are y’all doing today?  Here are some shots of a Saturday afternoon grain train led by the unique and now-gone “Barney” GP7 locomotive on the New Orleans & Gulf Coast Railway.  These pictures were taken on Saturday 01 December 2007.

Barney

The NOLR 2180 wore the reporting marks of the New Orleans Lower Coast Railway, a predecessor to the NOGC, and the name of the branchline that extends from the former Texas & Pacific Railway’s Gouldsboro Yard down the western bank of the Mississippi River, even though the NOLR was never directly affiliated with the T&P.

That’s the Crescent City Connection bridge in the background, and that’s the Perry Street Wharf at left.  This is the upriver end of Goudlsboro Yard, and we’re in the city of Gretna here, but the other end of the yard is in Algiers, the portion of the city of New Orleans on the western bank of the Mississippi River, even if the southern part of the city.

In a recent post showing a September 2007 grain train on the NOGC, I explained the saw-by process of splitting grain trains in two to get them through Gouldsboro Yard, leaving the yard with a different power consist leading that that with which they enter.

By this time, Barney had begun his fade from purple to pink.  That sounds like a recipe for a good parody of a certain classic Metallica song, doesn’t it?  Anyway, the GP7s – and that’s NOGC 505 as the second locomotive on this train – were sidelined in late 2011 and early 2012,  now that so many GP38-3s and such are on the property.

The NOGC is an interesting operation, especially with two sections of street-running.

Fourth Street

Here we are on Fourth Street, as automobile traffic has cleared the way for the slow-moving empty grain train.

Below is a cropped version of the same picture above.

You can see that the train is rounding a curve to get onto the street.  I call that “The Crossover” track, though I’m not sure it has any official name, but the point of that is that the train is moving from the old T&P route that went down Third Street to this ex-SP part on Fourth Street, the only part of the SP east of Bridge City that is still in existence.

Shot Of The Day

Here we see the train a few hundred feet closer.  Is this better?  I think so.

Do you see the car at right that has just stopped in front of the truck to let the train pass?  I wonder if its driver was confused by my presence standing atop my own truck.

Barney No More

He got repainted and got new reporting marks too.  You saw him four years later as he, as NOGC 2180, led a train down Fourth Street in October 2011.  A few months later, all GP7s were taken out of service, put up for sale, and the GP7 era on the New Orleans & Gulf Coast Railway came to an end.  I miss all of them, especially Barney!

Why Do I Do This?

You know, this blogging stuff can be a real pain sometimes, but these shots have been unseen since 2007, and many of you might have some benefit from seeing them.  So, I guess this isn’t a complete waste of my time.

How’s that?  I hope that you’ve benefited from these brief views of a few parts of the world through my eyes.

Those are all of the pictures that I have for you today.  After that, it was time for me to go meet BobE for drinks at Cooter Brown’s, as he was in town for his annual New Orleans visit.  The next day, I’d spend the day showing him around the railroads of the area, though mostly the KCS.  If I’m up to it, I’ll post some pictures from that event too.

Potatoes and Tomatoes

Do any of you know anyone who grows either tomatoes or potatoes commercially?  I would very much like to know more about this process.  Please link me with those who know about this.

Thanks!

Jimbaux