Atchafalaya River and The Chip Local – 24 August 2012

Go Wide!

On the afternoon of Friday 24 August 2012, we see the Atchafalaya River and The Chip Local on Tiger Island, but not at the same time; some of the views here are very wide-angle, unusual for Jimbaux.

A Foamy Friday Afternoon

Five years to the day after a foamy Friday afternoon on the KCS and Norfolk Southern in New Orleans, our first catch of this August 2012 afternoon is BNSF train M-CSXLAL crossing the Atchafalaya River as the shrimp boat Big Daddy sits in the foreground.

When I posted a larger version of this image on Facebook that evening, it got plenty of responses.  Also, I would photograph the Big Daddy less than three months later coming through the Bayou Teche locks at Berwick.

While the M-CSXLAL went across the river, The Chip Local was waiting in the scale track in Morgan City to make its journey back eastward to serve customers on the way back to Avondale.  Here is Chip’s trainee about to dismount the train as it slows to a stop at Patterson Tubular just east of Morgan City.

That is a trainee – an “orangie” in UP slang parlance, due to the orange hats that trainees wear – hanging from the grab-irons, but Chip is standing more in front of the nose.

Now you should more easily see Chip standing with the orangie on the platform.

The two gondola cars are loaded with pipe and are to be set out here.  Below, Chip stands in front of his train.

The train slowly moves forward a bit, with the unseen Engineer Boudreaux at the controls.

Hey, look, this a real wide-angle shot!  I really went wide this afternoon plenty, as you have already seen and will see again.  For now, though, let’s zoom in on Chip as he talks into his radio.

Now, it’s time for Chip to go between, go to the “red zone,” to uncouple the cars.

Now, it’s time to signal the train forward.

There were two pipe gondolas to set out today, but there was nothing to pick up.

I miss Chip.  Some of my best memories of watching trains (in adulthood, at least) involve him.

Now it’s time to go wide again, as we see Chip hanging from the NS 192085 as the train slowly moves forward.

Now that we are past the switch, Chip is ready to shove the cars into Patterson Tubular’s track, and we can see both Chip and the orangie staring my way.

Perhaps the orangie was perplexed by my presence and my intentions, but evidence would later suggest, as you will see, that perhaps Chip educated him on me and what I do.  For now, we see Chip riding the point as the gondola cars get shoved.

This was a scene that I got to see many times, particularly in Chip’s last year-and-a-half of service before his retirement in November 2012.

Hey, look, it’s Engineer Boudreaux!  In this picture he is still slowly shoving the cars into place (with Chip still riding the point), and he is smiling too!

Below, we see the entire set of what is going into Patterson Tubular’s track.  The boxcar is for one of the industries at North Boeuf and would be set out about an hour later.

Now, with the gondolas set in place and with the all-important hand-brakes tied, it’s time for the locomotive and boxcar to emerge and go back to the mainline, and we see both Engineer Boudreaux and Conductor Chip in this image.

Now, with the derail (seen in the background) closed, we see Chip walking back to the mainline.

Now, with the locomotive and boxcar past the switch back on the mainline and with the orangie manning the switch, we see Chip preparing to guide them back to the rest of the train that is still on the mainline.

Chip would usually talk to me as I photographed him.

No, I don’t remember the topic of the conversation.

Now Chip engages in what is perhaps to this day the most dangerous aspect of mainline railroading, having to go between the cars on the track to couple the air hoses.

Advances in technology still have not eliminated the need for a human being to go into the “red zone” between two cars on a track.

Chip talks to me as he lets air through the pipe.

George Westinghouse was a brilliant man who made a great invention of railway air brakes.

Now, with the train coupled back together and the brake line charged, Chip climbs back onto the locomotive and walks back, along with his reflection, into the cab.

At this point, I hurried back to Amelia to do the shot that I did for the first time two weeks to the day before.  First, before the good action shot, here is the train approaching milepost 74, which can be seen at left.

Now, a few seconds later, we get our action shot to end the day.

And, as the train crosses Lake Palourde Bypass Road, we see our orangie, sitting in front of Chip, give us a wave too!

I hope that Chip, who retired three months after these pictures were taken after 43 years of railroad service, had a positive influence on the young trainee, just like I hope that he has had a positive influence on myself and on all of you.  So ended this brief afternoon of railroad photography.  I hope that you liked and learned from it.

Merci,

Jimbaux