Hurricane Gustav was approaching southeastern Louisiana on 28 August 2008 when I took these few train pictures in New Orleans before train movements stopped because the floodgates that cross the tracks were closed. Hurricane Gustav was a big deal for me and for folks back in the homeland – Cajunland – southwest of New Orleans, and upcoming posts will show more pictures, including my ‘evacuation’ into where the eye of the storm was going to pass (I’ll explain it in that post), but that post won’t involve trains and therefore won’t be posted to the railroad forums; so, if you want to see it, check back here in a few days or follow the Facebook page to get alerted to updates. After that, you’ll see the results of my evacuation from the aftermath northward into another region of the country.
Trekking Across France
The New Orleans Public Belt Railroad appeared to be pulling stuff out of France Yard, which sits outside the floodwall, and I caught a telephoto view of these two NOPB switchers crossing France Road into the yard.
I like that one.
The QLIHL
Union Pacific’s QLIHL-28 then showed up on the CSX at Alvar Street, and the UP on this day had announced that it was diverting through other gateways like Memphis all of its through interchange traffic that normally passes through New Orleans; so, this would be one of the last UP-CSX trains through New Orleans for awhile.
The QLIHL is a run-through interchange train from UP’s hump yard at Livonia, La., to the CSX at Gentilly Yard in New Orleans with a large block for Hamlet, NC, hence the “HL” destination station code. Here, we see the conductor line the switches.
That’s about it. I hope that I did better with the color correction on this one than I did when I initially processed these pictures that night and sent them to friends, getting an “interesting interpretation” remark from BobE on the green nose of the CSX unit, a result of an eye condition that I have. Here’s what I wrote to some friends in an e-mail that night, 28 August 2008:
Well, local media tonight are reporting some possible good news for the New Orleans area: the new center of the cone target has moved to the west. We’ll still get hit somehow, with an intensity yet to be determined. I talked to a friend on the phone this evening, and she was at the store stocking up on supplies. She told me that she had plenty of bottled water, a hundred gallons of gasoline, and a loaded .38 ready. I’m juggling three options, and I should decide something by Saturday morning. After the weekend, I’ll likely be incommunicado for awhile. So, if I don’t answer phone calls or e-mails for awhile, it’s because I don’t have service, electricity, or both.
That “good news for the New Orleans area” was definitely bad news for the area west of it, my homeland, as we would soon learn. The next week-and-a-half would surely be interesting, and it would stay interesting as the enormous Hurricane Ike would follow Gustav and stormed through an already damaged area; yes, I got plenty of pictures. Stay tuned for more 2008 hurricane and train coverage!
Jimbaux
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