After the delightful surprise two nights ago when I witnessed a job of the Kansas City Southern Railway switching the Port Of Gulfport after my day in Mobile, I decided to return to Gulfport just in an afternoon, just to try to get that same port action again, this time with a tripod and also getting what I could get there in daylight before, making this my probably-last-ever trip to the KCS in Gulfport.
So, that means that I had plenty of time for my usually-usual morning walk in New Orleans.
![](https://jimbaux.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Pic-01072020-004-RGB-w-Lafitte-Greenway-at-North-Carrollton-Avenue-New-Orleans-7-January-2020.jpg)
Yes, of course, I am on the Lafitte Greenway, the old Southern Railway Bernadotte Line, and, while, I am, above, at South Carrollton Avenue, where there are no longer tracks, I am, below, at North Alexander Street, where the Bernadotte Line now ends at Masonry Products, which seems to be getting much fewer railroad shipments, where these automobiles may be fouling the rarely-used track.
![](https://jimbaux.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Pic-01072020-005-RGB-w-current-end-of-NS-Bernadotte-Line-North-Alexander-Street-New-Orleans-Louisiana-USA-7-January-2020.jpg)
It ain’t what it was, and it will never again be that.
At 12:05, I left the crib in Mid-City for Gulfport, exited Interstate Highway 10 to get gasoline in Slidell, reentered I-10 after getting gasoline, entered the state of Mississippi at 12:58, and exited I-10 at US Highway 49 in Gulfport at 13:26. I think that I went to Whataburger soon thereafter, but I probably scouted out the KCS yard soon after arriving in town, too.
I found a spot in the northern part of town to await the southbound return trip of the Hattiesburg Local.
![](https://jimbaux.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/052193-RGB-w-northnortheastward-view-of-KCS-Gulfport-Subdivision-between-Oak-Grove-Road-and-Oak-Lane-Gulfport-Mississippi-USA-7-January-2020.jpg)
I waited there for more than an hour and a half, during which some cordial and professional Gulfport Police Department officers visited me due to some nearby nervous white people who called them, and, then, at 16:16, I got the train coming through.
![](https://jimbaux.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/007825-RGB-wjj-©-southbound-Kansas-City-Southern-Railway-Hattiesburg-Turn-on-KCS-Gulfport-Subdivision-between-Oak-Grove-Road-and-Oak-Lane-Gulfport-Mississippi-USA-7-January-2020.jpg)
That is a neat site, and I wish that I could see something like this daily.
![](https://jimbaux.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/052201-RGB-wjj-©-southbound-Kansas-City-Southern-Railway-Hattiesburg-Turn-on-KCS-Gulfport-Subdivision-between-Oak-Grove-Road-and-Oak-Lane-Gulfport-Mississippi-USA-7-January-2020.jpg)
That’s too many locomotives, and I imagine that some of them are being shuttled, but I like them!
![](https://jimbaux.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/052205-RGB-w-southbound-Kansas-City-Southern-Railway-Hattiesburg-Turn-on-KCS-Gulfport-Subdivision-between-Oak-Grove-Road-and-Oak-Lane-Gulfport-Mississippi-USA-7-January-2020.jpg)
It’s 2020, and you can still see SD40-2s on a Class I railroad’s trains!
![](https://jimbaux.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/052206-RGB-w-southbound-Kansas-City-Southern-Railway-Hattiesburg-Turn-on-KCS-Gulfport-Subdivision-between-Oak-Grove-Road-and-Oak-Lane-Gulfport-Mississippi-USA-7-January-2020.jpg)
Even after the 2011-2012 upgrade, but not as much as since before the upgrade, the Gulfport Subdivision still has a branchline feel to it.
![](https://jimbaux.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/052207-RGB-wjj-©-southbound-Kansas-City-Southern-Railway-Hattiesburg-Turn-on-KCS-Gulfport-Subdivision-between-Oak-Grove-Road-and-Oak-Lane-Gulfport-Mississippi-USA-7-January-2020.jpg)
I like it!
![](https://jimbaux.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/052209-RGB-wjj-©-southbound-Kansas-City-Southern-Railway-Hattiesburg-Turn-on-KCS-Gulfport-Subdivision-between-Oak-Grove-Road-and-Oak-Lane-Gulfport-Mississippi-USA-7-January-2020.jpg)
Let’s have a look at what this train looks like.
![](https://jimbaux.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/052214-RGB-w-southbound-Kansas-City-Southern-Railway-Hattiesburg-Turn-on-KCS-Gulfport-Subdivision-between-Oak-Grove-Road-and-Oak-Lane-Gulfport-Mississippi-USA-7-January-2020.jpg)
I love the old boxcars; I hate the graffiti.
![](https://jimbaux.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/052221-RGB-w-southbound-Kansas-City-Southern-Railway-Hattiesburg-Turn-on-KCS-Gulfport-Subdivision-between-Oak-Grove-Road-and-Oak-Lane-Gulfport-Mississippi-USA-7-January-2020.jpg)
I love CN family boxcars; I hate the graffiti.
![](https://jimbaux.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/052226-RGB-w-southbound-Kansas-City-Southern-Railway-Hattiesburg-Turn-on-KCS-Gulfport-Subdivision-between-Oak-Grove-Road-and-Oak-Lane-Gulfport-Mississippi-USA-7-January-2020.jpg)
I would love to know what these other cars are carrying.
![](https://jimbaux.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/052232-RGB-w-southbound-Kansas-City-Southern-Railway-Hattiesburg-Turn-on-KCS-Gulfport-Subdivision-between-Oak-Grove-Road-and-Oak-Lane-Gulfport-Mississippi-USA-7-January-2020.jpg)
Look, there are CNW and UP hopper cars!
![](https://jimbaux.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/052234-RGB-w-southbound-Kansas-City-Southern-Railway-Hattiesburg-Turn-on-KCS-Gulfport-Subdivision-between-Oak-Grove-Road-and-Oak-Lane-Gulfport-Mississippi-USA-7-January-2020.jpg)
Okay, here come those neat grey HOKX tank cars.
![](https://jimbaux.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/052239-RGB-w-southbound-Kansas-City-Southern-Railway-Hattiesburg-Turn-on-KCS-Gulfport-Subdivision-between-Oak-Grove-Road-and-Oak-Lane-Gulfport-Mississippi-USA-7-January-2020.jpg)
I think that they are going to the DuPont facility at Delisle, the facility that is one of the main reasons that KCS keeps this line.
![](https://jimbaux.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/052240-RGB-w-HOKX-tank-cars-on-southbound-Kansas-City-Southern-Railway-Hattiesburg-Turn-between-Oak-Grove-Road-and-Oak-Lane-Gulfport-Mississippi-USA-7-January-2020.jpg)
I never got to see action on that branch, and I never even scouted out the line, and, now, I guess that I never will.
![](https://jimbaux.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/052247-RGB-w-southbound-Kansas-City-Southern-Railway-Hattiesburg-Turn-on-KCS-Gulfport-Subdivision-between-Oak-Grove-Road-and-Oak-Lane-Gulfport-Mississippi-USA-7-January-2020.jpg)
These are chlorine tank cars.
![](https://jimbaux.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/052250-RGB-w-HOKX-tank-cars-on-southbound-Kansas-City-Southern-Railway-Hattiesburg-Turn-between-Oak-Grove-Road-and-Oak-Lane-Gulfport-Mississippi-USA-7-January-2020.jpg)
I am not a big fan of tank cars, but, as far as tank cars go, I do like the white tank car with the black middles and undersides, or are they black tank cars with white top-middle ends?
![](https://jimbaux.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/052257-RGB-w-HOKX-tank-cars-on-southbound-Kansas-City-Southern-Railway-Hattiesburg-Turn-between-Oak-Grove-Road-and-Oak-Lane-Gulfport-Mississippi-USA-7-January-2020.jpg)
I got to the yard, possibly after (another) trip to Whataburger, and there is some action happening here.
![](https://jimbaux.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/052263-RGB-w-locomotives-of-Kansas-City-Southern-Railway-Hattiesburg-Local-breaking-off-after-arriving-back-from-Hattiesburg-Gulfport-Mississippi-USA-7-January-2020.jpg)
That is the power set of the Hattiesburg Train, the train that we just saw, breaking off of the train and going to the locomotive tracks.
![](https://jimbaux.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/052267-RGB-w-locomotives-of-Kansas-City-Southern-Railway-Hattiesburg-Local-breaking-off-after-arriving-back-from-Hattiesburg-Gulfport-Mississippi-USA-7-January-2020.jpg)
Yes, the lighting is terrible here, and, normally, I wouldn’t post pictures like these at all, but they are an important-enough part of the story that I am trying to tell today.
![](https://jimbaux.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/052268-RGB-w-locomotives-of-Kansas-City-Southern-Railway-Hattiesburg-Local-breaking-off-after-arriving-back-from-Hattiesburg-Gulfport-Mississippi-USA-7-January-2020.jpg)
So, the Hattiesburg Local’s power is being put away, while, at left, a long string of boxcars is moving southward to the port!
![](https://jimbaux.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/052270-RGB-w-locomotives-of-Kansas-City-Southern-Railway-Hattiesburg-Local-breaking-off-after-arriving-back-from-Hattiesburg-Gulfport-Mississippi-USA-7-January-2020.jpg)
Okay, this is interesting!
![](https://jimbaux.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/052273-RGB-w-KCS-2957-and-KCS-2899-shoving-a-really-long-string-of-boxcars-to-the-Port-Of-Gulfport-Gulfport-Mississippi-USA-7-January-2020.jpg)
The locomotives are shoving the boxcars to the port!
![](https://jimbaux.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/052281-RGB-w-KCS-2957-and-KCS-2899-shoving-a-really-long-string-of-boxcars-to-the-Port-Of-Gulfport-Gulfport-Mississippi-USA-7-January-2020.jpg)
So, here I am again at the port.
![](https://jimbaux.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/052284-RGB-w-KCS-2957-and-KCS-2899-working-the-Port-Of-Gulfport-30th-Avenue-Gulfport-Mississippi-USA-7-January-2020.jpg)
This time, I brought a tripod!
![](https://jimbaux.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/052286-c-RGB-wjj-©-KCS-2957-and-KCS-2899-working-the-Port-Of-Gulfport-30th-Avenue-Gulfport-Mississippi-USA-7-January-2020.jpg)
I didn’t start using it yet, but I soon would.
![](https://jimbaux.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/052289-RGB-w-KCS-2957-and-KCS-2899-working-the-Port-Of-Gulfport-30th-Avenue-Gulfport-Mississippi-USA-7-January-2020.jpg)
Isn’t that neat? If I lived around here, I’d come to this location often.
![](https://jimbaux.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/052297-RGB-w-sunset-over-Mississippi-Sound-and-the-coast-30th-Avenue-Gulfport-Mississippi-USA-7-January-2020.jpg)
The sun sets over the shoreline of the Mississippi Sound.
![](https://jimbaux.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/052299-RGB-w-sunset-over-Mississippi-Sound-and-the-coast-30th-Avenue-Gulfport-Mississippi-USA-7-January-2020.jpg)
I think that the boxcars are for exported paper.
![](https://jimbaux.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/052300-RGB-w-KCS-2957-and-KCS-2899-working-the-Port-Of-Gulfport-30th-Avenue-Gulfport-Mississippi-USA-7-January-2020.jpg)
This is the southeastern corner of the Kansas City Southern Railway.
![](https://jimbaux.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/052303-RGB-w-sunset-over-Mississippi-Sound-and-the-coast-30th-Avenue-Gulfport-Mississippi-USA-7-January-2020.jpg)
This is, I guess, a fitting way of closing my coverage of this line.
![](https://jimbaux.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/052305-RGB-w-KCS-2957-and-KCS-2899-working-the-Port-Of-Gulfport-30th-Avenue-Gulfport-Mississippi-USA-7-January-2020.jpg)
Check out those big cranes.
![](https://jimbaux.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/052316-RGB-w-Port-Of-Gulfport-30th-Avenue-Gulfport-Mississippi-USA-7-January-2020.jpg)
I don’t care for the casinos.
![](https://jimbaux.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/052319-RGB-wjj-sunset-over-Mississippi-Sound-and-the-coast-30th-Avenue-Gulfport-Mississippi-USA-7-January-2020.jpg)
I think that society would be better off without them, which is to say that I think that society would be better off if a significant percentage of the populace didn’t find that silliness entertaining.
![](https://jimbaux.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/052320-RGB-w-sunset-over-Mississippi-Sound-and-the-coast-30th-Avenue-Gulfport-Mississippi-USA-7-January-2020.jpg)
Local firefighters are training here.
![](https://jimbaux.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/052325-RGB-w-firefighters-training-at-30th-Avenue-Garage-by-the-Port-Of-Gulfport-Gulfport-Mississippi-USA-7-January-2020.jpg)
Here is a cell phone picture.
![](https://jimbaux.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Pic-01072020-015-RGB-w-Port-Of-Gulfport-Gulfport-Mississippi-USA-7-January-2020.jpg)
Here is another cell-phone picture.
![](https://jimbaux.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Pic-01072020-016-RGB-w-Port-Of-Gulfport.jpg)
Dole has a big presence here, and this is where many bananas enter the United States of America.
![](https://jimbaux.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/052332-RGB-w-KCS-2957-and-KCS-2899-working-the-Port-Of-Gulfport-30th-Avenue-Gulfport-Mississippi-USA-7-January-2020.jpg)
Do you see the locomotives in the background in front of the containers in the below picture?
![](https://jimbaux.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/052335-RGB-wjj-©-KCS-2957-and-KCS-2899-working-the-Port-Of-Gulfport-30th-Avenue-Gulfport-Mississippi-USA-7-January-2020.jpg)
The locomotives then break off to go and grab another cut of cars in the port yard.
![](https://jimbaux.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/052353-RGB-w-KCS-2957-and-KCS-2899-working-the-Port-Of-Gulfport-returning-northward-to-the-port-yard-to-grab-a-cut-of-boxcars-30th-Avenue-Gulfport-Mississippi-USA-7-January-2020.jpg)
Finally, here are the locomotives shoving the next cut to the dock tracks.
![](https://jimbaux.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/052361-RGB-w-KCS-2957-and-KCS-2899-working-the-Port-Of-Gulfport-30th-Avenue-Gulfport-Mississippi-USA-7-January-2020.jpg)
I leave the port and return to the yard, to the locomotive tracks, where, after making an emergency visit to some nearby trees, I shot the power set on our Hattiesburg train from earlier today.
![](https://jimbaux.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/052378-RGB-w-Kansas-City-Southern-Railway-locomotive-facility-Gulfport-Mississippi-USA-6-January-2021.jpg)
Yes, I am being repetitive here.
![](https://jimbaux.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/052392-RGB-w-Kansas-City-Southern-Railway-locomotive-facility-Gulfport-Mississippi-USA-6-January-2021.jpg)
Now, let’s move over a bit so that we can see the part of the string of boxcars north of the locomotives.
![](https://jimbaux.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/052397-RGB-wjj-©-Kansas-City-Southern-Railway-locomotive-facility-Gulfport-Mississippi-USA-6-January-2021.jpg)
The thing that I like about this place is that it looks like railroads looked back in the 1990s.
Anyway, it’s time to head to Zaxby’s, my first time at the Gulfport Zaxby’s.
![](https://jimbaux.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Pic-01072020-017-RGB-w-Zaxbys-Gulfport-Mississippi.jpg)
Alexia at Zaxby’s was very nice, but this experience wasn’t as cool as I thought that it would be, which means that it wasn’t as cool as it was a decade ago.
![](https://jimbaux.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Pic-01072020-018-RGB-w-Zaxbys-Gulfport-Mississippi.jpg)
This is gluttonous. I went to Whataburger twice today and now Zaxby’s. Once my New Orleans time is done, I am going on a strict diet!
I went back to the KCS yard after this food, but then the port job tied down shortly after 21:00; so, I left Gulfport to head back to New Orleans on US Highway 90.
I stopped in Bay Saint Louis, where, at 21:57, I shot this CSX maintenance-of-way equipment parked across the mainline from the old Louisville & Nashville Railroad passenger depot.
![](https://jimbaux.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/052405-RGB-w-CSX-maintenance-of-way-rolling-stock-across-CSX-mainline-from-old-Louisville-Nashville-Railroad-passenger-station-Bay-Saint-Louis-Mississippi-USA-7-January-2021.jpg)
Now, let me get a few shots of the depot in this neat old town.
![](https://jimbaux.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/052407-RGB-w-old-Louisville-Nashville-Railroad-passenger-station-Bay-Saint-Louis-Mississippi-USA-7-January-2021.jpg)
It would be cool if passenger trains still stopped here.
![](https://jimbaux.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/052408-RGB-w-old-Louisville-Nashville-Railroad-passenger-station-Bay-Saint-Louis-Mississippi-USA-7-January-2021.jpg)
It could happen again!
![](https://jimbaux.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/052409-RGB-w-old-Louisville-Nashville-Railroad-passenger-station-Bay-Saint-Louis-Mississippi-USA-7-January-2021.jpg)
That’s all for pictures today. I reentered Louisiana on US Highway 90 at 22:23 and arrived back at the crib in Mid-City at 23:16.
So long, everything east of New Orleans; it’s been real, I love you, I will miss you, but I must leave.
Peace,
Jim
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
I really enjoyed these, especially the gray KCS engines still earning their keep.
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