Jimbaux believes that his soul is on fire.
Hey! Hoo, boy, do I have a heck of a show for you today! Today has been a memorable day with some great scenes that I was able to record.
I had to go back home for my twice-yearly visit to the dentist, and I made the most out of the trip!
The highlight of the day was that I got some shots of the westbound Union Pacific Railroad New Iberia Turn with a good-looking leader and an interesting-looking train both at Schriever, in an old shot that I did frequently back in my youth but hadn’t done in years until today, and also my overhead shot at Garden City.
It Was A Long Day, Too
I awoke today at about 04:00, cooked and ate breakfast, washed a bunch of dishes, and then took a shower; so, by 07:30, I was again very hungry, and I ended up in the line at the Sonic to get a couple of breakfast burritos.
This morning when I was washing the dishes and cooking, I listened on YouTube to a conversation, and interview, between Doug Henwood and David Graeber about his work on debt, and I had never heard this particular conversation before! This was the first time that I listened to it, and I will be listening to it many more times, because there were plenty of useful insight to it, useful insights that were not in the other Graeber conversations that I have heard.
The Senate primaries in Pennsylvania were yesterday. So, apparently, the Republican contest is too close to call, and John Fetterman won the Democratic contest.
Yesterday, a couple of people from back home were at the Temporary Place to visit, but I hardly visited with them because I was still very upset and sad due to some conflicts over that traumatizing fighting show that to which I am subjected all the damn time.
Fast food is so fast food is so hugely wasteful. It’s an addiction, though. We must find a better way, though.
Commence Picture Taking Now
I stopped at the Port Of Iberia at or a little bit after 08:00, and I laid eyes upon and photographed the LDRR 3529 for the first time.
You can see the empty flatcars that are the reason that it is parked here.
There was one loaded pipe car and several empty pipe cars in the port track and three empty cars on the old F&A mainline near the locomotive.
As I explained last time, when I showed several pictures of what is happening here, plenty of pipe that has been here for a few years and that was supposedly originally intended to be part of the Keystone XL Pipeline is being moved out of here.
So, this won’t last.
To The NIB
Okay, so, it’s time to go to New Iberia, to the Louisiana & Delta Railroad interchange yard.
You know, even though I generally don’t like these short-nosed first-generation locomotives, particularly with rounded hoods, they actually do look cool – especially when in pairs like this – in a broadside view.
Here is some plate steel, probably bound either for Twin Brothers or for O’Neal Steel.
I really like plate steel on bulkhead flatcars. I much prefer non-graffitied railroad-owned boxcars and hopper cars will the big logos on them, but, since they have become a thing of the past, bulkhead flatcars and centerbeam flatcars have taken the top spot in my favorite cars list.
Man, what is this? Obviously, there must have been some sort of problem, but, even though it probably isn’t particularly remarkable, I wonder what the story is.
These plates seem rather thin, and I wonder if that tells us what their likely use is and, thus, where of the two possibilities that they are likely going.
I say that because one of the two possible destinations is a shipyard, while the other possible destination does not have maritime access.
Okay, it’s time to go to the depot and the locomotive area.
There is nothing particularly remarkable about either of these scenes, as this is what every morning here looks like.
It’s time to head out of New Iberia because I have plenty to do to the east, but let me stop and photograph this cool mural on Julia Street!
I wonder what that means. The sky is burning; I believe my soul is on fire! That’s so! That song was playing on Eagle 98.1 when I made the above image!
I exited Highway 90 in Baldwin and spent just enough time there to see what was in the track right there by the highway. The LDRR 1536 and the 1712 are the locomotives in Baldwin. I did not have time to stop and photograph them, as I was now running on short time and as I would have had to have going on the other side of the track, where the light is, to photograph them. There is a long stream of cars at the beginning of the branch where there usually are cars, and all of them except for one tank car are carbon black hopper cars. You can see why I don’t hang out here at all, because this place is pretty boring. It would be different if there was still regular traffic to the Port Of West Saint Mary.
The Mid-City Marine hit me up on the Gchat right as I was in Baldwin. I can’t really chat while driving, and I must get back on the highway and move.
I saw the LDRR 3529 this morning for the first time, and I also saw the LDRR 1536 today; so, I have seen both of the new L&D motive power acquisitions today! The LDRR 1709 was at the shop. So, maybe I have seen all three of L&D’s PTC-noncompliant locomotives today.
Another Port
I made the obligatory stop in Morgan City at the port.
There is nothing new there! That’s what I said the last time that I came here!
I caught the tail end of a westbound manifest train coming through Amelia.
Sacred Schriever
There is also nothing new here at Go-Bears in Schriever, but that doesn’t stop me from taking pictures of it!
It’s the same, but it ain’t the same, if you get what I mean.
I am the same, but I ain’t the same, if you get what I mean.
About 17 minutes later, I am taking some from-behind pictures of the westbound Amtrak Sunset Limited as it arrives at Schriever.
That’s the best that I can do with the lighting here, and I guess that it is okay.
I like how the train can be seen on either side of the depot here.
That’s all.
It Ain’t The Same Anymore
It was time to go to the dentist.
If someone wanted a photograph of neoliberalism, there it is.
Anyway, I miss being able to access the track here.
The dentist said that Walmart should pay us for using self checkout. He said that he doesn’t much talk to The Duke anymore but that his wife does.
I am seeing this bayouside park at NSU for the first time. I came up whatever that road is, I guess Bowie Road on the east side of the University; you think after all these years that I’ve had the name of that road memorize, but I don’t.
What Good Remains
It was time to go and meet my homie – and his dog.
I always think about the alternative universe in which I wasn’t forced to leave.
I just better understand the why of it, but I don’t understand the why of the why.
So, we went eat.
It was good!
It was too much, though. I need to learn some self control here. We should not have ordered the onion rings.
I talked about the asset stripping that is happening in the railroad industry.
It was good seeing and chatting with him. We saw three of our high school teachers while there, but they didn’t recognize him at first or even for a while, but they recognized me! I believe that the discrepancy is due to The Duke being – and, thus, keeping me – more recent in their minds.
Yeah, so much of what I write is cryptic by design, and I really wish that it didn’t have to be that way.
Speaking of teaching and students, I thought about trying to visit anyone at the academy right here, but I decided against it. I was just so hot and sweaty and yucky!
Now, it was time to go really feel like a foreigner in my homeland.
I went up around the sugar mill and went to some places that I hadn’t been in years and probably also some places to which I had never before been, even as they may have been developed 20 or so years ago when I was living here.
It further increase the feeling of being a foreigner in my own hometown.
Really, though, this is pretty cool, and it would be even cooler if there still were trains here.
Really, it’s a damn shame that this place was not shipping by rail when the Napoleonville Branch was dying in the late 1990s after the closure of the Supreme refinery, because, otherwise, the track to here – and past a few very sacred places – would still exist.
Also, given the options this day and age, a train of nothing but a few tank cars might have been the best for which I could have asked in 2022 anyway.
Oh, did I mention something about a sacred place?
This particular remodeling has deeper meaning, as the purpose of those removed windows is deeply connected to who I am in ways that I would struggle to describe, but much of it has to do with me being a visual artist.
I departed here and headed to the track to try to intercept the train that I really want to bag and chase today. I was jealous of the two school boys whom I just saw walking wearing sweaters in this 90° heat that is baking me. How do they do that? I have always wished that I could do that.
I have had a good time here today.
There is some development here south of Duplantis Drive. We’re going to be out of sugarcane land soon! Seriously, this is disturbing. We need to build a sustainable word.
That reminds me of how much I miss that delightful young English economist. I wish that she were closer. It’s so hot. I wish that it were not so hot.
First, The Opening Acts – Then, The Headliner
I do have a heck of a show for you with the New Iberia Turn with the old-school narrow-nose lead locomotive, but, before the train gets here, let’s inspect the building materials to be offloaded.
This is what is on SOO 601131.
According to Google, this place is in the far north of Alberta!
Look at the difference in dates!
To me, that suggests that the mill keeps a healthy amount of inventory.
Here is what is on the other car, the TTZX 87448.
It’s some fir!
I have some ideas for a business here.
Let’s return our attention to the SOO car.
Whoah! The L&D job has returned, and it has spotted not only these lumber cars but also this MofW flatcar on the house track. It wasn’t until I was scanning around the pictures much later that I recognized something familiar about this scene.
That’s the same car that I photographed coming through here in the middle of an eastbound train on February 26, and I wonder if that is the same bridge member loaded onto it.
This view is nothing to anyone but me.
That’s personal.
Speaking of personal, very abruptly, some brown bears started screaming my name and making immediate demands. So, I had to scurry over to Birdies.
I made it with not much time to spare.
Yes, I bought something.
I bought a bottle of Hawaiian Punch; I was so thirsty from all of the salty food from lunch.
Then, I returned to the sacred place.
Almost 45 minutes later, after I had been pacing around on Old Schriever Highway as I awaited the UP local train, there was a headlight and some horns. Is this the UP New Iberia Turn on which I have been waiting?
No.
This is the first time that I do the northside Horseshoe shot since my eviction from these parts and perhaps my first time doing this shot since late 2014.
Yeah, it looks overgrown and worse than ever. I shalln’t return.
Appetizers Done, Time For The Main Course
Almost 30 minutes later, I was in position for the New Iberia Turn, baby!
I am in position for my most classic of classic telephoto shots, because this was one of the first telephoto shots that I regularly did once I got a telephoto lens.
Let’s look back at the convenience store that saved me this afternoon.
Here is our train!
Also, it has a pretty cool locomotive leading it!
Now we’re talkin’!
I love the geometry of the tracks at the left, with the curve for the switch in the lower left corner and the tree branches hanging overhead. Trees are good.
Lawd Jeezhus, look at all of those flatcars! That’s for the Port Of Iberia to take some pipeline pipe out of the place.
You can see the wooden wedges for the pipe.
Long strings of flatcars in a train make the parts of the train that aren’t flatcars look weird in a good way.
What’s with the auto racks on this train?
That plate steel on the bulkhead flatcar is for either O’Neal Steel in Breaux Bridge or Twin Brothers shipyard at the Port Of West Saint Mary.
My rough estimate of the number of those long pipe flatcars in this train is 35.
Chase Is On Now!
This is like old times! This makes me feel young!
Or maybe it makes me feel old. 🤔😬😢
I passed the train at Gibson and then exited US Highway 90 at Boeuf for the shot, thinking that I’d be popping it off within a minute after arrive on the scene.
That’s not what happened, though.
The train stopped because the Boeuf bridge is not lined for railroad traffic, or so I thought that that was the reason.
The above image was made 24 minutes after and about 17.5 railroad miles west of the last image.
Yes, there is a hopper car parked past the derail at North Boeuf. I wonder why.
I remember when I first started exploring this area nearly 20 years ago; damn, I feel old.
Right before I took the next picture, I began to think that my prior assumptions about the reasons for the train’s delay were unwarranted and wrong.
The train was stopped to do work in the Ursa track.
This dude was getting back to his truck from fishing.
Apparently, the purpose of the stop was to set out cars at Ursa I guess for the industries at North Boeuf, I guess for the train to work on its way back eastward tomorrow.
The train then stopped for a while on the main line. I wonder if it if it was to let the conductor walk back up to the cab.
Train On The Move Again, Chase To Resume After I Shoot’em Here
So, now, finally, 47 minutes after our first shot here at Boeuf and 71 minutes after our last shot at Schriever, 17.5 railroad miles to the east, we have our Boeuf crossing shot.
It’s not as good as I had hoped, but, oh, well. This just isn’t a great shot, because you have to get so close to the track to be able to see much of the train, meaning that you don’t actually see much of the train even if you see much of its length.
That’s okay, I guess. I am glad that I did it, because I think that it’s been nearly 10 years since I did this shot, during my summer in Morgan City in 2012.
Oh, wait, what is that shirt the engineer is wearing? Let’s have a closer look.
Bruh! What? D J Rhett, you Trumpy snake, do you see that? You got a locomotive engineer on one of the coolest trains on this line – that ain’t saying much – wearing one of your shirts. I hope that you are proud, you sellout.
Let’s get some shots of the train.
Yeah, these are better views of these flatcars than those that I was able to capture in Schriever.
Hey, again, look at the view of those boxcars!
Oh, look at that lonely boxcar at the end of the long string of flatcars!
It was badly graffitied.
Didn’t I Say That This Was Like Old Times?
Actually, this next shot is something that I had done only maybe once or twice prior to today, but I have spent plenty of time in the location of and, especially, the vicinity of this shot over the last nearly 20 years, especially in 2012.
We’re at 5th Street in Morgan City. There seems to be some maintenance-of-way equipment on the runaround track; at one time, there was a two-track yard here, in addition to the runaround track and the mainline.
I like the lean-into-the-curve aspect of this image.
I counted 52 cars on this train here, though counting those flat cars was difficult.
At 18:13, very tired, very hungry, and very filthy with sweat, I went up the up ramp of the Highway 182 bridge by M D Shannon Elementary School.
Another Classic
I think that I mentioned something about today being like old times.
It was in oh-so-many ways, and, 26 minutes after the last picture, I made the next picture at one of my classic views that I started doing 16 years ago, the overhead shot at the Bayou Sale siding.
This is one of the coolest images that I have made at this cool spot, and that’s saying something, but it’s because of the great old-school locomotives combined with those weird visual effects of a train with at least one long string of empty flatcars that I have been discussing.
I had decided to park my automobile just off on the embankment before the start of the span and walk up the span in order to get the shot, rather than park right at the part of the span on the span where I take the shot like I’ve done before. This decision, an effort to be safe (that comes at the cost of safety in other ways) almost cost me. I had to run into position for the shot, and in the process of which I learned that I can still run fairly well. I got the above images with no time to spare.
I ought to run more often, like when I’m out for a walk in the morning, because, as I discovered a few weeks ago when I got caught in the rain, I can run, and that should help with efforts to lose weight.
So, this was good. Today is reminding me of 2 October 2019 when I made a chase similar to this one, even though that one started in Avondale, with me having done some shots in New Orleans earlier that morning, and the weather was much better then! It’s so hot, and I smell terrible right now.
So, I think that today is the first time that I do that Bayou Sale Highway 90 shot since that day in early October 2019. I would have to check, but I’m pretty sure that that’s the last time that I did that shot. Today’s train was worth doing that shot.
As I crossed the Cypremort Branch, I got the idea that I should go down it to check to see if the Cypremort Branch train is out on the line, but I elected against it, primarily because the skies were getting so hazy.
Grand Finale? No, A Grand SNAFU
I caught up to the train again at the Charenton Canal. My plan was to shoot it at Moresi Road in Jeanerette, and, while I wanted to shoot the train one more time in New Iberia after that, I feared that, with the sun not much above the horizon, Jeanerette is where I would make my final stand.
The problem is that I missed the exit for Morrissey Road, because there is not an exit “for” Moresi Road. So, I turned around and came and tried to find it and then missed it again, accidentally turning on Albania Road.
It was too late. I got a long broadside shot out at Albania Road, and that will be my last shot of this train.
I am done with it. It’s too hazy, and it’s too late. I swung by the Port Of Iberia to see if anything was moving over there.
Nothing was moving there.
Something was parked there, though.
That’s how this ends.
I hope that you liked this gigantic set of pictures. It was like old times.
That’s all.
Jim
