March 2014 Sampler

Greetings, and welcome to the March 2014 Sampler essay.  All of the images shown here were made in southeastern Louisiana, either in the metropolitan New Orleans area or in the Houma-Thibodaux area.

For a monthly sampler essay, this one will be big, at 18 images, meaning that there were at least 18 days in the month of March 2014 in which I made images with my SLR camera.

Previously, in February 2014, I had badly injured my lower spine in the move back home and had to have emergency surgery right as I had just started going back to school.

So, in March of 2014, I was still convalescing, and I read plenty of books while sitting by the track in my truck.  I read more books in 2014 than at any year in my life prior to 2014 or in the decade that followed.  For many of the images seen here, particularly the ones made in or near Schriever, I was reading a book by the track.

Here we go with the images.

Saturday, The 1^st

This was a memorable and emotional day.  I said goodbye to a place that was important in my life since my birth and, in the process, I attended a Carnival parade.

After that event, I went by the track and found a westbound train at Chacahoula.

How about that, a Heritage 1 leader with a number “1000”?  I like.

Thursday, The 6^th

Here is a new residential land subdivision in Houma.

I think that I was there to pick up scanned slides from Peterson’s studio.

Saturday, The 8^th

It’s a Saturday afternoon, and I am just chillin’ at Schriever.

That gondola car is unusual; it may have been a bad-ordered car from a mainline train.

Sunday, The 9^th

We went to Lakefront Airport, where I saw a B-24 bomber aircraft.

We then went to the West Bank where I photographed the new New Orleans & Gulf Coast Railway yard being constructed.

Monday, The 10^th

On this day, after class, I went to New Orleans Public Belt Railroad’s France Yard, where I found and photographed the CSX transfer train, and, then, I went to Avondale and shot this parked BNSF Railway train.

Okay, that’s mildly interesting.

Wednesday, The 12^th

On this day, after class, I went back to NOPB France Yard or, more specifically, where the NOPB meets the CSX double mainline north of France Yard, and I saw this.

That’s a CSX yard job extending over the Inner-Harbor Navigational Canal and out of the western end of CSX’s Gentilly Yard.  After that, I caught a loaded Norfolk Southern Railway grain train passing the LSU Dental School on its way westward, and I wrote a lame poem about it.

Thursday, The 13^th

On this day, NS 7514 leads a loaded Norfolk Southern Railway ADM grain train past Elysian Fields on the NS Back Belt in New Orleans.

I guess that this was mid-term-exam week.

Friday, The 14^th

Now, this is interesting!

Here I am at Schriever, and the Louisiana & Delta Railroad is moving three loaded lumber cars at once, to be spotted on what remains of the Houma Branch behind the depot.

Wednesday, The 19^th

Here I am at Raceland by the post office, and I think that this is the first time that I photographed – and, probably, the first time that I saw – one of these hopper cars here, as this service had just begun.

This is some kind of potash or salt or whatever being offloaded and, supposedly, being taken to Port Fourchon.

Late that afternoon, I photographed the Union Pacific Railroad local train for the Lafayette Subdivision returning to Avondale at Live Oak.

Thursday, The 20^th

Here is a view of a BNSF Railway officer-special train moving eastbound at Melodia Plantation.

Now, if that were an actual passenger train, it would be quite cool!

Saturday, The 22^nd

On this day, I photographed UP train IAVLB westbound at Chacahoula.  Later, I made this image of a lumber car at Schriever.

The British Columbia Railway was very interesting.

Sunday, The 23^rd

Here is something.

I have no memory of what it is, where it was, and why I made the image.

Monday, The 24^th

The tail end of UP train ZLAJX enters CSX Gentilly Yard.

That’s UP-to-CSX intermodal traffic coming from Los Angeles and-or San Antonio and going to Atlanta and-or Jacksonville.

Tuesday, The 25^th

Following the pattern, I am back at Schriever on this day, seeing one of these westbound empty BNSF Railway crude oil trains.

I don’t like those things.

Wednesday, The 26^th

Once again, it’s a Wednesday afternoon, and it’s after class; so, I am by the track.

That’s some switching happening on the CSX west of Gentilly Yard, as seen from Louisa Street.

Thursday, The 27^th

The pattern continues, with me back at Schriever on a Thursday.

A westbound BNSF Railway train on the siding meets BNSF Railway train M-BNTNWO, with James LeDay as conductor, eastbound at Schriever.

Saturday, The 29^th

I think that I was reading my college Louisiana history textbook on this day while I was sitting by the track.

That is UP train ZATLC westbound at Brule Guillot Road in Chacahoula.

Monday, The 31^st

On this last day of the month, before class, I photographed two trains on the NS Back Belt in New Orleans.

First, I shot UP train QLIWX-31 eastbound passing under Wisner Boulevard overpass.

Next, I went a little way west and found this.

That is CSX job Y305 with the transfer run from the Canadian National Railway seen at East City Junction.

So ends the sample of images from the month of March 2014.

Jim