June 2014 Sampler

Greetings, and welcome to the June 2014 Sampler essay, which will showcase examples of a return to being active in taking pictures after the lull from the previous month as exhibited in the “May 2014 Sampler” essay.  All of the 12 images in this essay were made in southeastern Louisiana, and all but two of them were made in the metropolitan New Orleans area.

Wednesday, The 4^th

We start on the fourth day of the month along People’s Avenue with a different shot from my repertoire, as Norfolk Southern Railway train 172 passes Terminal Junction northbound.

I don’t recall ever having done that shot either before this instance or after it.

Later that evening, I managed to grab a shot of Amtrak’s inbound Crescent passing L&N Junction.

Thursday, The 5^th

Here are NOGC 3876, NOGC 3875, and plenty of tank cars parked at Gouldsboro Yard.

This is a special place for me, but it could be so much more special if it had better cars.

Monday, The 9^th

I made a big mistake by not shooting this shot in RAW mode, because, with shooting toward the sun light this with a backlit subject, the BNSF-to-CSX train in New Orleans, it surely needed it.

This is another new shot, and it may have been the only time that I did this East City Junction shot looking west from the northern side of the NS Back Belt mainline.

Tuesday, The 10^th

I am in Gretna, and Monica Hernandez of WWL-TV is doing some reporting on the New Orleans & Gulf Coast Railway.

There was concern at the time about the possibility of a coal export terminal being built downriver from here and the “uncovered” coal that would be moving through Gretna by rail as a result.

Wednesday, The 11^th

Here is a view of a Union Pacific Railroad train climbing the Huey P. Long Bridge southbound while I descend it northbound; if we are following railroad and highway directions, that would be a westbound train and an eastbound motorist, respectively.

Later that afternoon, I photographed some NOGC action on 4^th Street in Gretna.

Monday, The 16^th

On this day, I got shot of the #1 in Paradís.  Later, I got a shot of NOGC doing some switching on Brooklyn Avenue in Algiers, as you can see here.

Then, later, on Franklin Avenue in New Orleans, I caught NS 5833 working auto racks on the Freight Lead.

Wednesday, The 18^th

This is just Algiers.

This is new for me.  I wish that I could know people.

Monday, The 23^rd

Here is a railroad traffic jam on the Huey P. Long Bridge.

You can barely see the stopped eastbound train in the picture, because the part of it between the two stopped westbound trains is nothing but flatcars.  This is a situation in which neither Union Pacific nor BNSF can neither send any trains up the bridge or take any westbound trains off of either the NS Back Belt or the New Orleans Public Belt Railroad.

Later on, I shot UP 360 working a long cut of cars at Avondale.

Wednesday, The 25^th

Here is an overexposed view of the westbound Sunset Limited at Kraemer Road.

I was able to rescue that one due to my newfound skills at RAW processing.

Thursday, The 26^th

Here are some parked cars on the NOGC at Klein Street in Westwego.

I like the pipe loads.

Later, I photographed a southbound UP train on the Avondale Sub at Willswood.

Saturday, The 28^th

On this day, I chased a westbound BNSF Railway manifest train with a Warbonnet leader from Schriever and photographed it at Gibson.  It would meet an eastbound BNSF Railway military train at Berwick.

I photographed the military train from Morgan City thus.

I then photographed the train again at Schriever.

Monday, The 30^th

It’s back to class on this day, and here is some big southbound UP train parked at Louisiana Avenue in Westwego.

I think that trains were stored here when there was too much congestion on the gateway.

Later that afternoon, I photographed the MAVBT at Avondale Yard.

That was all for this memorable month.  The next month will have similar content but just less of it.

Jim