Jimbaux wonders if life is a highway.
An Appropriate Finale
Hey! So, finally, today, Wednesday 10 July 2024, this job that I have been doing in Morgan City has ended. It’s taken seven work days to get this done, and, today, I got the job done and got several good train pictures in various places.
We shall recap.
The Prequels
On the first day, July 1st, I photographed the Union Pacific Railroad New Iberia Turn in Berwick, in Patterson, and in Franklin.
The next day, July 2nd, I photographed the Louisiana & Delta Railroad’s Schriever Job in Morgan City and in Schriever.
The next day, July 3rd, I photographed the UP New Iberia Turn in New Iberia.
Three days later, on the 6th, I made a trip to Morgan City to do some work, and the trip didn’t involve getting a single picture.
Two days ago, July 8th, I got only one picture of a really neat train that got by me.
Yesterday was quite frustrating. I got plenty of SLR-camera pictures, but none of them were good railroad action pictures. I got jacked by Julie’s programmer, waiting for the eastbound Sunset Limited for an hour at Morgan City only for a freight train to show up, giving up an opportunity to get some decent shots on the Cypremort Branch before dark.
Fortunately, however, today was a much better day, both photographically and work-wise, and it was a fitting way to end this job in Morgan City.
Getting There
I left the house at about 08:19, getting a relatively late start, but that’s no problem, because I didn’t have much work to do today. The Mid-City Marine says that the fact that the eastbound Sunset Limited did not run through here yesterday must be due to the hurricane in Texas. It seems to have terminated in San Antonio. Ah, of course. That means that there is not going to be a westbound Sunset Limited today, either. I didn’t put two and two together.
That is also an argument for shorter-distance intermediate passenger trains. What if, for example, you were going from Schriever to Lake Charles? or Schriever to Lafayette? You would have had no train, even though those areas and the tracks between and in them had no problem with the storm.
The short-lens situation seems to have resolved. I checked the lens this morning, and it’s fine. I brought another one just in case. I found both of the other lenses, the other kit lens and that 15-85mm, but I brought the other kit lens.
I think that the one that I have is going to work out okay. It somehow resolved itself. I took a picture this morning in my bedroom, and it looked fine. Okay, I don’t know how that happened, but I will take it.
Last night, I ate my Taco Bell food, thought about plate steel, and went to sleep. I thought about South Boeuf, because I am obsessive. I wish that I wasn’t like that, but I am. I am so weird!
So, I need to get this job done so that I can be out of there by the time the UP local train comes through. Yeah, I don’t have time to play around too much.
So, I have a bunch of thoughts, a whole bunch of them. Anyway, carbon black, wow.
I hate driving into the sunlight. I don’t really miss driving to and from Morgan City for that job in 2012, but, for the length of the commute, it had the advantage of having the sun at my back in both directions. I liked that.
Morgan City is close to death.
It’s sad that I have not eaten any of the lettuce that I bought and chopped and rinsed on Sunday. Maybe I can do some tonight. That is very unlikely! Maybe I will go to Raising Cane’s tonight to celebrate the end of this job. I don’t know what.
Biden ain’t dropped out.
That guy Stan Plunkett mentioned this morning about the Eunice-to-New-Iberia job on the Midland Branch. It was on the Louisiana Railroad History group on Facebook.
I put air in the front right tire this morning, and the truck seems to be handling better. I don’t have a low-air sign.
The damn visor keeps coming off. I hate this. I want a new automobile.
“Life Is A Highway” by Tom Cochrane was playing on 103.3FM in the truck.
At 08:56 CDT, I exited off of Highway 318, eastbound, the same Four Corners exit where I entered Highway 90 last night, 13 hours ago. Also, just like with the Franklin exit yesterday, this may be my first time taking this exit from the eastbound direction.
As I came up onto the track, I was really missing having a scanner and thinking that this wouldn’t be a bad shot right here, especially with a drone.
It would be nice if the Sorrell sugar mill had rail service taking bagasse out of here. That would be nice.
At around this time, I heard a piece on NPR about a First Presbyterian Church in Georgia in or near Atlanta that allows itself to be a post-office address for homeless people and how that is making it a target for voter-disenfranchisement efforts.
I passed by West Saint Mary High School, home of the Wolfpack. It looks like a prison! So do most schools.
Baldwin
Before Landing On What I Came There To See
There is a neat little A-frame structure right along the old highway on the western edge of Baldwin.
Anway, I saw, along with the LDRR 1712, some plate-steel loads at the beginning of the Cypremort Branch!
The Most Excitement In Baldwin In Years
Since the loaded bulkhead flatcars in question were parked on the branch mainline, and since it was morning, I was able to get some decently-lit pictures of them!
This is the most exciting thing that has happened in Baldwin, or, at least, on that track, in ages!
There is usually nothing at all but carbon-black hopper cars and an occasional black tank car going to one of the carbon-black plants here; so, this is some welcome variety!
I would love to see a train of just these cars, loaded as they are, on the branch.
Yeah, like Perry said, these are some thick plates, well, not that thick.
There were no civilian automobiles at the office, indicating that the crews had yet to go on duty.
Franklin and Garden City
With the eastbound onramp onto Highway 90 still being closed, I had to go through Franklin to get back onto 90 at the Highway 3211 interchange, which I did at 09:22. Yesterday, I exited eastbound probably for the first time in my life at this interchange, and this may be the first time in my life that I get onto Highway 90 eastbound from this interchange.
Okay, there is nothing in the siding at Bayou Sale.
There is just nothing here. This is just the way it is now, with this horrible asset-stripping of the railroad industry, with UP moving all of its through trains off of this line and BNSF running almost nothing but carload trains through here.
Morgan City!
New Views In A Familiar Place
I don’t think that I have ever before photographed from Railroad Avenue the Port Of Morgan City track and the loop track being worked like this.
If I did so before, it wasn’t from the eastern side of the action like these shots are.
This has the advantage of being different.
This is Louisiana & Delta Railroad train SC1 with LDRR 1717 as power.
Yeah, this is a very different view than any that I have done here before.
I then went to the paint store, figuring that I had time to do that and still get to the port to get some shots of the action here.
Pre-Work Work
So, I went to the paint store, and there were plenty of people in the line there. The dude talking to me in line had a “Jeff Landry for Governor” hat on. That ain’t good.
Post Pre-Work-Work Foam, More New Views
My hunch that I would have time to go to the paint store and still get to the port in time to get some action shots turned out to be correct!
Here is the port area for rail.
This next view is a very new view, and I like it!
I have never done that view with a locomotive and cars like that, and it may have been made possible only during the time that I have been taking pictures, because I recall trees obstructing the view of the tracks back there years ago.
The time was about 10:30. There were a bunch of hopper cars here. I meant to count them. There is a healthy amount of volume, but it appears to be one product and one customer. Now, maybe it always has been so even when it was boxcars mixed in with the hopper cars. I don’t know.
I surmised that the job was about to leave town to return to Schriever.
A Morning Overpass Shot
Because I surmised that, I went to the Greenwood Bridge, which was a bit of a gamble.
I had a long wait up there, making me wonder if I had been had.
If I had a working radio scanner, I might know.
So, it appears that this EMR scrap metal place is closed.
I remember photographing action there, back when it was open, in 2011.
I don’t know when it closed.
It’s a shame that we’re not moving scrap metal by rail out of here, though.
This EMR metals place appears to be closed, even though there appear to be piles of scrap metal here.
Okay, I think that the train is coming.
Meanwhile, the view is interesting, isn’t it?
Here, today at 10:54 CDT, Louisiana & Delta Railroad’s Schriever Job under the power of LDRR 1717 heads east back towards Schriever with 12 hopper cars that it just pulled from the Port Of Morgan City.
In the days of the Southern Pacific railroad, this area was a destination for plenty of carload traffic.
Though not quite what it was in the 1980s and 1990s, Morgan City is very much a town of shipyards and related maritime fabrication facilities, with associated petroleum industries and pipe distributors.
Morgan City was named after Charles Morgan, a steamship magnate who developed the railroad that became the Texas & New Orleans Railroad, an SP subsidiary.
This is the first time that I photograph an eastbound train off of this bridge since November 2019.
Well, that’s it for the morning pictures. Yeah, unless there is some westbound train called out of Raceland, this guy should have a go at it. Oh, it’s noteworthy that this is a Wednesday, and this train is here on a Wednesday, even though it was last Tuesday when I photographed it here. I wonder if the train will continue to Raceland, or if it will just tie down in Schriever.
A Port Diversion
Now, it’s time for me to get to work and finish the work in time to get out and catch the UP New Iberia Turn. I keep thinking about potential railroad customers, as I always do, because that is how I think. That is just what I do!
Yeah, I did the shot off of the overpass, and it went well. So, I am happy about that.
Let me make a quick run by the port and count the number of cars there.
New Industries, Oceaneering, I want to see the railroad deliver stuff for all of these fabrication facilities.
I passed Wyandotte Elementary School, Porkchop’s elementary school. Porkchop Elementary School! Haha, Porkchop talks about getting put out of class here and seeing the train.
Anyway, at the port, there are two hopper cars on the northern side of Youngs Road. There are six cars in the eastern track and 12 cars in the main track, at the port.
Work
I then went to the jobsite and worked for a few hours, completing the job and feeling a big sense of relief about it.
At 14:27, I left the jobsite. I am done. I am so happy to be done with that.
Post-Work Foam
Hey, look, Danny’s Fried Chicken. I forgot about that place.
What am I going to do now? The first thing that I am going to do is look at the bridge, as usual, but I guess that I am going to go to Schriever. That’s what I am thinking, but, then, it’s like, then what? sit there and hang out by the track? do what, exactly, in Schriever? burn air conditioning?
The bridge is in upright position.
Oh, crap! I almost got broadsided there, with this unprotected left turn here onto Everett Street off of Fourth Street.
Food
So, I needed to make a decision about food. My first thought was Wendy’s. Then, I thought, actually, I should go to Burger King here. That is what I started to do. Then, I briefly thought that I could go to Wilson’s Kountry Korner. That’s true, I thought. I could do that.
I couldn’t make a decision here. I will go to Murder King, and the reason is that I think that I am getting beef, and the reason for that is that I am imagining going to Raising Cane’s in New Iberia tonight. Of course, I could go to Raising Cane’s in Thibodaux now. Looking like this? I don’t think so.
I am going find the UP local train. I just am, Sam I am. Actually, I should go to Subway and get a pizza. That might not be a bad idea, but, nah.
I tell you what. Let me go to Subway. That’s a good idea.
Okay, here I was at the traffic light coming out of Burger King, and I was going to Subway. I can’t remember what I ate there, though.
Schriever, Sacred Schriever
Static
In Schriever, FDDM 200275 sat unloaded on the old Houma Branch track.
I sat at the Old Schriever Highway north of the track for almost three hours, with no train, and, then, finally, at 18:00, I saw the headlight.
I had been setting there with the engine running to power the air conditioner for a while, and I then turned the truck off, I am not sure when, just stood outside of the truck with my tablet computer for about 10 minutes until I saw the headlight.
Action
As soon as I saw the headlight, I relocated to North Main Project Road and did not have to wait long for the train to come into view.
Here comes the train!
Oh, Norfolk Southern? Really? I don’t know what to think about that.
That’s a cool shot of not-the-best-looking UP New Iberia Turn, but I guess that the foreign power is welcome in a way, since I don’t get to see foreign here power anymore, now that UP doesn’t run through trains here anymore.
Because it is very conspicuous right there at the crossing, I wondered if anyone I know saw me. I wonder if any of the people who saw me are people who know me. I wonder about that and worry about that.
The chase is on! At 18:12, I got onto Highway 90 westbound in Chacahoula, as I was unable to beat the train to the Chacahoula shot. You can’t do both the shot at Schriever and the Chacahoula shot unless the train has to stop to line a switch or there is a speed limit on the train, which it might have if they were carrying bulkhead flatcars, which they were not today, which suggests to me that that order for Twin Brothers is about done.
So, yes, there are no plate-steel cars. I am unhappy about that, and the lead locomotive is a wide-nosed locomotive, NS 1056. I am not happy about that, though I am happy to see foreign power here, because UP doesn’t run any other trains.
This train has just 12 cars, all hopper cars and tank cars. It’s kind of sad. I wonder if the Wednesday train is light because of something with one of the prior trains from which its cars come takes off on the weekend.
I was also thinking that all of this was such a waste of time; I could have spent this afternoon out on the Cypremort Branch, but now I have not. What do I do now?
Flared At Amelia
I think that what I will do is try that Amelia shot that I haven’t done in ages. What else would I do? I could either do that or do the Greenwood Bridge, but I might not make it there in time, and then what? maybe try to do Berwick?
There is no other good shot. That Amelia shot is kind of like a least-bad shot; so, I will take it, I guess. I am not even sure that I would be able to get to the Greenwood Bridge in time; also, that shot is not that great.
Well, I made it to the Amelia shot just in time, but there was a problem.
Yeah, that’s not good.
Back In Morgan City
From Amelia, you can usually beat a train to the Atchafalaya River, because of the speed restrictions on the track on Tiger Island and because trains often have to stop to wait for the Berwick Bay bridge to be lined for railroad movement.
In the case of our train this afternoon, the train also had to stop to do some work.
That’s right; it set out five cars in Morgan City, which solved a mystery.
I had been wondering, what are those cars? how do they get there?
but, then, the question for me remains, okay, why not, if the Schriever Job does all of the work anyway, why not just set that stuff out in Raceland or Schriever where it already sets out for the SC1, and then SC1 can move it accordingly?
I don’t know. I guess not. Maybe there is some sort of union rule there. I don’t know.
Yeah, we are 80 miles west of Algiers Point here.
Berwick
Well, this is not going to be a good shot.
The bridge span is coming down.
I am here.
The now-seven-car train is here.
Okay, the time is after 19:00, it’s late, I am filthy, I am hungry, and the UP local has seven cars, because it set out five cars in Morgan City.
I think that Raising Cane’s in New Iberia might be in my future, and I am kind of steeling my nerves for the noise in there. Maybe because I am tired, I will be able to take it! haha
Bayou Sale Siding
Had I known that the train would have been this late with this power and this uninteresting of a train, I think that I’d have gone down the Cypremort Branch instead and removed the tape.
Well, I guess that I can still go down the Cypremort Branch, and I am here Garden City as is the train.
I like this!
There we go. This is a good way to end this.
Now what? I have called off the chase.
At 19:38, both the train and I went over the Charenton Canal at the same time, very interesting.
The Cypremort Branch
Okay, I will go down the branch. Let me just verify that there is no locomotive at the yard office in Baldwin, and the civilian automobiles are there. Okay, I am going down the branch.
Here, at around 19:47, are a couple of scenes on Richard Road.
That is a westward view down the branch.
I still have daylight.
Then, there was Vacherie Road. It’s like back home. It’s one of the things that I like about this branch. It’s not as cool as the Lockport Branch, but it reminds me of it in some ways.
Man, I could do some work with a drone out here, a drone and a good-looking train, neither of which I have.
Here I am at the Orion Engineered Carbons plant.
Yeah, these pictures are nothing special.
Next, I saw something that was mildly special: empty bulkhead flatcars on the Port Of West Saint Mary track.
There are four loads of plate steel at Twin Brothers. There are eight loads sitting just outside of Twin Brothers. There are seven empty cars near the beginning of the spur, and there is one loaded car by the beginning of the spur.
Okay, I am getting out of here. It’s late, I am tired, and I am hungry.
Satiation
That is a double entendre.
It was late, and I got my food in New Iberia, to celebrate a job completed and some good foaming.
That’s all for this series. I need a break. I hope that you’ve enjoyed this early-July series of pictures surrounding Morgan City, extending as far eastward as Schriever and as far westward as New Iberia.
Merci.
Jim
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