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New Orleans & Gulf Coast |
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Belle Chasse, LA |
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Sadly I have to announce the the New Orleans & Gulf Coast (NO&GC) railroad's Big Easy steam train is no more. Operations have been terminated due to lack of ridership. Enjoy the images I have posted and for enlargements just return to the home page and checkout the Pricelist for instructions. |
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Preparing to head south, the New Orleans and Gulf Coast steam engine X1744 blows down before departure. On weekends the trains operated from Belle Chasse, LA and headed north to Gretna, LA then heads back south. Round trip takes approximately 2 hours. |
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New Orleans & Gulf Coast X1744 is an x-Southern Pacific 2-6-0. Engine X1744 is a 85-ton M-6 built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1901. |
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Due to the lack of a "Y" or turntable on the system, the train is operated in a push/pull configuration. The two bi-level cars were on loan until the railroads regular coaches arrived on the property. Their regular coaches were derailed and damaged in route to New Orleans. The train is seen here at Jesuit Bend, LA. |
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One leg of the trip had the steam engine pulling the train, while the other half of the trip had the diesel doing the honors as seen here in Gretna, LA. |
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Nearing the end of the southbound journey, engine X1744 passes one of the several orange stands along the track. This one is in Plaquemines Parish, south of Belle Chasse, Louisiana. |
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The former NOLR 2180 is headed south at Jesuit Bend, Louisiana with several grain cars for the elevator at Myrtle Grove and a couple of tank cars for the Tosco Refinery. "Barnie" may be on its last days in the purple paint so you better get out there and get some shots of probably one of the only purple engines still around. The only other I can think of was Boston MTA. |
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NOGC 2180, coupled to an Idaho Northern engine pulls a large grain train as it approaches the crossing at the Industrial Canal in Belle Chasse, LA. The bridge over the canal is already down, so the train rolls past the stop sign, headed for the grain elevator at Myrtle Grove. |
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A surprise on the rear of the grain train is UP 5560 and a tank car. Now is the Lower Coast using distributed power on their trains, helpers? Probably not. I believe they were bringing an engine south and because of the weight it was placed on the rear of the train and no engineer on the UP engine. The train is approaching the Intercoastal Canal Bridge at Belle Chasse, LA. |
