NOPB-New Orleans Public Belt 1990s Box Cars

During the per diem days of the 1970s and early 1980s, the New Orleans Public Belt (NOPB) had a fleet of 50' sliding-door and plug-door box cars in an eye-catching peach scheme with the classic belt logo.  Even faded, it was still an attractive scheme.

NOPB #4316 50' FMC SDR box car on CSX at Arts and Agriculture Streets NOLA 09-09-1995

By the mid-1990s most of the NOPB peaches had left the roster, some repainted and others receiving only new reporting marks. The FMC-built cars kept the peach color much better than the PS-built cars which tended to turn yellow with time and some of which looked as much orange as peach.

TASD #79001 X-NOPB FMC 50' SDR box car at Elaine Avenue in CSX Gentilly Yard NOLA 04-02-1996

HS #5301 X- NOPB 50' PS SDR box car on CSX at Elaine Avenue NOLA 12-23-1995

HS #5322 X- NOPB 50' PS SDR box car on CSX at Elaine Avenue NOLA 12-23-1995

QGRY #77029 50' FMC XP Plug Box Car [Possibly X-NOPB] on NS in Bellevue, OH 08-2005

The Pacific Northwest region provided many of the cars the NOPB picked up.

NOPB #6427 X-SCNT FMC 52' DBL-SDR box car on CSX siding south of Almonaster Avenue below Jourdan Road flyover New Orleans LA 04-1995

NOPB #6401 X-McCloud FMC DBL-SDR box car in the CSX Gentilly Yard at Elaine Ave 11-12-1995

NOPB #6424 X-McCloud FMC 52' XP DBL-DR Box Car on NS North through Oliver Junction NOLA 05-18-1996

NOPB #6428 X-McCloud FMC 52' XP DBL-DR Box Car on NS North through Oliver Junction NOLA 05-18-1996

NOPB #6448 X-McCloud FMC 52' XP DBL-DR Box Car on NS North through Oliver Junction NOLA 05-18-1996

X-RBOX cars also made an appearance on the NOPB box roster.

NOPB #5005 X-RBOX 50' FMC SDR box car at Jourdan Road in CSX Gentilly Yard NOLA 04-02-1996

NOPB #5010 X-RBOX 50' Berwick SDR box car CSX Gentilly Yard 01-14-1996

The NOPB then picked up a number of X-Southern 50' sliding-door, exterior-post box cars.

NOPB #7025 X-SOU PS 50' SDR  box car south on NS through Oliver Junction  NOLA Summer 2000

NOPB #7031 X-SOU PS 50' SDR  box car south on NS through Oliver Junction  NOLA Summer 2000

NOPB #7090 X-SOU PS 50' SDR  box car south on NS through Oliver Junction  NOLA Summer 2000



NOPB #7056 50' Exterior-Post Box Car X-SOU NS Oliver Junction New Orleans 04-09-1998

NS-SP Stack Train Motive Power April 1995

The Norfolk Southern and Southern Pacific (later with Union Pacific) ran an APL stack train through New Orleans to be handed off to the SP at the joint SP-UP Avondale Yard on the west bank past the Huey P. Long Bridge. The west- and east-bound iterations of this train typically ran through Oliver Junction past Oliver Yard without stopping. 

See the SP APL schedule below courtesy of http://www.carrtracks.com/sptrl.htm

LBAVT began as the VAAVT and handled APL containers for Houston and to New Orleans for Southern Rwy train 222 to Atlanta. The trains increased in days of operation and by 1991 were operating from Long Beach Tuesday through Sunday. The AXAVT became the LBAVT in late 1991. LBAVT handled double stack and TOFC for New Orleans and connection with Norfolk Southern.

VAAVT	Valla	200A	Avondale Yard	830A	3	85
AXAVT1	Long Beach	Wed 1100A	Avondale	Sat 110P		86
AXAVT2	Long Beach	Sat 500A	Avondale	Tue 410A		86
AXAVT2	Long Beach	Sun 500A	Avondale	Tue 1159P		87
AXAVT5	Long Beach	Wed 500A	Avondale	Fri 1159P		87
AXAVT7	Long Beach	Fri 500A	Avondale	Sun 1159P		87
AXAVT	Long Beach	exMon 600A	Avondale	exWed 220A		91
LBAVT	Long Beach	TuWe 700A	Avondale	ThFr 320A		93
LBAVT	Long Beach	Sat 1000P	Avondale	Tue 320P		93
LBAVT	Long Beach	ThFrSa 100A	Avondale	SaSuMo 1020P		93
LBAVT1	Long Beach	ThFrSa 100A	Shrewsbury	SuMoTu 240A		94
LBAVT2	Long Beach	TuWe 700A	Shrewsbury	FrSa 640A		94
LBAVT3	Long Beach	Sun 1000P	Shrewsbury	Wed 640P		94
LBAVT4	Long Beach	TuWe 1000A	Shrewsbury	FrSa 640A		94

See the NS APL schedule below courtesy of http://www.trainnet.org/Libraries/Lib002/NORSTS001.TXT

APL Double-Stacks (when in seperate trains)
New#   Old#   Origin           Destination

296    722    New Orleans      Atlanta
297    719    Atlanta          New Orleans

On occasion the westbound train would stop with the tail of the train just north of Oliver Junction. An NS employee would then cut the train at a designated point. The truncated train would then proceed west to Avondale. A switcher (usually a GP38 of one sort or another) would come out from Oliver Yard and bring the intermodal cars into the yard for local business.

Sometimes the eastbound train would stop with the motive power just north of Oliver Junction. The power would then be cut off and run light into Oliver Yard to pick up additional cars to be added to the head end of the train. After re-connecting the train and bringing up the air, the train would then proceed east/north across Lake Ponchartrain and on to Atlanta.

One day I caught the power being cut off of what I presume to be #722 and brought down into Oliver Yard to pick up more APL intermodal traffic to be added for the run to Atlanta. The consist that day was SSW B40-8 #8076, WC SD45 #6554, SSW SD45T-2 #9393, and SD SD45R #7502. Below are photos of the power that day. 

SP #7502 SD45R drifts downgrade into Oliver Yard after cutting off a northbound SP-NS APL stack train New Orleans LA 04-1995

SSW #9393 SD45T-2 drifts downgrade into Oliver Yard after cutting off a northbound SP-NS APL stack train New Orleans LA 04-1995

WC #6554 SD45 drifts downgrade into Oliver Yard after cutting off a northbound SP-NS APL stack train New Orleans LA 04-1995

SP #8076 B40-8 backs a light power move south across Florida Avenue and into NS Oliver Yard after cutting off an NS-SP APL stack train New Orleans LA 04-1995

Columbus & Greenville Box Cars-Variations on a Theme

This string of CAGY box cars was all together in one train in CSX's Gentilly Yard. It reflects the cobbled-togther fleet of box cars that that Columbus & Greenville employed in the 1990s when it still stretched between its namesake cities.

CAGY #527 X-NS nee-SOU Class B-16 50' PS SDR Box Car at Jourdan Road in CSX Gentilly Yard NOLA 08-1996

 CAGY #19119 50' FMC SDR Box Car at Jourdan Road in CSX Gentilly Yard NOLA 08-1996

CAGY #21160 50' FMC SDR Box Car at Jourdan Road in CSX Gentilly Yard NOLA 08-1996

CAGY #8078 X-Valdosta Southern 50' FMC  SDR Box Car at Jourdan Road in CSX Gentilly Yard NOLA 08-1996

CAGY #821 X-NRUC 50' Berwick SDR Box Car at Jourdan Road in CSX Gentilly Yard NOLA 08-1996

Unit Train of BN Trinity 4750cf PS2-CS New Orleans 03-29-1995

On March 29, 1995, CSX handled a solid train of brand-new BN Trinity 4750cf PS2-CD 3-bay covered hoppers. They departed CSX Gentilly Yard early on that Wednesday morning westbound to either SP or UP. The UP-SP and BN-ATSF mergers were a year and a half away, so these were pure BN cars---until the BNSF holding company was formed six months later.

It was quite a sight given that BN routed much of its traffic to/from the Southeast through the Memphis-Birmingham X-Frisco gateway until the BNSF merger. After the merger, BNSF was given the former SP Texas-to-New Orleans route and the SP side of the Avondale yard on the west bank of the Mississippi River. In the first few months after the merger, BNSF handed its CSX transfer traffic to the NOPB as well as running trains to CSX on the Belt.

BN #471846 moves west from CSX Gentilly Yard along Almonaster Avenue with a solid train of new-built BN 4750cf PS2-CDs NOLA 03-29-1995

BN #471814 COTS Stencil detail west from CSX Gentilly Yard along Almonaster Avenue with a solid train of new-built BN 4750cf PS2-CDs NOLA 03-29-1995

BN #471814 moves west from CSX Gentilly Yard along Almonaster Avenue with a solid train of new-built BN 4750cf PS2-CDs NOLA 03-29-1995

BN #471815 moves west from CSX Gentilly Yard along Almonaster Avenue with a solid train of new-built BN 4750cf PS2-CDs NOLA 03-29-1995

Rail Whales Part 1 - Giant Tank Cars

My friend MIke Palmieri (formerly of New Orleans) used to host a web site called "Rail Whales" that hosted pics of giant tank cars, depressed-center flat cars, and other huge rail cars. In fact, some of the pics below were photos I shared with him for his site. 

Most of the 6- and 8-axle large-capacity tank cars of the 1960s have either been scrapped or are due for scrapping. I was lucky enough to see a lot of them passing through New Orleans on their way to/from the Louisiana/Texas chemical coast. They were typically filled with really nasty chemicals

DUPX #29648 6-axle tetrahydrofuran tank car at Jourdan Road in CSX Gentilly Yard NOLA 01-2001

DUPX #29702 8-axle ethylene glycol tank car westbound from CSX Gentilly Yard at Jourdan Road NOLA 09-05-1995

DUPX #29706 8-axle Ethylene Glycol tank car westbound in SP train on NS along Florida Avenue NOLA 09-1995




DUPX #29728 Ethylene Glycol 8-axle tank car at Elaine Avenue in CSX Gentilly Yard NOLA 2000

DUPX #29738 westbound ethylene glycol 8-axle tank car crossing Old Gentilly Road east of CSX Gentilly Yard NOLA 04-02-1995

DUPX #29745 Ethylene Glycol 8-Axle Tank Car NOPB France Road Yard 1997

DUPX #29769 Ethylene Glycol 8-Axle Tank Car NOPB France Road Yard 1997

DUPX #12402 Ethylene Glycol tank car at Elaine Avenue in CSX Gentilly Yard NOLA 2 02-04-1996

X-Chessie, X-CSX Cars in Chemical Storage Service-Shreveport Louisiana 2010

I visited Shreveport on business in September of 2010 and stumbled across these X-Chessie and X-CSX cars being used for chemical storage in Bossier City next to the KCS yard. They have all had nozzled placed into their car sides for transloading. These were shot with my Samsung Galaxy phone, so they are not awesome quality, but not bad at all for phone pix.

GWIX #25017 X-CSX PS 2-Bay covered hopper Shreveport La. 09-15-10

GWIX #25018 X-Chessie ACF 2-Bay Centerflow Shreveport La. 09-15-10

GWIX #25022 X-CSX ACF 2-Bay Centerflow Shreveport La. 09-15-10

GWIX #25029 X-Chessie ACF 2-Bay Centerflow Shreveport La. 09-15-10

GWIX #25030 X-Chessie 2-Bay Centerflow Side View Shreveport LA. 09-15-10

GWIX #25030 X-Chessie ACF 2-Bay Centerflow B-End Detail Shreveport La. 09-15-10

GWIX #25030 X-Chessie ACF 2-Bay Centerflow Shreveport La. 09-15-10

Update: 09-22-2012

I took this screenshot using Google Earth to show the facility including cars and scale ramp.

Auto Frame 89' Flat Cars

I only got back into railfanning the last few months I was in Louisville so I didn't get that many photos of auto traffic. However, when I was in Dearborn I lived literally across the street from a GTW yard just outside the Ford River Rouge plant.

One of the more interesting loads I photographed were flat cars in auto/truck frame service. There were long strings of 60' flat cars in this service, but in the years immediately following 9/11 large manufacturing facilities were overzealous about keeping railfans away so I didn't get to shoot any of the 60' cars. I was lucky enough to get several 89' cars in this services. The cars had the frames stack and then strapped in place. Large metal baskets/boxes of smaller related parts traveling with them. This is a car I will have have at least one model of.

FTTX #58371 89' Flat Car with Auto Frame Load CSX Louisville KY Fall 1994

FTTX 900089 89' Flat Car with Frame Load on GTW at River Rouge Plant Melvindale MI Early 2005

FTTX 922089 89' Flat Car Box Rack Detail on GTW at River Rouge Plant Melvindale MI Early 2005

FTTX 922089 89' Flat Car with Frame Load on GTW at River Rouge Plant Melvindale MI Early 2005

FTTX 963391 89' Flat Car Frame Load Detail on GTW at River Rouge Plant Melvindale MI 2 Early 2005 

 FTTX 963391 89' Flat Car Frame Load Detail on GTW at River Rouge Plant Melvindale MI Early 2005

FTTX 96630 in auto frame service Side View on GTW at River Rouge Plant Melvindale MI Summer 2005

FTTX 96630 in auto frame service on GTW at River Rouge Plant Melvindale MI Summer 2005

FTTX 972304 in auto frame service on GTW at River Rouge Plant Melvindale MI Summer 2005