Eastern Railroad Discussion > Railfanning recommendations in New Orleans?

Hi All,

Well, here I am in New Orleans on a business trip, and asides from Mardi Gras, are there any good railfanning spots with a decent amount of trains here in the metro New Orleans area.. I've managed to find the massive Huey Long bridge and Avondale yards, but is there anything else? How/where are the NS or CSX yards?

Sorry for the neophyte questions, but this is new territory for this westerner..

Thanks for any help!

Best Regards,
Harry

As for the CSX yard, go east. Take I-10 east toward Mississippi/Alabama, when you top what is refered to locally as the Industrial Canal bridge you will see the CSX yard ahead and to the right. As far as access, I can't help you there, I've only seen it as I pass through town. Good luck.

Can't give directions but the best New Orl. location has to be NS's Lake Ponachatrain (sp??) bridge, 5 plus miles long. It is north of the city and any good map should show it.

I second the big bridge. I went across it on the Cresent this summer. It has to be the longest RR bridge in the country. There was people on the train that had their eyes closed the whole way across (the same people that took the train due to fear of flying). I just wish I could have seen the train cross the bridge from the outside. I imagine seeing a freight cross it is impressive.

May want to look at this site (not mine).

http://mainlineseast.railfan.net/nola.html

Few years ago, lived in the area. KCS facilities are on Airline Highway headed toward suburbs of Metairie (pronounced Metry) and Kenner. As mentioned, NS is near Lake Pontchartrain near the Lakefront Airport. New Orleans Public Belt (NOPB) handles interchange traffic between the Class 1's and served the wharves along the river (on the New Orelans side). Might try calling the NOPB and asking if you could take a few pics. All they can do is say no.

If you want to see the NS bridge, actually it is a wooden trestle with concrete fire breaks, that crosses southern end of Lake Pontchartrain, take I-10 East toward Slidell, LA. As you approach Lake Pontchartrain, the Highway 11 bridge which parallels the NS may still be open. When I lived in the area, they were talking about closing the Highway 11 bridge and making a fishing pier out of it. Very narrow. If you want to cross the lake, you can go to Slidell and exit at Gause Boulevard. Turn left onto Gause and follow it to Highway 11. Turn left onto Highway 11 and you will be paralleling the NS tracks and headed back toward the lake.

If you are staying downtown, you can walk across the NOPB tracks and the trolley line at the foot of Canal Street. Also, if you are downtown for breakfast or lunch, try Mother's at the corner of Poydras and Tchoupitoulas. Go early or be prepared to wait. I always preferred the breakfast (sausage, biscuits and gravy).

Enjoy the Mardi Gras parades -- throw me something mister -- and hope you get some good pics.

peddler

Hi All,

Thanks again to everyone (joe6w, peddler, cameraman, and southernva) for their recommendations.. Yesterday, I found the KCS yards, CSX yards, Amtrak Union Station, Amtrak repair/maintenance facilities and a KCS freight led by a KCS SD40-2 in the old white paint, a gray KCS SD50 (709) and a snoot (#680), also in the original white paint. The CSX yard, while visible from I-10 was difficult to get into, but I did manage to land on a lot of power that was waiting to depart, including:
CSX 7776 (dash8-40cw)/hlcx 6071 (sd45 carbody)/up 4733 (sd45 carbody)/wc 6582 sd45/CSX 8450 sd40/csx5958 (ex-CR quality dash8-40B)/emd 6382 (lease paint SD40-2). Next over from this lashup was a set of UP power, with a freshly shopped UP 2105 (an SD60 with air conditioning), coupled with SD40-2 UP3731 and LLPX 4406, which is an ex-UP SD40-2, still in UP colors.. On the other end of the scale, I also managed to find some of the local streetcars here in splendid light as they trundled down St Charles Ave.. Neat stuff.. For the evening, a nice surprise.. a long drag sauntered down the waterfront here with one of the cat-powered MP1500Ds #2003 in Boise Loco demonstrator paint leading the way.. It looked great, but sounded rather muffled..

I'll be working this week now, but I'll try to zoom out to Lake Ponchartrain again to catch the NS later in the day hopefully before I go.. I did manage to do the usual touristy mardi gras things, which are a um.. rather separate adventure.. =)

Thanks again for the recommendations!

Best Regards,
Harry