Eastern Railroad Discussion > Louisiana Northwest improvements.

Me and a coworker rode from our yard in Hattiesburg, MS to Athens, LA to drop off a 32,000 pound (16 tons) dump truck load of tie plates. Also already there was tons of Good used rail, joint bars, ties, anchors- you name it. Looks like the railroad up from Gibsland to at least Athens (didn’t see any further) was 80/90 pound rail. Does anybody know about a large improvement project coming?

I’d be curious to hear. Thanks!

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I can't say I have anything to add, but I was amazed at all the light rail still on the LNWR mainline when I visited earlier this year.  I hadn't seen rail like that anywhere other than old (and often unused) sidings in years!

Mike Derrick
 

FOR ME, this is a hard road to catch. After stopping by this road for more than thirty years, personally, I have only seen them moving three times! First time involved a wait on the north end for them to depart an overnight at the SSW interchange in Mc Neil and they only had a single car.
JB

Geez, haven't thought about those guys since I was down there shooting F units in the mid 80s. What are they running these days?

Gibsland, LA on June 1. Now owned by Patriot Rail. === === = === JLH

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Well, a GP-15 ain’t chopped liver. I’ll take my interesting power where I can find it. 

3rdswitch Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> FOR ME, this is a hard road to catch. After
> stopping by this road for more than thirty years,
> personally, I have only seen them moving three
> times! First time involved a wait on the north end
> for them to depart an overnight at the SSW
> interchange in Mc Neil and they only had a single
> car.
> JB

JB and march_hare, I was there in February over the course of a few days.  Basically, enough to see an entire week's operation.  The chemical plant at Magnolia, AR is the main driver of the line.  Without it, there would be next to nothing.  Job 1 runs between Gibsland and Magnolia, and Job 2 goes up to the UP at McNeil.  

From what I saw, Job 2 goes to McNeil on M-W-F and handles switching at the chemical plant Tu-Th.  Job 1 basically made one complete roundtrip between Gibsland and Magnolia over the course of the week.  It seems Job 1 power is in Gibsland over the weekend, and it will start there on Monday, slowly making its way up to Magnolia.  Monday night, the train tied down in Homer, and then made it to Magnolia on Tuesday.  Wednesday they either did nothing or just some switching at the plant in Magnolia.  Thursday they ran south from Magnolia to Homer, then into Gibsland on Friday.

Both crews go on duty in Homer and drive to the train.  That said, it looked like a new modular office was being set up in Magnolia when I was there, so the Job 2 crew may be reporting there now.  It did seem kind of odd that Job 2 is consistently starting its day in Magnolia, yet the crew is driving from Homer to do it.  Job 1 makes more sense, as the train can be in any of 3 locations on any given day.

So I hope that helps a bit for any future visits.  Job 1's progression up to Magnolia and back seemed to be in no hurry whatsoever.  It's possible there wasn't much to do the week I was there.  Two roundtrips in a week would certainly be possible from what I saw.  Upgrading the line with heavier rail would certainly facilitate that if the track is taken up to 25 MPH.

Mike Derrick