NO&M Katrina Repair Continues

A tie train passed by my house this afternoon. The tie and ballast crews for this section are getting closer. Assuming repair of the Bay St. Louis bridge meets its schedule of February 1, these crews need to hustle.

mmi16, can you fill us with progress on the NO&M????

(I apologize for the lousy shots, but I had to rush, and it's hard to find good angles with all the debris.)


Referring to an earlier topic...2227 is a GP-30 SLUG!!!!!




I think 6413 is a GP-40 (something or other), but you guys who know these things will have to help me here.




This is the lead tie gon with 6413.




And it was a L-O-N-G train....the backhoe for unloading is in the third gon from the rear. Also note that there's no FRED, just a red flag.



[ January 02, 2006, 04:00 PM: Message edited by: Hytec ]

 

A early March resumption of service is what is still being predicted. It can't come soon enough.

 

Amen, my friend. I miss the trains!!!!

 

They were staging the new ties past the house today...fascinating!

I don't think you would find this "Locomotive" in either of EMD's or GE's catalogs...




The truck from a different angle.




The truck only has a seven car train, what a Woose!




Now the unloader, grabber, picker, or whatever it's called....




The unloader travels in the empty gon at the end, then climbs the ramps and crawls along the top of the ties to the front for unloading.




And so with a green board, it travels into the sunset........

 

Nice shots! The slug set is a GP30/GP40-2. (Caught a set in town on Sunday)

Interesting tie train too!

Harold

 

Yeh Ken, a CSX press release has said Katrina damage is costing them approximately $250M, including lost revenues. I figure that even if CSX decides to abandon the NO&M sub, it won't occur for at least five years when you consider all the STB hearings and bureaucratic delays.

Thanks Harold. The train was moving slow enough that I was able to get my arthritic body into some good locations. I have no clue where the Slug pair is home based, but I'm sure no closer than B'ham or Atlanta. Obviously not New Orleans since the Bay St. Louis bridge is still a month away from opening.

I'll keep the camera ready for when the tie, ballast, and alignment crew(s) come through. Maybe mmi16 will come by and give a wave....?

 

Following is excerpted from a letter that was sent to Transportation employees on the NO&M.

So it looks like some resumption of services will begin in the vicinity of Feb. 1. Experiences with the Double Tracking project on the Willard to Chicago line prior to the Conrail assumption would indicate that after the track is in place, it will take another 1 to 2 months of limited operations and intensive applications of surfacing efforts by roadway personnel to get the the track structure up to normal speeds and traffic capability.

 

Thanks mmi16, that's great news for all the affected employees, the customers, and all other persons who have cheered All Y'All along the way!!!

 

Today (Saturday) a ballast train came through dropping ballast alongside the track for later spreading and tamping once the ties have been replaced.


The train was led by a GP40-2 (#6918) and its Slug (#2318). I don't know EMD Geeps that well, but the Slug may have started life as a GP35 or 38? (Sorry about the solar glare.)




They had a fair sized consist of which only about a quarter is shown here.




Two guys were on the ground about mid-train controlling the ballast flow. The one with the radio(?) controller had already gone to the other side of the cars before I had a chance to get a shot. BTW, the train was stopped at this moment.




On the move again. Apparently only one pair of hopper doors (one door each side of one car) are opened at a time while the ballast is being distributed.




I imagine that it will get kinda noisy and dusty around here sometime in the next week or so....