hnwoc.htm
         
Mike Palmieri's LOUISIANA·RAIL·SITE

"WHERE THE EAST MEETS THE WEST IN THE SOUTH"

A · R I D E · O N · T H E · H-NWOBAR-1-26A
P A G E   T H R E E   --   W E S T   O F   A V O N D A L E
   

MILEPOST 15
BNSF trains finally reach home rails at Live Oak, three miles west of Avondale Yard. Here, the GE's are accelerating up to 55 mph. The UP's former MP line can be seen on the other side of the train. The BNSF and UP run side-by-side for several miles west of Avondale.
   

WEST OF AVONDALE
   

MILEPOST 25
With clear stacks, the GE's roll under Interstate 310 at the west end of Boutte Siding. This is former Southern Pacific track which the BNSF acquired from the UP in December 1996, as a result of the UP-SP merger earlier that year.
   

PASSING UNDER I-310
   

MILEPOST 73
Looking out of the conductor's rear window, we cross Bayou Boeuf on one of the five movable bridges along the BNSF's Lafayette Division. That's a lot of opening bridges for a 191-mile line!
   

CROSSING BAYOU BOEUF
   

MILEPOST 81
Our train has just crossed Berwick Bay on a large lift bridge, passed through a floodgate, and is now stopping so the conductor can line us into Berwick Siding for a meet. That's Morgan City on the far side of the Bay.
   
CROSSING BERWICK BAY
   

MILEPOST 83
We meet today's second — and last — eastbound BNSF merchandise train at the west end of Berwick Siding. Our departure from Cotton Warehouse Yard was delayed slightly waiting for the day's first eastbound train.
   
MEET A BERWICK
   
Our last view of H-NWOBAR-1-26A is at the west end of Berwick Siding. What would have once been an unlikely sight less than two years ago has now become commonplace — the BNSF in the swamps of southern Louisiana!
   
ONE LAST LOOK

FIRST PAGE · PREVIOUS PAGE · HOME PAGE