| One-year-old Cotton Belt GP40-2 7248 -- along with Espee SD40T-2's 8529, 8275 and 8323 -- was stopped on the east approach to the Huey P. Long Bridge. The 7248 had been the lead unit on an eastbound stack train which they had just delivered to Norfolk Southern, and then they returned here running light. After about 15 minutes, an NS crew arrived at the Central Avenue grade crossing with run-through train No. 193. Instead of sending a crew to pick up 193, these four units coupled on to the train -- which had SP B30-7 7764 and SD45R's 7405 and 7402 -- and it went across the river with seven engines.Cotton Belt 7248 was one of the last GP40-2's built. This group consisted of 34 units, SP 7240-7247 and SSW 7248-7273, built in October and November 1984. The only newer GP40-2's were Florida East Coast 432, built in December 1985; and FEC 433 and 434, built in December 1986. The caboose on the right, in the New Orleans Public Belt's East Bridge Yard, was MP 13815. |