| This view was facing west from the Deckbar Avenue overpass in suburban New Orleans, just west of SOUTHPORT JUNCTION. The two tracks on the extreme left belonged to the New Orleans Public Belt, and were built in the early 1930's as a part of the HUEY P. LONG BRIDGE project. The Missouri Pacific train in the distance was waiting to get through EAST BRIDGE JUNCTION and on to the Bridge. The single track on the left belonged to the Illinois Central Gulf. A track was first built on this alignment around 1880 by the New Orleans & Mississippi Valley, a predecessor of the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley, and for many years this had been used by the IC as its inbound main line into New Orleans. It has been inentified as the A2 track. Next was the ICG LONG CROSSOVER, used by trains moving to and from the ICG's line along the Mississippi River in New Orleans. And finally, the track on the left was the ICG's main line out of New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal. A track was first built on this right-of-way by the New Orleans, Jackson & Great Northern around 1853. The switch on the main line across from the LONG CROSSOVER served a 2-track yard associated with the warehouse on the right. Between 1954 and 1969 the inbound and outbound tracks were used by IC, MP, SP and T&P passenger trains, but in 1969 the few trains began using the former outbound track in both directions. |