2012 One: Bay St. Louis, Mississippi

The first shot of the new year turned out to be one a long way from my Massachusetts home. I had a chance to take a trip south and while I was there I did a little traveling. Among my non-railroad interests is the weather. While I was visiting New Orleans, I decided to take a look at the Mississippi coastline that was so devastated by Hurricane Katrina almost seven years ago. I was also filled with optimism and hope when I saw how the people have worked hard to bring their cities and towns back. I sat on a bench by the depot for awhile just watching the people coming and going from the shops in town... and of course, waiting for a train.

The old L&N Depot in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi

One of the places that took the full force of Katrina's fury was Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. Bay St. Louis is about 60 miles by car east of New Orleans and is about 20 miles east of where the eye of Katrina came ashore for the last time in August 2005. Located in the heart of the town is a lovely old Louisville and Nashville train station that has a charm of its own and websites tell me was used in the 1966 film TheProperty is Condemned, which starred Robert Redford and Natalie Wood. The station, thankfully, survived Katrina but looking at the amount of new construction in the area quite few other buildings didn't. That said, the town seemed to be thriving when I was there last week and seems to be getting along quite nicely almost seven years after the disaster. 

A long, sandy beach faces out to the Gulf of Mexico and edging out into the mouth of the bay from which the town gets its name is the bridge that carries CSX's mainline along the coast. While I was there I didn't get to see any trains crossing the bridge, but I did run into a SD-50-2 tied up a short distance away from the depot. 

SD-50-2 2478 awaits its next assignment at Bay St. Louis, Mississippi

After I took a few pictures of that I went over to check out the depot itself. It is a handsome, but simple building and now houses the town's visitor's bureau. While I was admiring it, I heard the blast of an oncoming train coming across a grade crossing to the west and thanked my luck. My luck being comprised of having a train come through while I was standing there and the fact that it was a bit cloudy, so when the train did come out of the sun side it wasn't blown out by the bright light. 

SD-50-2s running light through Bay St. Louis, Mississippi.

It was another pair of SD-50-2s -- 2476 and 2485. A woman with a boy came out of the visitor's bureau to watch the train come by too. She told the boy that she loved watching the trains pass. There is just something about a train. I turned, smiled and nodded. The SD units passed the station and then tied up at the head of a string of work and ballast cars that were set out on a siding. I took several photos, including one after they were tied on and another when they were still running light and framed by some palm trees. I just love to get a train and a palm tree in the same shot. 

Tied up on a work train.