High Iron Travel's "Southern Explorer"
Rare Mileage Excursion
May 25-30, 2010

Part 3, New Orleans-Columbus, Miss.

Wed. morning, we are on the back of Crescent #20, ready to leave New Orleans for Meridian. This is old (Cimarron River) vs. new (Viewliner, coincidentallly 62000 "Viewliner" the prototype)

Turning east at East City Jct., by one of NOLA's noted cemeteries, onto NS trackage.

Sailing Lake Pontchartrain

With our PV's, a 15-car Crescent, at Hattiesburg; don't believe Bret Favre came down to the depot to meet us.

Meridian's new replica Union Depot, now an intermodal facility; a few days from now, we'll spend a delightful midday layover here, on the observation deck, one flight up that extends from the head house out toward the tracks.

My first decent photo, and only my third or so sighting, of KCS's "Retro Belle" units, as two came west on an NS-KCS run-thru stacker as we were being interchanged to KCS.

KCS's engine terminal at Artesia, Miss. We are on the old Gulf, Mobile & Ohio. Gulf & Mississippi, to which ICG spun off these GM&O lines in the late 1980s, was headquartered here for operations. Mid- South bought out G&M, and then KCS bought out Mid-South.

A Geep from Rail America's Maryland Midland is hiding under the shed.

The engines are backlit, but of note is the switcher at right, SW1001 1001, KCS's only one, which I think is ex-Corinth & Counce, a short line at Corinth, Miss., the north end of KCS's ex-GM&O lines, that KCS also bought out.

BNSF welcomes us to Columbus, Miss., south end of its ownership on the Amory-Pensacola line. We'd been Extra KCS 7021 North, a bit overpowered with an SD50! This was our only trackside photo op on KCS, but they moved us right along to Artesia; the track east of there was 10-mph, not as good as when we covered in on the 1997 KCS Explorers.

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