January 2nd, 2020
We left Lafayette in bad weather hunting more for crawfish than trains, which we found nearby, and set our sights on the streetrunning at Gretna on the New Orleans and Gulf Coast. There was trackwork near the streetrunning and nothing was running over it -- bad luck -- but we did find two working on the line.
Plaquemine, Louisiniana
Plaquemine is along the Mississippi river between Baton Rouge and Gretna along the Union Pacific.
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We followed this UP eastbound from Baton Rouge to Plaquemine, getting ahead of him here and not wanting to slow down for the case when the primary objective was the streetrunning at Gretna.
Gretna, Louisiana
Gretna is across the river from New Orleans and is the site of the New Orleans and Gulf Coast, which makes extensive use of street running.
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The NOGC switches near the Westwego interchange at the west end of Gretna.
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We drove up and down the various sections of street-running in Gretna. Unfortunately the day we were there we missed at least two runs, and the returns would have to wait for some trackwork taking place, so we made do with empty tracks down residential streets.
New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans is famous for many things and needs no introduction. It is also a busy railroad city.
