| At 6:15 on a midsummer evening, the engineer on Southern Pacific MP15AC 2704 was easing back to pick up his caboose - Cotton Belt 60 - in the New Orleans Public Belt's COTTON WAREHOUSE YARD. The caboose was still coupled to the 19-car transfer run he had just brought over from his railroad's AVONDALE YARD, at the west end of the HUEY P. LONG BRIDGE; and he was now coupling up so he could return home with this 12-car train. The two tracks on the left were the Illinois Central Gulf's north- and southbound main lines; while the structure on the left was the PUBLIC GRAIN ELEVATOR, facing the Mississippi River. Notice the stored NOPB box cars on the right and in the left background. |