Back in the late '60s or early 70’s, while I was in my late teens (or a little older), our family home was adajacent to East Bridge JCT in New Orleans, where traffic from the Huey P Long Bridge (2 tracks) interchanged with the NOPB, the IC/ICG, KCS, SOUTHERN, L&N, & other Eastern roads.
At that time, the SP & Southern RR had a lot of trafic between Houston & Birmingham, & it took a few days to get across town from Avondale to NO East…
So, the two parties established a “Run Through” that bypassed both yards in NOLA, taking advantage of the more efficient yard in Houston. They used pooled front end power, & the crew change was @ the east end of the bridge.
The trains routinely had 6 units on the front & a 4 unit helper to get over the bridge. I was led to believe that the bridge in New Orleans was the most significant grade obstacle between Houston & B’ham. The trains were in the 100+ car length ~+ 10,000 tons …
Does anyone else have:
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Any knowledge of that operation?
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Current operations over that bridge?
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Similar operations elsewhere from that time?
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Similar operations elswhere today?