Friday Jan 26 2007
A Welcome at Gibsland
Monday January 8th, our last day on the road, dawned bright and clear. The radio indicated the maintenance window was already in effect when the sun came up, so no pictures of KCS trains over the Mississippi. We headed onto I20, and roughly 200 miles later stopped once again in Gibsland, Louisiana to check on the Louisiana & Northwest, hoping to have better luck on a weekday. Nothing was outside, but there were automobiles at the shop building. Stepping through the little door, I found myself face-to-face with GP38 #56.
Two men were working on #56 from the pit while a third above ground looked on. I walked over and introduced myself, asking if any one would mind if I took a few pictures. One of the gentlemen in the pit said “I know your name,” and introduced himself as Jesse Kilgore, the L&NW agent. Jesse is in the rear in this picture, while L&NW Mechanic Justin Gorman is in the foreground.
It turns out Jesse was the subject matter in one of the runner-up photos by excellent photographer David Hoge from the Trains Magazine 2004 Photo Contest. This broke the ice, and we visited for a few minutes before I moved around to get a few different angles inside this classic building, starting with the far end.
I had missed the road train leaving out north with a GP7 and a GP40 about 90 minutes earlier, but GP7 #53 was still in residence.
I talked the guys into posing for a group picture with #53. From left to right we have Jesse Kilgore and Justin Gorman, then L&NW Shop Foreman Kurt Metzger.
About this time the phone rang, and Kurt came back with the news to put #56 back together, as the road train to the north had derailed when a bridge collapsed after the engines made it over. They would be busy now, so I took one last shot of #53 and shook hands all around before departing.
The rest of our remaining 200 miles back to Benbrook were uneventful except for finding a rare Grandy’s outside Longview at lunch time, and we made it home before the beginning of the afternoon rush. After Montana and Florida, I think we are ready to stay close to home for awhile now!
