RIDING ON THE CITY OF NEW ORLEANS By Jack M. Turner
RIDING ON THE CITY OF NEW ORLEANS
By Jack M. Turner
A familiar feeling swept over me as my wife and I stepped inside New
Orleans Union Passenger Terminal on Wednesday, June 15 to board the
City of New Orleans headed to Chicago. Our ultimate destination,
Seattle, was a three night journey away and we looked forward to seeing
outlying parts of the Pacific Northwest that we had missed on previous
trips. The familiarity with the New Orleans station was in part
due to multiple visits through the years but mostly stemmed from having
stood in the same place this past February when boarding Amtrak’s Gulf
Coast Inspection Train bound for Jacksonville. Interestingly, a
part of that train and I would cross paths at the tail end of this trip.
The drive from our north Florida home to New Orleans dictated an
overnight stopover outside the Crescent City but close enough to allow
a leisurely drive on train departure day. A friend whom I
met on the Gulf Coast trip suggested the Bay Town Inn in Bay St. Louis,
Mississippi and his recommendation was right on target. The inn
is a charming property located right across the main city street from a
St. Louis Bay marina with a clear view of the CSX bridge crossing the
bay. Our suite was decorated in a beach motif and came complete
with a kitchenette, front porch, and inviting sitting and bed rooms.
The swimming pool was welcoming on a hot summer day and oak lined
sidewalks following the bayfront were perfect for an evening
stroll. With popular local restaurants adjacent, going to dinner
did not even require a car.
Bay Town Inn, Bay St. Louis, MS exudes southern charm
The pool and suites at the Bay Town Inn
The kitchen and living room of our Bay Town Inn suite
A westbound CSX freight train crosses St. Louis Bay a block from our hotel
Seeing Bay St. Louis up close and personal was an objective of this
writer as its citizenry tuned out en masse for the 1993 Sunset Limited
inaugural when Amtrak began service along the Gulf Coast to
Florida. After Hurricane Katrina roared ashore in August 2005,
rail passenger service to the region was suspended and just recently
the light began to shine at the end of the tunnel as Amtrak and the
Southern Rail Commission partnered to survey the route in hopes of
resuming service in the next three years. I was uncertain what my
tour of the town would reveal as Katrina had devastated the area,
washing away the original bed and breakfast inn located where the Bay
Town Inn today stands leaving owner Nikki Moon and neighbors clinging
to the top of a tree to survive. This survival trait obviously
lives on in many area residents who have restored their community to
the beautiful place that it is. It was, in fact, Nikki who was
instrumental in drumming up support for the huge crowd that greeted the
inspection train in February to the amazement of officials aboard the
special run.
Hancock County tourism official Jane Byrne picked me up and gave me an
excellent tour of the town starting with a visit to St. Rose de Lima
church which featured a magnificent alter made of driftwood. From
there we took a look at the stadium where Doc Blanchard, the first
junior to win college football’s Heisman Trophy in the early 1940s,
played high school football. We then drove past buildings used in
the 1966 movie “This Property is Condemned” which starred Robert
Redford and Natalie Wood and featured the railroad prominently.
The movie includes scenes filmed aboard passenger trains as well as
shots of the depot, railway bridge, and surrounding area including many
buildings that stand today. Next we visited the historic railway
depot served for decades by Louisville & Nashville passenger trains
and later by Amtrak’s Sunset Limited. The lobby of the depot
contained an impressive exhibit of Mardi Gras costumes used in the
annual celebration in Bay St. Louis as well as a locally focused
railroad exhibit. Upstairs an excellent art gallery featuring the
works of local folk artist Alice Moseley is open to the public as is
the Hancock County Visitors Center. The railway platform stands
ready to welcome Amtrak back but until then visitors may watch passing
CSX freight trains as I did during my tour of the station. Indeed
Bay St. Louis and the Bay Town Inn is a great place to visit for a
taste of life along the Gulf, a quiet getaway, and train watching on a
busy CSX main line, all just a short rental car drive from New Orleans.
The Bay St. Louis train station remains busy and is ready for Amtrak’s return
Mardi Gras costumes are displayed in the railway station waiting room
An eastbound CSX freight passes the Bay St. Louis depot
Upon reaching New Orleans we spotted the iconic street cars that run
along St. Charles Avenue as well as the Canal Street line, and the new
route along Loyola Avenue which passes the Holiday Inn Superdome where
I stayed before the Gulf Coast trip in February. That hotel is an
excellent place to stay when visiting New Orleans, especially before
catching the early morning Crescent or Sunset Limited.
The St. Charles Avenue streetcar line is a New Orleans icon and worth a ride
The City of New Orleans was ready for boarding shortly after 1:00pm and
we settled into roomettes 3 and 4 in sleeping car 32037 which was cool
and comfortable on a hot, humid day. Using two roomettes proved a
great choice throughout our trip as this allowed ample legroom compared
to a shared roomette and avoided either of us having to sleep in tight
quarters in the upper bed in either a roomette or bedroom.
Train # 58 The City of New Orleans prepares to depart from New Orleans
The on-time departure at 1:45pm was followed a half hour later by the
passage of the southbound City of New Orleans as a jet departing from
the international airport passed over the train on its takeoff.
Shortly crossing the edge of Lake Pontchartrain provided one of the
trip’s scenic highlights revealing views of the huge lake, waterfowl,
and the parallel I-55 bridge. Beyond the north end of the lake
train # 58 crossed Pass Manchac, a typical Louisiana setting featured
in Illinois Central publicity shots in the 1960s.
Lake Pontchartrain and I-55 seen from my roomette window
Marine facilities located at Pass Machac
Station stops in Hammond, LA and McComb, MS preceded a brief stop at
the attractive new looking brick station in Brookhaven at 4:20pm.
Our early dinner seating was called as we approached Jackson just after
5:00pm. While dining I noted that the Kansas City Southern line
from Meridian joins the Canadian National (ex-Illinois Central) line
used by the City of New Orleans south of town and branches off for
Shreveport and Dallas just north of the station. This would
facilitate the routing of the proposed Dallas to Meridian connection to
the Crescent that is under study. Our meals, meanwhile, tasted
fine but lacked in presentation as well as offering limited choice of
entree as the City of New Orleans menu differs from that used on other
long distance trains.
An old structure standing beside the railroad at McComb, MS
The City of New Orleans menu
Christine prepares to eat dinner on the City of New Orleans
The northern Mississippi part of the route took us past countless
trees, a number of agricultural fields, and through the edge of a storm
that produced a great deal of lightning to the east. Our pleasant
car attendant Tony prepared our rooms for the night as requested prior
to Memphis then we observed arrival in that city at 9:55pm.
Shortly after our departure 45 minutes later I dozed off into
dreamland, waking as we pulled out of Effingham, IL at 5:17am.
Another hour of sleep was interrupted by my alarm clock as we needed to
head to the dining car for breakfast before the announced cutoff time
of 7:30. Only a continental breakfast was served and, though
sufficient, it was not the equivalent of a hot cooked breakfast offered
on most other overnight trains.
The train pauses at Greenwood, MS in early evening
The station in Kankakee, IL seen during breakfast
The morning sun revealed miles of healthy cornfields interspersed with
small communities as we made our way through the heart of
Illinois. Highway traffic appeared light on parallel US 49 to our
east and I-57 on the distant left. The dining car was not
especially busy, perhaps the byproduct of train 58 having but one full
sleeper and a transition sleeper along with three coaches and a
Sightseer lounge car. One could expect a busier train if service
between Florida and New Orleans resumes in the future as that would
reopen a market that currently does not exist.
The southern suburbs of Chicago flashed past and we traversed the St.
Charles Air Line route along the south side of the city then backed
into Union Station at 9:02am, only two minutes late. We checked
into the first class Metropolitan Lounge one last time before it was
relocated from its long-time location, left our luggage in the check
room, and set out for a stroll around the Loop. In a few hours we
would depart for Seattle.
Chicago’s skyline seen as the City of New Orleans traverses the St. Charles Air Line
A last visit to the old Metropolitan Lounge in Chicago Union Station
