Sunset Limited on Mississippi River railroad ferry - 1920

[Trainman203]

https://mirc.sc.edu/islandora/object/usc%3A26059

Railroad car ferries at one time were common on the Mississippi River.  The location is not identified but it is on either the east bank of the Mississippi River at Harahan, LA, or on the west bank at Waggaman, LA, no more than 5 miles from my present home.

This ferry was one of several that served the New Orleans area and was replaced in 1935 by the still in use but heavily rebuilt Huey Long bridge.  No trace remains of this operation, although the lead to it from the IC Mays Yard was still there until maybe 15 years ago, a switching spur serving several customers.  Its existence is still remembered by a high voltage pole line that followed it.

You can clearly see the track cradles that allowed access of dry land track to the ferry. There are two side by side on the departing side, possibly to permit continuous train operation while the other was maintained.  River levels could vary 15 feet or more depending on the season, and these track cradles rode up and down underwater tracks of their own to maintain proper track access to the ferry.

Note also that the ferry approaches the river bank and cradle at an angle to the river bank.  A river pilot once told me that all vessels in the river dock heading upstream so the the extremely strong current flows from the bow to the back as if the boat was in motion, it's the direction  in which the vessel was built to be controlled.

The train itself consists of distinctive "Harriman" steel cars unique to the Harriman roads -  the SP and subsidiaries, the T&NO in this case, the UP, the IC, and the Central of Georgia.  The engine is a Harriman Pacific of a design common to the Harriman roads.  The headlight still rides high on top of the smokebox as built, common in earlier times but soon to be replaced in the center of the smokebox door with a large can-like Sunbeam headlight, resulting in the more familiar and modern appearance. I'll have to look again, the headlight may still be an early electric carbon arc type, blindingly bright but needing ridiculously frequent readjustment of the carbon electrodes.

As the ferry approaches the far side of the river, three track cradles are side by side out in the water, and all align with the ferry as it docks.  This probably was to speed up the train's move onto shore.  As the train rolls off the ferry, passengers can be seen standing on the car steps to get a good view, something that would never be tolerated in today's hyper-safety setting.

[Terry Toenges]

As the float reaches the other side, it looks like it comes in pretty quick and I expected to see a little jolt from passengers on the right but they didn't move.

[Trainman203]

I've watched this several more times and a few other things become evident.  When the ferry is leaving, and the camera looks back,  you can see that one of the cradles is being pulled up out of the water back to land.  A square-tendered steam locomotive is heading up the adjacent cradle, which makes me wonder if it is pulling the cradle up.  Additional engines were needed to get the consist loaded on the vessel , so it could merely be a switcher assigned to that work. The large square tender probably says Illinois Central, whose tracks the T&NO passenger trains used from the downtown New Orleans IC depot to the ferry.  

I also realized later that not all of the passenger cars are steel Harriman cars.  Views down onto the top of the train show clerestory roofed cars,j and a couple of closeups of the car sides show wood sided cars with truss rods, likely in the final days of their service.

[Trainman203]

Here's a photo of another T&NO passenger train on the ferry.  The slightly later date is revealed by the large Sunbeam headlight on the 600 class pacific.

http://friendsoftheferry.org/uploads/3/5/1/7/35173300/header_images/1521849595.jpg

[Trainman203]

Correction from a local railfan- the ferry's destination is the west bank of the Mississippi River at Avondale, LA, and the vessel's name is the Mastodon.