Bill Johnson

Wednesday, March 30, 2005 – David, Bill Morris and I had to be at the station for TV interviews with CBS affiliate channel 4. Later in the day, I did an interview with Louisiana Public Broadcasting who has been documenting a lot of the work with 745.

One of the visitors to the train was an old gentleman who was a switchman on the job hauled 745 dead in tow over the Huey Long bridge in 1956 when she was placed in the park. They took pictures of him and me together since I was going to be one of the crew to take her back over the bridge under steam.

Lee Gautreaux showed up with a guitar so we picked on the platform for a little while. Some of the LASTA gang jokingly put a plastic bin in front of us and threw some pocket change in it. Some of the public walked by and threw dollar bills in so we raised about $6.50 Tonight we drove to Ray and Marie Duplechain’s and had a wonderful dinner and visit.

Tuesday, March 29 – Today we finished building steam and the rest of the LASTA crew put the finishing touches on the train. We met the New Orleans Public Belt RR at 15:00 and they towed us to the Kansas City Southern interchange at Lambert Junction. Ted Wax piloted us on KCS. We stopped for the signal at the interlocking with the old IC line and Amtrak’s Sunset Limited crossed in front of us with three private cars on the rear.

We then got the signal and we continued the move to the south interchange with Amtrak. Amtrak locomotive 508 picked us up and took us the rest of the way to the New Orleans Public Terminal where we were spotted head in against the bumper block.

Monday, March 28, 2005 – Fireman David Bartee flew from Knoxville and I flew from Lexington and we met at our connection in Memphis. Our Memphis – New Orleans flight was canceled due to mechanical problems so we had to rent a car and finish the trip.

We had Keith Bonnette and Bill Morris go ahead and start firing the engine while we were on the road. When we arrived at the LASTA yard 745 was just beginning to build a little bit of heat. David took her to about 50 pounds and then shut her down for the night.