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| Links: I have found that others have addressed the mill and the trains completlely. So I will direct you to these great sites to fill in the information. Their work is priceless if you enjoy knowing More. You can come back and read about the trains and mill later. There is a link back on both following pages. My pictures and impressions are found on the next pages. |
| Railroading Infomation and His First Visit Below, I will reprint some of the information on that page. This was from his first visit. Go to his site to see the pictures and MORE. |
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Southern Forest Heritage Museum & Research Center, Long Leaf, LA Long Leaf is located about 20 miles southwest of Alexandria, LA. This museum is a 57-acre complex, consisting of a sawmill, the company town of Long Leaf, and the remaining elements of the Red River & Gulf Railroad. The complex was donated by the Crowell family after the mill was closed in 1969, and is now on the National Register of Historic Places. The museum was opened to the public in May, 1996, starting with an exhibit at the commissary. A portion of the steam-powered sawmill will also be made operational. My thanks to Alan Auter, the Museum Curator, for allowing me to enter the complex and show the following to you. At the time of my visit in June, 1995, I saw Meridian Lumber 2-6-0 number 202 (Baldwin/40862/1913) parked next to the engine house, and Long Leaf Lumber 4-6-0 number 400 (Baldwin/51175/1919) parked in the woods across from the engine house. (Engine 202 has since been moved inside the engine house.) It is planned to restore these two engines, in addition to a third engine located on the grounds to operating condition. A third engine, Red River & Gulf 4-6-0 number 106 (Baldwin/57203/1923) is currently located in the car knockers shed. (This picture was taken in 1973 by Dan Gray.) It is hoped that two other ex-Long Leaf steam locomotives will be returned to the center, bringing their total steam roster to five. "Railfans" had stolen the works plates and number plates from one of these engines; the grounds are now under 24-hour armed guard. A stretch of the Red River & Gulf railroad from I-49 at Lecompte to the logging camp will also be restored, with a depot at Long Leaf. Further down the tracks from Engine 400 was Clyde Skidding Machine #321, used to drag the logs out of the forest to the trackside. Located at the opposite corner of the engine house was a huge McGiffert Loader. It was self-propelled; and once it had reached a location in the woods, it could then squat down onto a set of skids. The loader would then be used to lift the logs that were skidded in from the woods onto the flatcars. The loader straddles the logging train, and pulls the train through as it is loading. It is intended to restore both of these steam-powered machines, perhaps back to operating condition. Further back in the woods from the Clyde skidder, I found this locomotive graveyard. An integral cylinder/saddle assembly, air reservoir, smokestack extension and the remains of a balloon stack are among the parts I recognized. (Some of remains are of a Two-Truck Shay, probably scrapped during the sixties.) Other scrapped steam locomotives may also be located in these woods, along with a stationary steam engine, pulleys, shafts, and other parts that were removed from the mill. (The mill was converted from steam power to electricity in 1957.) |
| The Second Visit. How thing had changed. This is much closer to what we saw. This is a MUST Read. |
| Long Leaf, Louisiana |
| The ride up from Fullerton (Pitkin) on La.113 to Long Leaf, just north of Glenmora (US 165 and La.113) was beautiful. We arrived at the Southern Forest Heritage Museum (SFHM) during the lunch hour and I started walking around taking a few shots thinking we would have to wait until at least 1:00 to go in. No sooner as that thought past, a gentleman approached me and asked if we were there to take the tour. About 4:15 we had finished. I'll just go ahead and say this. The tour given by Bob Carroll was the best viewing and explanation of any place we have visited. We (3) were given the "Presidential Presentation". Mr. Carroll knew his stuff and kept it interesting even for the eleven year old grandson. So much information was given there is no way to for me to reproduce it. I have found all that on the web and the links are at the bottom of the page if you really want to know it ALL. I did. I will show you some of my pictures which are better than that other site's. (just fact) |
| Pulling into the enclave, the first thing that caught my eye was the typical Central Louisiana cottage and of course the azaleas. Spring is amazing in Louisiana. This turned out to be the former mill's manager's home. It was rented to him by the lumber company. |
| Headquarters is the old sawmill commissary. |
| It's a railroad track checker, called an Inspector's Scooter You just push-pull down the track. So much neat stuff was inside. More pictures coming. |
| That's an old telephone switchboard. There were exhibits of every kind. |
| When I saw the train exhibit. I was ready to move on. My wife wanted to look at each object. I told her Bob was ready to go and that she could come back and spend as much time as she wanted. Hard words, but I got them out. |
| This picture just caught the old weighing scales (bottom right). Below is an old picture of what it was like "back when". |
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| To the next page and TRAINS |
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| Below is the mill manager's office as it was found. It has been untouched. It is frozen in time. It was the star of the whole show, and for me to say that is something considering the next page is full of train stuff. Not rusted, not worn. It is as it was. I want to thank Gary H. for brightening up a very dark picture for me. Look closely and you can see me taking the picture. Another instance of "frozen in time". |