This past week I was lucky enough to be able to travel through southeastern Louisiana so I decided to stop and revisit the DeQuincy Railroad Museum. The museum is as close to a state railroad museum here and Louisiana and features numerous items from the state's rich railroading history including a large collection of model trains and a Southern Pacific steam locomotive.
When I first visited the museum over a year ago the station itself was closed so I spent my time walking around and taking photos of all the railroad equipment on display outside. This time however the depot was open and accepting visitors. I was impressed by just how large the old depot was on the inside and how well it has been preserved. I was also very impressed by just how many historical railroad items were on display.
Being a big model railroad fan I gravitated to the numerous cases that housed a huge collection of O scale locomotives. According to the sweet elderly lady who works at the museum the collection came from a wealthy lawyer from Lake Charles who donated it when his health began to fail. It was his wish that the museum run his locomotives on a vast layout, but there just wasn't room for such a display. In the end he consented to just letting the museum display the collection. Luckily for all of us he did because the locomotives are simply amazing.
My hostess was virtually a walking encyclopedia of local railroad history. She explained that though the town of DeQuincy is now known for its preserved Kansas City Southern depot it was the Missouri Pacific Railroad that put the town on the map. The Missouri Pacific once had a facility including a vast roundhouse and repair facilities. She also explained that workers once flocked to DeQuincy to work for the railroad and went on to call the town home. Unfortunately the structures were torn down years ago by the state because of the vast amounts of asbestos contained therein.
According to my hostess the museum is about to receive a large collection of Missouri Pacific items from a donner here in Alexandria. It's too bad that such a collection of local items will be displayed all the way down in DeQuincy, but it's better to have them on display somewhere instead of ending up in a landfill, like many local railroad historical items have ended up.
A couple of years back I talked to a resident of Lecompte who has an old Red River and Gulf depot on his property. A few years ago he discovered a lot of railroad items while digging a pond. Instead of trying to find a home for the items he simply hauled it all off. Unfortunately things like that happen all over our state.
If you want to learn more about railroading here in Louisiana then a trip to the DeQuincy Railroad Museum is a must and I assure you that you will enjoy all the amazing items on display there.
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