I recently came across a link to an essay written by Danny Johnson and published in The Trackside Photographer.  Titled "A World Apart, A World Within" this work details his personal experience exploring the North Louisiana Delta Region served by the KCS Meridian Speedway.  

Of course the photography that accompanies the text is excellent!  

The insight in this work is very relevant to the Meridian Speedway concept that my website serves to share.  I asked Danny if he would mind if I added this article to my Meridian Speedway Library and he graciously agreed.  He is in the company of some great authors.

I had not before heard of The Trackside Photographer.  This website is a collection of photo-essays contributed by a wide range of authors on a variety of railroad related topics.  I recommend highly that you take a look.  The button below will take you to the home page of The Trackside Photographer.

Linked to the following button is the article "A World Apart, A World Within" in the Meridian Speedway Library.

Chris

A new essay has been added to the Meridian Speedway Library.  Noted photographer J. Parker Lamb has written a narrative that outlines the evolving importance of Shreveport in the U.S. railroad network. This essay is illustrated with a number of Mr. Lamb's photographs.  

This the second article that Parker has penned for the Meridian Speedway Library.

Chris

The Mid- American Issue Number 21 arrived today.  This is the quarterly publication of the Illinois Central Railroad Heritage Association (ICRHA).  Of interest to me, this magazine contains a couple of my photographs in Kirk Reynolds' article "Riding on the City of Grenada"  This article is also illustrated with a number of great images by Terry Redeker.

Then beginning on page 20 is an article written by my father, Michael Palmieri.  "The Illinois Central in Northern Louisiana" is essentially the "The Meridian Speedway in Louisiana" article which was written for the Library on this website.  The ICRHA did a wonderful job printing this article and accompanied it with some excellent photographs by a number of noted photographers. 

Besides my personal bias towards these two articles there is also an excellent article by Paul Jaenicke that takes the reader to the glory days of passenger railroading in St. Louis.  Nikki Burgess also pens a column titled Heritage Lineup.  If you need a fix of Chocolate-and-Orange, this magazine will definitely take care of you!

If you have an interest in the Illinois Central Railroad you might consider checing out the ICRHA website using the button below:

If you are not already a member, you can find instructions on how to join using the membership tab on the ICRHA website. Annual dues for regular membership is $34.  This includes four issues of The Mid-American.  Select back issues are available for sale as well.  

The article about the City of Grenada references the passenger train operated by Iowa Pacific in January of this year.  Blair Kooistra and myself made a trip to photograph this great looking train.  I have uploaded many of the photographs as well as some video clips from this trip to YouTube.  The show is set to the musical accompaniment of Arlo Guthrie's hit song "The City of New Orleans".  The link to this video is below:

Also, the button below will take you to my father's article "The Meridian Speedway in Louisiana" as posted in the library on this website:

Chris

Chris

This essay was found on-line on the late Bobby J. Garraway's Blog.  This particular post was dated Monday, September 19, 2011.  Records indicate that Bobby J. Garraway was born on November 2, 1930 and passed away on Sunday, April 28, 2013.  This is a wonderful first-hand account of a classy Mississippi Railroad that is now long-gone. 

Respectfully,

​Chris

The image above is linked to the article.

​Chris

Chris

Paulsen Spence and the Louisiana Eastern story complete in library!

Many thanks to Louis Saillard who allowed me to display his article on the Louisiana Eastern in my Meridian Speedway library. Truly a fascinating prototype story of one man's railroad, this article also has relevance to my Proto-Freelanced model railroad network. This story plays a key role in the story of my Proto-Freelanced Mississippi Central Railroad. That story will be written soon.

Also, thanks to both Louis Saillard and J. Parker Lamb for providing the accompanying photographs.

Enjoy the read!

http://meridianspeedway.weebly.com/louisiana-eastern-story.…

Chris/louisiana-eastern-story.html

I asked my friend Nick Huth if he would mind sharing some photos he took of an excursion on the Arkansas Louisiana & Mississippi in the mid 90's. He obliged, sending some prints in the mail. I have scanned them and created this slide show on my Meridian Speedway website. The experiences I had with the Georgia Pacific railroads during this period led to the inspiration for the Proto-Freelanced railroads of my own Meridian Speedway.

The individuals in the first photo are, left to right, Lowell G. McManus, James H. Selzer, and myself, Christopher Palmieri....

Thanks for sharing the memories, Nick!

Chris

I reached out to long-time friend Lowell G. McManus looking for an article I believed he authored documenting a trip we made to Mexico's spectacular Copper Canyon in 1995.  Though that document did not surface, Lowell did volunteer several of his writings to display in my library.  The first one on the shelves is his research on the Completion of Arthur Stilwell's Kansas City, Pittsburg, and Gulf Railroad which would become part of the KCS we all know today!

This railroad of course is a major life-line to the region served by the Meridian Speedway, intersecting it at Shreveport, Louisiana.  This is a great account of the era of Rail Barons and how they helped shape where communities in America were developed.

Lowell prepared this work for presentation at the 1997 convention of the KCSHS which was hosted in the New Orleans area by my family.  Many thanks to Lowell for allowing this essay to be available for viewing in my library!

Chris

My father, Michael Palmieri, had devoted much time to his website called Louisiana Rail Site.  This site was dedicated to all things rail in Louisiana and neighboring areas.  Tragically, the server that housed the site was the victim of Hurricane Katrina.  Recently while surfing the web for something unrelated I came across a link to an essay that my father had published on his website which was saved by web.archive.org.  

Through this link: http://web.archive.org/web/20030308195035/http://lrs.railspot.com/amt819.htm I was able to recover this lost work and post it in my library.  Included on the page is a photograph I took of Amtrak 819 in New Orleans shortly before it was destroyed.  This unit was 20 days old at the end of its career so not many photo exist of it.  I am proud to have "NOT JUST ANOTHER P40" im my library!

Chris