Visitors going to downtown Baton Rouge will no longer see the railcars that have been sitting on the levee near the Louisiana Art and Science Museum for the past 30 years. The four railcars were moved this weekend by the National Railway Historical Society and transported by a 18-wheeler to Hammond, where they will be restored. From midnight Friday to midnight Sunday sections of River Road were blocked off so the railcars could be removed. The society decided the railcars should be moved because of concern that they were being damaged by the weather throughout the years. Three of the railcars will be placed in a new children’s museum in Hammond, and the dining car will be sent to the Illinois’ Monticello Railway Museum. The dining car will be a part of the restoration of the Illinois Central passenger train, which was also known as the Panama Limited and traveled between Chicago and New Orleans from 1911 to 1971. “Monticello was missing a diner for their train, and we are happy that our diner will complete it and that it will be completely restored,” said Bob McAnnelly, member and attorney for the Southeast Louisiana Railway Historical Society, a regional chapter of the national organization. The cars are owned by the Southeast Louisiana Railway Historical Society. McAnnelly said they were leased to the museum in 1978 because it was the sight of the old Illinois Central Passenger Depot. Even though the cars are owned by the National Railway Historical Society, the museum has been responsible for their upkeep. “LASM has plans for that space, and they don’t have money to refurbish the cars. So we decided that they would be better in a covered environment,” McAnnelly said. Jesse Hoggard, marketing director for the LASM, said the museum has not yet decided what to do with the space made free by the removal of the cars. “The space will be transformed into a more useable space for its growing number of programs and visitors,” Hoggard said.
—-Contact Joanna Brown at [email protected]