Every Rail Enthusiast has their favorite place. Most of the time, their favorite place is called “My Place” because there’s a sense of ownership through the unique nature of the location, an emotional tie or, perhaps, just a quiet location where they feel comfortable and enjoy just being there. To qualify for “My Place” status, the location must look great without a train. For me, there are two places that fell into that category.

I grew up in Wesson, Mississippi, a small town at MP 774 on the Illinois Central’s double track Chicago to New Orleans mainline about forty-five railroad miles south of the state capitol of Jackson. I was fortunate to see the per-transition era of the Illinois Central that ran hordes of black GP7s and GP9s on fast freight trains in harmony with the beautiful chocolate brown, burnt orange and yellow streamliners pulled by their sleek E Units.

By the mid-1960s, the Illinois Central was changing quickly. They began to buy larger, more powerful locomotives, rebranded their coal black tradition by painting their rolling stock in a bright orange scheme, complete with a new modern logo with a split rail motif. The passenger trains began to decline in length and frequency, but never in appearance as they screamed through town spotless with pride.

Always eager to watch the trains as they passed through town, I didn’t really get to explore a lot of the surrounding area until I got my driver’s license. There was a particular spot on a lonely street at the north end of town where the road ran very close to the south main, and the massive head of a US&S Block Signal would appear almost even with the roadway thanks to a significant cut in the railroad roadbed. I was formally introduced to this location one night while riding with my Mom as she went to deliver Christmas presents to some of the shut-ins that lived in that remote part of town. As we drove down this lonely street, a deep red light appeared out of nowhere like a specter. I told myself that I needed to see that area again in daylight.

Some years later, I borrowed my Dad’s pickup one Saturday morning and drove back to the spot to see what kind of hand I might be dealt with respect to photo opportunities. In daylight, the location looked friendlier, complete with a wide spot near the north end of the street that was perfect for parking. I got out and took a few shots but realized that the options were limited for photographs. I started to walk north to a location where the apparition of Dr. Elias Rowan was said to haunt trains as they passed the location where he was struck and killed by a train in 1912. I saw no signs of Dr. Rowan’s spirit, but I did see a great location that gave me lots of ideas. This location became the first place I considered “My Place”.

The location was perfect. It was almost exactly halfway between Wesson and Beauregard, with a modest cut in a sweeping curve that allowed me to shoot at track level plus two different levels of elevation, the highest being almost level with the top of the largest locomotives on the Illinois Central roster. I waited for a few hours, but the IC remained quiet and I couldn’t keep my Dad’s pickup for long without losing the privilege of using it for future trips.

My first extensive use of the location came in 1976 when I was able to spend enough time to catch several trains as they passed through. The pictures weren’t great, but I knew that it had lots of potential and I had to give it more opportunities to prove itself. The best part was that no one else would shoot there because of the remote location and that I wouldn’t be bothered while I camped out and waited for hours on trains.

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I began to wonder if there were other untapped, interesting locations that might prove worth exploring. One evening, while visiting my railroad friends at the Brookhaven, Mississippi ICG Freight Office, I was talking to the engineer on the evening Brookhaven yard switcher about various things and I mentioned that I was looking for some good locations for photographs. He mentioned several that were all committed to memory, and then one of the other crew members mentioned a location north of Beauregard that had several good features. “You’ll have to walk a piece, but it will be worth it”, he said. Truer words were never spoken.

The next chance I had, I found a convenient parking location in Beauregard, Mississippi and walked north along the ICG mainline. Within a couple of miles I had seen some stunning opportunities where the double track mainline made a couple of nice “S” curves with short, straight stretches between each one. The ICG was a big believer in superelevated curves, and these curves had more than their share. This location also received the distinction of becoming another “My Place”.

I returned to both locations several times to capture the ICG between 1976 and 1981. I was always happy with the image results, even though it was quite a bit of work to get to the locations. Wait time was also an issue because there was no set schedule for ICG trains. Sometimes I’d go to the spot and wait for an entire afternoon without a train. Other times, I’d come close to running out of film because so many trains ran through the afternoon hours.

A while back, I visited these locations. Although the railroad still passes through each one, neither one looks anything like I recall. Removal of the code lines allowed the right of way to get congested with the ever-present pine trees, and the removal of the second main allowed the former north main location to become overgrown. Gone were the wide-open spaces I loved so much along with the second main and the massive US&S block signals. “My Places” had become obscure spots on the railroad where photography used to be fun and productive.

Since then, I have found few other locations that truly inspired me to sit for hours just to have a train arrive for photographs. I’m sure that they’re out there, but I don’t think any will ever give me the feelings I had when I first saw those two locations on the old Illinois Central.

Danny Johnson – Photographs and text Copyright 2023