New Orleans History -- Lake Pontchartrain
Friday, October 04, 2024
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1932 The Smokey Mary makes its' last trip to Milneburg


The name Smokey Mary didn’t refer to a single railroad engine but was the
popular name for any of the Pontchartrain Railroad engines that ran along
Elysian Fields Avenue from Decatur Street to Milneburg, a once-popular resort
area in the vicinity of the present-day University of New Orleans. According to
The Streetcars of New Orleans by Louis C. Hennick and E. Harper Charlton, the
Pontchartrain Railroad Co. introduced horse-drawn train service April 23, 1831.
Less than a year later, on Sept. 17, 1832, the company introduced a steam-driven
train. Passenger service on the Pontchartrain Railroad, one of the nation’s
oldest lines, ended about a century later, on March 15, 1932, when Smokey Mary
made a final trip from Milneberg.

New Orleans Magazine. •

May 1998 - Vol. 32 - Issue 8 - Page - #328
Source: href="http://publications.neworleans.com/no_magazine/32.8.-JuliaStreet.html"
http://publications.neworleans.com/no_magazine/32.8.-JuliaStreet.html