TOWN LIFE PT 24; TRUCKS

 

A semi, with a walking floor trailer, rolls out of town. Mulch is in great demand in the spring, and this rig delivered!

Another semi brings a load of John Deere tractors to town. That red International Lonestar tractor is sharp!

A black Kenworth T880 has a large trenching machine on its trailer.

The machine is headed to a repair shop just outside of town for an engine overhaul, before heading back east.

A livestock semi leaves town, with a load of cows for a local dairy farm. The driver missed the exit, so he had to turn around in town and head back out!

A blast from the past! A 80's era 45' trailer is pulled by an even older 1970 Mack R700. Both are still going strong in this late 90's photo.

THE BLOG WILL RESUME SOON

 For those of you wondering what has become of the blog....

Two months ago, I had the end of my left foot amputated due to complications from diabetes. I then spent a month in rehab, recovering and getting back to walking on both feet again (I was limited to "right foot only" for almost a month until the 19 staples and 27 stiches came out).

The home recovery process has been slower than expected as I now have difficulty navigating stairs -and my layout is in the basement, while my work bench is upstairs.

However, I am now getting better at walking -both in and outside of home- and I plan to resume taking photos and posting them to the blog soon. 

I thank all of you that have been following my AP&W blog, and hope to entertain you again soon!

HAPPY EASTER!

ANOTHER DAY

A bulk hauler heads out after supplying Hubbard Mills Bakery. After a busy holiday season, business is still up -fresh bread sells year-round!
 

A Amazon semi rolls into town, headed for the Kidco Inc. warehouse. With the Super Bowl occurring in a few short weeks, big screen tv's are hot sellers!

A Schneider National semi rolls out with a loaded container of  shoes from Ten Mile Hike. Those military contracts are paying off!

This time of year, between the College Football Playoffs and the NFL playoffs/Super Bowl, feature a lot of partying and snacking! A trio of large reefers are sitting in Hillsdale Yard awaiting delivery to Johnson Foods.

The end reefer is one of UP's large fleet, and has the raised "anti-graffiti" reporting marks, as well as orange ends, instead of the traditional blue..

As a side note, this car should -and will soon- have white stirrup steps and end cage. Hopefully, Walthers will correct this on future runs.

PASSING TRAINS PT 43; GM408 PT 3

 And now, the end of GM408...

Another lease fleet car is FURX 845366. FURX are the reporting marks of First Union Leasing.

A second string of grey hoppers, this time FURX cars, in the train. These are all former Canadian National NSC-built cars.

There are also cars owned by the Arkansas-Oklahoma RR, as seen here.

More AOK hoppers.

The tail end of GM408 is BNSF hoppers, including this older PS 4740 hopper, with the original "cross-circle" logo.

BNSF 471745 also has the cross-circle logo, but much larger. This was a nod the the Santa Fe's identical logo.

BNSF 481396 has the new "Swoosh" logo. Adopted in 2005, it also accompanied an official change in the railroad's name; from Burlington Northern Santa Fe to simply BNSF.

More BNSF hoppers.

Another BNSF car with the "Swoosh" logo, but this one is an older FMC car.

BNSF 402021 is a smaller ACF 4650 hopper, most of the other cars in the train are 4750 cuft or larger. The similar-looking FURX NSC cars are 5150 cuft, while most of 402021's sisters are Trinity 5161 cuft cars.

BNSF 432380, yet another FMC car -but with the original circle-cross logo- brings up the markers on GM408, as it rolls on to Baltimore. Specifically the Port of Baltimore, as this is a train of export grain bound for Africa.

PASSING TRAINS PT 43; GM408 PT 2

 GM408 has entered Hillsdale for a crew change...

The new crew has climbed aboard, checked the motive power, and performed the break test. Now, time to head out!

549 leads the way east towards Baltimore.

All three engines are seen here exiting the yard.

The first hopper has AP reporting marks, the second one has CHTT marks. Note also, the different shades of grey.

A string of GATX hoppers.

Another AP hopper that now has the FRA-required yellow conspicuity striping applied.

Many of the CEI-marked hoppers lack the AP&W herald.

Some, however, do have the herald.

One of the GATX Leasing units.

Another one of the GATX Leasing cars. Note that the reporting marks are slightly smaller than on the previous car, even though the road number size appears to be the same. Were these cars lettered by a different shop that had smaller stencils/lettering decals?

The end of GM408 next week.