TRAIN MEET; PASSING TRAINS PT 22 (2)

 Two intermodal trains are meeting in Hillsdale...

A crew member from CNY60 is on the ground for the customary inspection of IC209 as it passes by.

Two GE's, both with 4400hp and AC traction motors, but built nine years -and a generation- apart. ES44AC 9486 passes ET44AC demonstrator 2022.

A last look at IC209, as it rolls through Hillsdale Yard. A nearly brand new MAXI I stack car, with the red TTX logo, and containers from Hatsu Marine, Maersk, Maersk Sealand (bottom container), yet another brown UASC box, and an HMM (Hyundai Merchant Marine) box.

With IC209 clear, CNY60 rolls forward, behind its trio of ET44AC demonstrators.

The spine cars carry a mix of containers and trailers, including a green EMP 53' box.

A pair of containers ride on chassis; a 20' China Shipping box and a UPS 28' box. Note the 20' chassis is built for the heavier loads these containers carry. The UPS 28' container/chassis combo is designed for the LTL (Less Than truck Load) market occupied by conventional 28' pup trailers; in fact, the chassis has a pintle hitch which allows it to be used with pup trailers in doubles -or even triples- service. Also seen on this car is an Alliance Shippers 53' reefer; these are quite common in intermodal service.

More of CNY60 next week.

TRAIN MEET; PASSING TRAINS PT 22 (1)

Train CNY60 is stopped at the west end of Hillsdale Yard.
 

The reason: a meet with IC209. Thanks to a slowdown in global traffic, only one locomotive is needed to pull the train -9485 draws the honors.

IC209 is dedicated to international traffic, as seen here. Note the rust stains on the Maersk box.

One of the cars is owned by SFLC -the Santa Fe Leasing Co. Formerly owned by the Santa Fe Railroad, it became BNSF property after the merger. Note the brown UASC container; most of their containers are green, I believe the brown ones are leased.

Two MOL containers: one new, one old. MOL is now part of ONE (Ocean Network Express).

Another brown UASC box, among other colorful containers, including a rusty APL box.

A refrigerated K-Line container. K-Line, along with MOL is now part of ONE, the bottom container in the next car. The unusual color -magenta- was selected to honor Japan's famous cherry blossom trees!

Shipping containers can get dirty and rusty -note the Don Fang box. Of course, the MAXI I car it's riding in probably won't stay too clean either!

More of the train meet next week.

DCL9 PT 2

 Last week, DCL9 returned from Dale City. Here is the rest of the train...

While the other gons were loaded with steel plate, this one is loaded with I-beams.

More steel loads, headed west to Ohio. Note the second gondola has a white interior.

A lone coil car, followed by a string of empty kaolin tank cars. DCL9 hit the paper mill along with Wilson Steel.

Another view of the tank cars.

A pair of Canadian National boxcars, headed to the Midwest with loads of paper. The CNA marks are used on cars in service on both sides of the border.

And a CRLE boxcar brings up the rear, after dropping off bales of scrap cardboard in exchange for pallets of printer paper.

The stack car in the yard behind the train won't be there next week, but there will be stacks on the main line! Stay tuned...

DCL9 PT 1

 Local DCL9 returns from Dale City...

Heritage unit 8105 leads today's local back into Hillsdale, as the brakeman rides the front walkway.

Trailing unit 2650, an old GP40-2, follows. The first car is X1068 -I ran the track cleaning car on this train.

Next in the train are a pair of Milwaukee Racine & Troy cars; a covered hopper and a boxcar.

Then, a string of GONX Railgon gons, loaded with steel plates.

Next up, several bulkhead flatcars loaded with sewer pipes.

A look at the steel plates in one of the gondolas. Note that the interior of the car is white(!) -when these cars were first delivered, some did, indeed, have white interiors. Of course, the paint didn't last very long, given that gons usually get abused in service during loading and unloading. With the as-delivered paint on the Thrall 40' well cars and 40' containers with logo panels in the background, this could easily pass for a photo from the mid-80's!

The second half of DCL9 next week.

PASSING TRAINS PT 21; TRASH TRAIN EXTRA 5410

 Today, the local train watchers get a special treat:

GE C44-9W 5410, the Rock Island Heritage unit, rolls through with EXTRA 5410.

While EXTRA 5410 is an empty trash run, headed back to Pittsburgh, the fact that it is lead by the Rock Island unit makes it a "must see" train!

Another view as the train passes downtown. If any of those drivers are railfans, then traffic may move slower than it should!

The train is a solid string of 85' flats loaded with trash containers. Both cars and containers are owned by East Coast Carbon; orange is the color they use for their equipment. Because the containers are 12' tall, they can only be transported by flatcars -they are much too tall to double-stack.

The EOT hangs on the end coupler of the last car, as usual.

After EXTRA 5410 passes, a nearly new ET44AC, NS 3658. is visible in the yard. With today's locomotive pooling agreements, almost any railroad's power may be found sitting in Hillsdale Yard.

On a side note, I have seen -and photographed- 3658; that is why I bought this particular model.