
GP50 4087 pulls a special movement train through
Hillsdale. The generator is heading to the Gulf Coast to provide power for a storm-damaged area.

How to move an over-sized load? With a GP50, a M.O.W. boxcar, a gondola, a heavy-duty flatcar, a track-cleaning car(!) and two cabooses.

The AP&W's business car, the CHEROKEE, sits in
Hillsdale yard on a warm summer afternoon.

A businessman waits on the platform of the car. Converted in the late 50's by the
APRR from a Budd coach, the CHEROKEE was named after one of the
AP's passenger trains at the time. It often travels in the company of the AP&W's other business cars, bringing up the rear. Today, however, it's traveling solo. The Cherokee name was also used to promote fast freight service.

The next day, a Union Pacific GE ES44AC (called a C45
ACCTE by the UP) sits in
Hillsdale Yard alongside a short string of ethanol tank cars. The ES44AC is GE's newest locomotive, designed to meet the latest EPA emissions regulations. Though the AP&W has purchased 400 of these engines- and 300 of
EMD's equivalent SD70ace's- unfortunately, few are seen in
Hillsdale. The newest power currently seen are GE AC4400's built in 2000-20003 and
EMD SD70
MAC's built in the late 90's. These units were displaced from the western half of the system by the newer deliveries and have, in turn, displaced older engines in the
Hillsdale area.
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