ANOTHER DAY PT3

Engine 3163 sits in the yard at the start of the day, awaiting the call to duty.


The caboose of a passing train shows between two tank cars in the yard. The train is the special movement train shown in an earlier post. This special "Safety Caboose" is one of the few still left on the AP&W.


A contractor talks with Sam and Bill about the grading job before he begins. Since the parking lot and access road are dirt, every now and then they need their ruts and potholes graded out. At least it's cheaper than having to rip up and re-lay asphalt every several years!

The local school resource officer's specially painted PT Cruiser is parked on Main Street. While most of the local kids do stay in school, like most cities, Hillsdale has its share of 'hardheads'. At least the car doesn't have roof-top flashers!

The red light shines as caboose 4312 brings up the rear of yet another local run to Pete's Plastics
by train HLP20. Delivered after the era of crew-assigned cabooses had ended, 4312 once traveled through the Appalachian and Allegheny moutains on coal trains and manifest freights. She even did a short stint on stack trains during the early '80's and travelled all the way out to Denver, Colorado. Now, she lives out her remaining days in Hillsdale, providing travelling shelter -and a mobile tool box- to local switching crews.