PASSING TRAINS PT7

The Christmas Train pulls out of Hillsdale, with Santa Claus on the front. On to the next city!

Later, a piggy-back to the Northeast, train KCT35, rolls through town, with a Union Pacific unit behind the AP&W one. This train originated in Kansas City, and has passed through St. Louis, Louisville and Cincinnati. It will go through Washington, Baltimore and Philadelphia before arriving in Trenton, NJ., making the 1600 mile trip in 35 hours. The return train is TKC35. Note that this is a different train from the Gateway Cherokee, which caries both trailers and double-stacks, and runs all the way into New York City; this train is trailers only, and stops in Trenton. The UP unit is run-through pool power; the train travels over UP rails between K.C. and St. Louis.

Norman watches a manifest roll in behind joint AP&W-NS power. Since the Conrail split-up in 1996, the two railroads have increasingly pooled their resources between Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C., as NS still doesn't have a direct line between the two cities (and neither did Conrail).

The EOT device of a west-bound flashes its way out of town. How we miss the old caboose!

Another KCT35 rolls through town. Along with the Swift trailers in the background, the 28' pup trailers show two now-allied trucking companies; Roadway and Yellow freight are now both owned by the same company.

CHRISTMAS TRAIN PT2

The Christmas train has arrived and is now on the siding. Time for Santa to make his appearance!

And Santa does, indeed, make his appearance. As he steps off the festively painted caboose, Bill, Mark Davis, and the rest of the gang welcome him to Hillsdale Yard. Of course, Santa's two helpers on the caboose platform probably do a better job of boosting morale among the men than he does!

The first of the children rush towards Santa, as their caretakers look on. Today's visit benefits the Hillsdale House; a local home for orphaned and abandoned kids.

Stephanie talks with Santa. Other kids are on the way, but right now, she has him all to herself!

A minute later, the other kids line up. The first one, Brian, reaches into his pocket for his wish list!

One of the kids, Lee, waves to the engineer, as two yardmen look on. Kids love trains almost as much as they do Santa!

THE CHRISTMAS TRAIN PT1

Last week we saw the Christmas train arrive in Hillsdale. Now parked on a siding, let's see what's in the consist.

Leading the way, is unit 25, a GE 70 ton switcher. The engineer leans out of the cab of the festively painted unit to chat with two yard workers. When the Modesto and Empire Traction railroad retired their fleet earlier this year in favor of gen-sets, AP&W managment saw an opportunity to aquire a cheap locomotive for a specific use; the Christmas train! In addition to a new paint job, the little engine also got a new set of air horns in front of the cab, new radio antennas and an A/C unit on the roof! In real life, the handrails would be wrapped with lights, but not in 1/87 scale!

A group of workers prepare to hook-up "hotel power" to the sleeper car while it sits in the yard.

The sleeper car is the Trenton, a 6-5 sleeping car that once was assigned to the APRR's Senator Limited. This train ran between Chicago and Washington, D.C., and was re-equipped with Budd Car Company's famous stainless steel passenger cars during the early 50's. The 6-5 designation of the sleeper refers to 6 bedrooms and 5 sleeping compartments.

A gondola, painted up for Operation Lifesaver, has two large Christmas trees strapped down inside it. During the rest of the year, this non-interchange car travels the system to help promote grade-crossing safety -often with a load of wrecked cars to emphasize the point!

The boxcar carries these holiday graphics. Inside: a lot of toys for under-privileged kids!

CHRISTMAS TRAIN ARRIVES!

The Chistmas season is underway in Hillsdale...

An eastbound Gateway Cherokee passes through, with both AP&W and KCS engines on the head end. Both are EMD SD70ACe's. While not the Christmas train, the loads of both green and red containers certainly give off the holiday spirit. More red and green HUB containers. The red containers are the old scheme, the green ones are the latest scheme. The Christmas Train arrives! Santa rides the front as it pulls into Hillsdale yard. The train will park on a siding by the yard office and hand out gifts to the children of the employees. Ms Martha and Tom chat as they wait for the Salvation Army soup kitchen to open up. Tom is a Vietnam vet who lost his leg to a land mine. During this holiday season, remember those who are less fortunate by giving to the Salvation Army and other charities that serve the needy.

CARPACK PT3

Some more cars found around Hillsdale...
In 2009, Model Railroading magazine celebrated its diamond anniversary, and the Wisconsin & Southern -which operates in MR's home state- painted up this boxcar to help celebrate. An insulated boxcar, it has dual plug doors that seal tight to help keep the interior clean and at a steady temperature. It's popular for foodstuffs, and it has come back from Johnson Foods in Dale City.

Another Wisconsin & Southern insulated, plug-door boxcar is this one, painted for Athearn's 60th anniversary in 2007. The owner of the railroad must also be a model railroader! This boxcar is in the same train, returning from Johnson Foods.

Another interesting car is this large covered hopper. While the company is imaginary (created by the model manufacturer to help sell a series of cars and building kits based on the ethanol industry), the car is real; a Trinity Rail -built car with a 6351 cubic foot capacity designed for light-weight loads, such as sunflower seeds and livestock feed.

A railroad-owned car is this tank car. It uses its 20,700 gal capacity to carry lube oil to the various shops around the AP&W system. Out of the original 20 cars, only about a dozen are left after four decades of service; this one has lasted long enough to receive new paint and vertical conspicuity stripes.

Another pair of vets are these two boxcars; one painted for Norfolk Southern, and one still in Southern paint almost 30 years after the Norfolk & Western-Southern merger that created the new Norfolk Southern. Both cars were built in the early 70's for the Southern. The protrusions on the sides of the cars are locaters for the internal load restraints that allow these cars to maintain a smooth interior, and that give them their nick-name; "waffle sides". The restraints fit into the indentations ("waffles"), rather than a protruding interior rail, which can damage the cargo -or the worker- if run into.

CARPAK PT2

A look at some more freight cars found in and around Hillsdale...

This 68' flat car is a specialized car known as a 'finger rack'; so named due to the "fingers" mounted on the deck. This car is on its way to Wilson Steel to be loaded with the cargo it was designed for; bundles of steel rebar, the reinforcing rods used in large concrete walls.

Here is the car after loading. Now you see the reason for the "fingers" on the deck -to help keep the bundles of rebar neatly stacked on the car. These bundles are headed for the World Trade Center.

Another load of steel are these pipes, also from Wilson Steel.

These pipes will be heading to the Gulf Coast for an oil pipeline project. Note that they are in two APW gondolas painted in two different schemes! The left gondola has been recently repainted, and now sports the required conspicuity striping -the yellow reflective tape along the sides, used to increase the car's nighttime visability.

To finish off the 'metal' theme, here is another car used by the steel industry; a short-bulkhead flatcar. While cars with taller bulkheads (ends) are used by the lumber industry to carry wood and drywall products, these cars as better suited for carrying the heavier loads of the steel industry, since the loads are rarely that tall. The bulkheads do an excellent job of keeping the loads from shifting past the ends of the car and causing a derailment. This car is actually carrying a load of aluminum rods.

CARPACK

I'm starting a new feature, called 'Carpack', following the wide variety of cars that pass through Hillsdale every day.

A boxcar shows off its ' urban tattoo' as it passes through town. The CHTT reporting marks are for the old Chicago Heights Terminal Transfer, a subsidiary of the Chicago and Eastern Illinois, which itself was aquired by the APRR in the late 60's. This boxcar dropped a load off at Johnson Foods in Dale City, and is now returning to the midwest.

Another CHTT-marked car is this covered hopper, also graffitied. This is one of several thousand Trinity-built hopper cars of this design that the AP&W has -none of which have APW reporting marks!

A car that DOES have APW markings is this large 60' boxcar. These are normally seen in auto parts service; during the downturn of '08-'10 these cars were seen in other places, such as paper transport, where this one was found waiting to go to the paper mill with a load of paper bales for recycling.

Another car waiting to go to the paper mill was this old, weathered RailBox car, also loaded with paper bales. Note that while the lettering is still intact, the red and blue arrows are fading away. Note also that the capacity data has been crossed out (no longer required) and that the car still has its inspection dot on the side above the right-hand truck. This was required on cars in 1978 due to a series of incidents involving defective wheelsets. Cars were inspected, and the dot signified that the wheelsets were good.

In the same string of cars is this newer 60' TBOX. This car sports the TTX scheme used around the the turn of the millinium up until a few years ago. As the slogan on the side notes, TTX is a pool of railroad equipment that operates nationwide. Originally formed by the nation's railroads in the late-60's to operate a growing fleet of trailer carrying flatcars, it now owns thousands of boxcars, gondolas and flatcars of all types, as well as the vast majority of intermodal railcars.

IN THE YARDS 11

Last week's train dropped off three cars in Hillsdale Yard. Let's follow up on them...

The heavy-duty flatcar with the retired turbine sits in the yard after being dropped off. These views show the bracing rods used to secure the large, heavy load to the car. Given the size and shape, if it falls off the car, there will be a nice trail of destruction left behind -especially if it rolls down a hill in western Pennsylvania!

Meanwhile, the two compressor parts have been moved over to the eastbound tracks. Ricardo prepares to climb aboard SD40 3163 to take the loads to the under-construction ethanol plant, which will be an ADM-affiliated (but not owned) facility.

Sam looks over the cars as they are readied for movement. When the new plant is finished, it will be a major customer for the railroad, with lots of ADM hoppers and tank cars coming and going.
Since it won't be owned by ADM, however, on occasion you will also see cars from their competitors as well!

PASSING TRAINS PT6

C40-8 6045 leads a short freight through town. It will be dropping off several cars for local delivery.

Among the cars is this well-worn NS boxcar. Built by Pullman-Standard in the late 70's, this car will soon be reaching the 40 year retirement age; at that point it has to be either rebuilt or retired from interchange service.

Among the cars to be dropped off, are these three heavy-duty flatcars. The first two are carrying compressor parts for a new plant being built outside of town. The third one has yet another worn out turbine being sent to Wilson Steel for scrapping.

Last in the train are these two bulkhead flatcars carrying pipe loads -steel on the first one and concrete on the second.

To follow up on last week's excursion theme, here's a "fantasy" excursion; a late 70's era passenger trainset powered by gas turbines! While Amtrak did, indeed, own several Turbotrain sets during the late 70's-early 80's, they were all (unfortunately) scrapped after several years of deferred maintenance and storage. But the cool thing about model railroading is that you can bring back the past on your layout!

FALL EXCURSIONS PT2

More on last week's fall special...the cars!

The first two cars are fluted-side stainless steel dome cars, built by Budd in the mid-50's for the APRR's Alton Limited. This train ran from Chicago to St. Louis, and was inherited in 1947 when the APRR bought the Alton RR from the B&O RR. The train was upgraded big-time during the 50's when two new train sets were purchased from Budd, consisting entirely of stainless steel cars -including several domes per train. While most went to Amtrak in 1971, several were retained for company use, including business trains.

The other two cars are also nearing 50 years of existence. Built for the Milwaukee Road's Hiawatha service between Chicago and the Twin Cities, this Pullman-Standard 'Super Dome' was one of six built; today it is one five that survive. With the exception of the upper maroon band, this is close to how the car originally appeared.

Also built for the Hiawatha, this car was also unique to the Milwaukee Road; it was constructed in their shops! Called a Skytop Lounge, the windowed rear-end both gave it its name and provided great views of the scenery. The comments about the Super Dome's paint scheme apply here as well.

A fall excursion of a different kind! Norman talks with Bill Johnson about yet another museum piece -an old Dodge Power Wagon rail truck! About the same age as the above passenger cars, it's a railroad version of a truck that Dodge built for nearly 20 years! It was used by track gangs to inspect the rails, and sometimes make minor repairs such as tightening loose bolts on rail plates or correcting slightly mis-aligned rails. Now, it's used for "show and tell" for school kids and historical groups. It is also available for renting out, should you have a rail spur or branchline available for use!