Among the local trains that originate out of Hillsdale, is the local to Wilson Steel Works, in Dale City, train DBW10.
While the NREX demonstrator was busy with other locals, ol' reliable SD40 3163 was the one to handle the Wilson Steel job. Here, she gets ready to go as Sam waits for his switchman. While Wilson Steel, like most mills, has its own switcher, the local crew switches the receiving yard as they set out the empties and assemble their out-going train. While there are usually at least one or two gondolas of scrap, today's train is 12 cars, all empty.
The Wilson Steel job merits a caboose, which these two men will be riding. Due to the amount of switching involved, two men are required. Since there are only two seats in the locomotive, the caboose is necessary -plus it makes a good place to do paperwork! The caboose is on a short string of cars that will be tacked onto the end of the string on the next track over.
The return train is DBW11, shown here. Since there are no turning facilities on the Wilson Steel branch, 3163 has to return long hood forward.
As the train pulls into the yard, we can see the various loads of finished steel goods, including flat plates on the three yellow bulkhead flatcars. Farther in the train, are two gondolas of unfinished coil steel, with more carloads of pipe after that. Meanwhile, NREX 2009 sits in the yard at top.
Two of the cars carrying pipe are converted from pulpwood service, where they carried small logs to chip mills for grinding into woodchips for further conversion into paper products. In addition to the 11 loaded cars, there are 3 empties as well, including the gondola at right, which delivered scrap steel to the mill. While the gen-set is good for most of the locals out of Hillsdale, the railroad prefers a six-axle engine for these trains, due to a combination of sometimes heavy trains and steep grades on the branch to the mill. The road also would like something with dynamic brakes for these same reasons; hence the possibility that 3163 could be rebuilt with a new EMD 22ECO engine (a 12-cylinder vs. the 16-cylinder it now has) for use on these trains. After 40+ years of service, 3163 may yet live on!
After the train parked and freed up the main line, a parade of delayed trains passed through town; including this eastbound KC-T35 intermodal. Other priority trains were re-routed over NS and CSX rails between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia; KC-T35 was already running late.
In the morning, the train's operating crew arrived from the hotel in this retired school bus. Note the markings have been removed, and the warning lights have been painted over.
Mark Davis walks along the train to make sure everything is ready to go.
The Hillsdale Yard crew also looks over the train as they make preparations for its departure. Note the sheer size of the transformer compared to the men and the truck!
Also making preparations are the operating crew of the train. Here they go over the details of the impending departure. Alot of work goes into moving a 250 ton transformer halfway across the country!
