THE 80'S PT3

More of Hillsdale in the 80's...

The 80's scene included this tractor-trailer combination; an owner-operator Kenworth W900 pulling a 45' Fruehauf van trailer. While Kenworth is still very much in business, Fruehauf was purchased in the 90's by Wabash and no longer exists.

Later, another rig passes, this time a Coca-Cola truck. It's probably circling the block to get to the supermarket next block over. Notice both the VW bus and the Plymouth GTX convertible parked on the street.

A Fredrickson tractor trailer turns onto Main St, after leaving the business district. To my knowlege, this company doesn't exist anymore either.

As another intermodal train passes through town, we see what was then a new concept; two containers double-stacked in a well car. With 48' containers being the maximum length (matching trailer lengths), these cars feature 48' wells to hold the containers. Seen in their as-delivered paint sceme, these cars are still in service despite the switch to 53' containers; the containers are retired by now -and in the case of the Conrail-Mercury containers, so is the owner!

One of the unfortunate casualties of the 80's was the caboose. So it was quite a treat to not only see one still in use, but on the tail end of a stack train at that! The bay window caboose is still lettered for its previous owner, the Memphis, Chattanooga & Knoxville RR. The MC&K was the central partner in the AP&W merger; serving Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia and into northern Florida. Like partner APRR, the MC&K was a coal hauler, but also served much of the lumber and steel producing regions of The South, as well as the kaolin clay producing areas of Georgia.

THE 80'S PT2

A continued look back at Hillsdale in the 80's...

A piggyback train approaches town.

As it passes through the yard, the two GE C40-8's are in full throttle on the head end. 6045 and 6000 are two of  the first 50 GE's the newly formed AP&W purchased in 1988; 50 more would follow the next year, with another 100 in 1990.

During the 80's, trailer lengths increased dramatically. In1980, 40' was the standard; the next year 45' became the new standard; in 1985, 48' trailers hit the road. Shown here; a 45' trailer from a leasing company (the Availco "Preferred Pool" trailer), a 48' trailer (the orange Schneider National trailer) and a 40' UPS trailer. Notice the last two share the same flatcar; its 89'4" length allows it to carry the combined 88' length of the two trailers.

More UPS trailers ride the rails. This was the early incarnation of train DB-C47, the D.C./Baltimore-to-Chicago piggyback, which today still carries UPS traffic between the two areas -but with lighter-weight spine cars much more common, and 53' trailers instead of these 40's!

Alot of UPS traffic ran between the East coast and the Midwest on the AP&W during the 80's! Another common route for UPS traffic was/is on the ex-Erie main line from Buffalo to Chicago, purchased during the 1976 formation of Conrail; Conrail preferred the flatter, faster ex-New York Central route. The APRR made the Erie route work by using more reliable power, taking advantage of  Conrail's early struggles with old, worn out motive power -and the fact that it was formed from a bunch of bankrupt railroads. By the time Conrail got its act together, the AP had secured the lion's share of UPS traffic, which continued into the AP&W era.

THE 80's PT1

And now, for a nostalgic look back at Hillsdale during the late 80's...

A NorthAmerican Van Lines tractor-trailer pulls out onto Main St. While at first glance, this looks like Hillsdale today, the vehicles date the photo; note the 80's Honda Accord, the old Cadillac station wagon, the VW bus, and the Ford Pinto!

As the tractor-trailer turns the corner, a McKinley delivery man waits for traffic to clear so he can get back into his van. He just made a delivery to The Pub; they still sell their special (and popular) beer-batter fried fish sandwiches to this day!

During the late 80's, J&S Trucking still occupied a spot on Main St. Two of its trucks are parked in the lot beside the office, while the tow truck from Tony & Mark's Garage sits on the other side. Soon after this photo was taken, J&S moved to the outskirts of town, and this lot sat vacant for several years before Domino's Pizza bought it.

The furniture store and Kentucky Fried Chicken were there since the 70's, and are still there today. That 70's Ford van is probably gone by now; along with the Ford Escort, Buick Regal, Chevy Caprice, and Pontiac Grand Prix. The Ford LNT9000 tractor still runs; the 45' Preferred Pool trailer was last seen being used as a storage trailer. 

The townhouse had some of the same tenants it has today; the owner of the Jeep Cherokee still lives there and still has the Jeep, while the Mustang owner has recently traded it in for a new Mustang. And while the customized Chevy pickup still runs after a second restoration job, the little Honda Civic by the street light is long gone.

CARPACK 5

A look back at some of the cars that could be found in Hillsdale Yard during the 80's...

 A 50' insulated boxcar belonging to the Saint Louis-San  Francisco (aka the Frisco) railroad, waiting to be delivered to what was then McMillen Foods (now Johnson Foods). After the 1985 merger that created the AP&W, lots of Frisco equipment started showing up in this area.

 GATX 46734 is a car made up from two single-bay airslide covered hoppers joined by a drawbar to create a single, high-capacity car. It, too, is headed to McMillen Foods, carrying a load of flour. The term 'airslide' refers to the design of the car; the outlet bays are lined with a permeable fabric through which air is pumped to loosen up the load and enable it to 'slide' out the gates. The car was designed especially for dense powders which tend to pack together during shipping, like sugar and flour, and which are hard to unload as a result.

 Another railroad involved in the 1985 merger was the Detroit, Toledo & Ironton. Once owned by Henry Ford to supply his Detroit factories, the DT&I was famous for its color-coded auto parts boxcars which traveled the country in various supply/delivery pools. This gondola was one of many the railroad had for steel shipments; here it is loaded with steel coils from Wilson Steel.

 Also loaded with Wilson Steel products, are these two Canadian-design bulkhead flatcars. Built during the early 70's to haul Canadian lumber, they were soon eclipsed by larger cars and were assigned to other uses, such as this shipment of plate steel.

In 1980, the Rock Island shut down. Afterwards, most of its property was sold at auction; the C&NW purchased a large number of its one-time competitor's freight cars, including this covered hopper. All of the Rock Island's markings were painted out with white paint, making the finished result quite distinctive!
And with this, we now enter a historical look back at Hillsdale during the late 80's, in the aftermath of the creation of the AP&W. Stay tuned...