IN THE YARDS PT13

Sam and Chris talk at the end of the work day, as Jake pulls out of the parking lot. While Jake drives a 30-year-old Ford Escort, Sam has a brand-new F-250! Chris' new Honda Civic Si coupe is at the end of the lot on the other side of the driveway.

On another day, we see Norman's 67' Ford Mustang and Earl's 68' Ford 500 Galaxy, along with James' F-250; note the saw table on the back!

With a dirt parking lot, tire tracks out onto the paved road are quite common!

As another DBW 11 local returns from Wilson Steel, yard crew members watch as several gondolas of coiled steel roll in. The high-cube boxcars in the background recently arrived from the paper mill, and will soon be headed out with their loads of newsprint rolls.

With alot of ongoing track work in the area, this work caboose, and its crew, are spending alot of time in Hillsdale Yard. AP12 was created in the 70's by cutting down the body of a surplus road caboose to create a transfer caboose for the Chicago area: lots of traffic was -and still is- transferred between the various railroads' yards, hence the need for transfer cabooses. Since these were short runs, the only amenities needed were a desk, chair, and stove (imagine riding in January in Chicago without one!). During the 90's, 12 was modified for work train service with extra grabs on the side to reach the newly installed a/c unit, an on-board diesel generator (the intake grill and fuel tank are visible beside the grab iron "ladder"), and several storage lockers. The GPS unit on the roof was added in 2000. And the desk now has a computer!

TOWN LIFE PT18

A Shell Oil tanker rolls down Main St., headed to the gas station -there actually is still a gas station downtown!

More vehicles on the road downtown. It's lunchtime!

After twenty years, this old Peterbilt is still going strong! Previously seen in the 80's pulling a 48' container on a chassis, she's now pulling one of the 53' containers of today into downtown.

Two more veterans of the 80's. The Ford L900 is still pulling trailers between Hillsdale and the Uniontown intermodal yard; rather than retire it and buy a new truck, the owner bought a new engine instead and saved about 50 Grand! The Chevy pickup belongs to local handyman Bill Wilson, who keeps it in top shape -new trucks are expensive, even if they are just pick-ups!

One new truck in town is this one - a newly delivered Volvo semi-tractor pulls a set of equally new 28' pup trailers into town. UPS Freight was formed when UPS purchased Overnight Trucking Co; the grey represents the Overnight heritage. This rig is headed to the former Overnight terminal in town, though normally "double-bottoms" don't pass through town due to the tight turns that have to be made -as this driver is about to find out!

TOWN LIFE PT17

After parking the tow truck, Ben walks back to KFC to get lunch for the guys at Tony's. He'll pick up a bucket to take back to the shop, along with about a dozen biscuits!

As Ben heads to KFC, another man rides up Main Street on a motor scooter. On a chilly fall day, both men are bundled up; but at least Ben will have a heated cab for his ride!

Traffic rolls by on Main Street, including truck traffic to and from the downtown business district.

A Greyhound bus, in the new paint scheme, rolls into town. The bus terminal is downtown; Greyhound makes two stops a day in Hillsdale as it travels between Cumberland and Pittsburgh.

Traffic and pedestrians move through downtown Hillsdale on a busy afternoon. Soon, The Pub will be full of locals, dining -and drinking- after a long day of work!

THE AMERICA UNITS ON TV PT2

More on the 'America' units on local camera...

The crew of the NS train comes out onto the front "porch" of the locomotive to observe the activities -and get in the picture!

And get in the picture they do! As the camera captures the meet between the two trains, the 'America' units pull off with their train, continuing their trip west.

The three man crew is visible in the cab. Like most of the crews who run this section of the Gateway Cherokee, they are based out of Cumberland, where one of the two crew changes on this run occur. Louisville is the other crew change location; they are due there at 1:00 A.M.!

As usual, the train has a mixture of 53' domestic containers, including these Swift and UMAX units; JB Hunt containers can be seen in the background.

The tail end of the train is comprised of all-purpose spine cars, with the EOT blinking  beneath the JB Hunt Intermodal trailer on the rear of the final car. That little device (End Of Train) is what replaced the caboose on most trains; it transmits the rear-end air pressure back to the engineer in the cab, letting him know if everything is o.k. -or if the train has separated. The blinking light is to indicate/provide protection for the end of the train.