IN THE YARDS PT13

A passing freight has dropped off two specially-equipped flatcars; they have 'risers' designed to support pipe loads.

These two big flatcars will be delivered to Wilson Steel to be loaded with 89' lengths of pipe for use on a gas pipeline project.

Once again, several loads of utility poles await delivery.

Sam, Briggs and two other shop workers enjoy a quiet afternoon outside. With no cars or engines to work on, days like today are rare events to be enjoyed!

INT THE YARDS PT12

Several units sit idle in a nearly empty Hillsdale Yard. Fortunately, traffic levels aren't usually this low.

Dale Williams addresses the crew at the start of the day. While Norfolk Southern crews start the day with calisthenics, AP&W crews start with a meeting -followed by discussion of the day's news, sports, local events, etc...

Matt prepares to start his day on Gen-Set 300, as Chris and Jason look on. Earl is already at the controls, ready for the trip to Dale City with the combined DCL8/DCF12 locals to Johnson Foods and City Fizz. While normally two separate trains/runs, traffic today is light.

Sam and Matt check out Peter's "new" ride -a 1969 Corvette convertible. While the price tag isn't being discussed, one thing is certain; Peter wasn't even "on the drawing board" when the car was new -he was born in '73!

Jake leaves for the day in his car. While there are a few newer cars in the lot, many of the Hillsdale crew still drive their older cars, especially for the daily commute. There is a thirty-year age difference between Jake's Ford Escort and the F250 behind it -and a similar difference with Bill's Chevy beside it.

The rear marker lights of a passing Amtrak Superliner glow in the early evening. Soon, the lights in the yard will be on, and the night crew will be on duty.

TRAIN DBW11

Train DBW11, the return train from Wilson Steel, is entering the yard...

Gen-set 300 pulls the train into Hillsdale Yard, with several hooded coil cars on the head-end.

The first coil car is one that was custom-built by Thrall for Conrail; instead of the then-common dual hoods, Conrail opted for one large hood. Well over 500 cars of this design were delivered before Conrail was split-up between Norfolk Southern and CSX in 1999. The new one-hood design was adopted by other railroads, as seen by the next car, owned by Northwestern Oklahoma and built by NSC.

The other two coil cars are also NSC-built single-hoods; these are 'owned' by US Steel. (This is a fantasy paint scheme; US Steel doesn't own any interchange freight cars, only ones that operate within or between its steel mills. Still, it's a cool paint scheme!)

After the coil cars, are several bulkhead flats loaded with pipe. These big pipes are for an oil pipeline being built in the Midwest.

The tail end of the train is all gondolas; the first one loaded with steel coils, the rest empty. Note the former coal hauling gon, now in scrap service; it towers over its contemporaries! The caboose is nearly hidden under the bridge.

As DBW11 comes to a stop, Peter prepares to step down and aide in the switching of cars. Earl is the engineer. While he likes the gen-set, Earl still prefers the lugging ability of SD40 3163 on this run; often times the train is heavily loaded coming and going, and 3163 has more weight and traction motors (six verses four) to keep the train going. It also has dynamic brakes, which help control the train on a steep grade leaving the steel mill.
The lack of dynamic brakes is why unit 300 will soon be supplemented by a new gen-set that has this useful feature.