IN THE YARDS PT17

On a cold fall day, the door to the shop is closed. Note the Trackmobile sitting next to it; this little unit is normally one of the shop switchers for the Cumberland shop complex, but is on loan to the Hillsdale crew -who, in turn, have loaned it to City Fizz, whose own Trackmobile is out for repairs.

Sam, Briggs, and two other shop guys take lunch. The van belongs to a local contractor making a tool delivery.

Dale Williams and Mason converse about the day's work schedule. As usual on a railroad, there's "a lot to do, in so little time"! This is especially true in Hillsdale; located on the AP&W's busy Pittsburgh-D.C. main line, no less than 28 trains pass through in 24hrs -and then there are 7-8 local jobs!

Paul and Jason enjoy a break between trains. Another one will be pulling in soon, with cars to drop off for area customers.

A small, CSX two-bay covered hopper sits in the yard. Loaded with sand, it will be moved to a team track to be unloaded into a truck for delivery to the city's storage barn for the coming winter. Hillsdale also receives road salt this way.

And speaking of the upcoming winter, here is well-loved relic from the past; a Russell snowplow! Fresh from her touch-up in the shop, she awaits her lettering and reporting marks -and the next big snowfall!

Built before the second World War, she is easily one of the oldest pieces of equipment on the railroad -a living museum piece that still does the job it was built for; clearing the tracks of deep snow. Her recent paint job hides one interesting fact about Russell snowplows; the windows in the pilot house (cupola) are framed in wood! Hence not only was she repainted, but she also had her rotted window frames replaced as well. Other (hidden) features; a flanger underneath to clear snow from between the tracks, and a unique front truck behind the plow. The curved top of the plow, called the 'fence', is designed to keep the pilot house windows clear; that some of these plows used by the railroad around the Great Lakes combating lake-effect snow actually got windshield wipers shows how well the design worked!