OFFICERS' SPECIAL

An officers' special ran through Hillsdale after Christmas...

Train EOS (Extra, Officers' Special) rolls in.

Leading the train is a special treat; an SD70ACe painted in Virginian colors!

This view shows the PTC (Positive Train Control) equipment on the cab roof, as well as the AP&W logo on the nose. This unit should have been 9169, but instead left Muncie, Ind. with an NS-compatible road number! Since it was built at the same time as NS's Heritage Units, the numbers apparently got mixed up. The unit is expected to have its proper number applied eventually.

The train itself is comprised of (left-to-right) the generator car, a coach, dining car, two sleepers, and a dome buffet-lounge-observation car -all from the company's business car fleet.

Hard to see here, but the tail sign features the AP&W's 'Star' logo. The train is headed back to the Chicago headquarters, after leaving New York City.

THE CHRISTMAS TRAIN PT2

The Christmas train is here! But not for long...

Santa's on board, and the train is leaving the 'station'!

A comparison of the two engines. Red and green, 12-25, Season's Greetings, Merry Christmas!

A last look at the engines as they leave town.

As usual, the Operation Lifesaver gon is in the consist, loaded with a tree for display.The red car in front of is the Santa Claus coal car.

The crew car for this year's train is the sleeper car 'Kansas City'.

The Christmas Train is made complete by the Christmas cars produced by Kadee, seen here. These represent 3 of the past 5 years' cars; I didn't get this year's car.

Waving goodbye from the caboose is the other 'Santa's helper'. After the train exits the yard, she'll head inside, and probably head up into the cupola for the view -especially since the other side windows have been plated over!

THE CHRISTMAS TRAIN, PT1

It's that time of year again...the return of the Christmas train!

Train DEC25 rolls into town.

The train is lead by two engines; the old green one and a new red one!

The crew watches as the train pulls in.

The new engine is another second-hand GE 70-tonner. It's been painted red, to compliment the other engine, and is numbered 12, to "date-match" the other engine, #25. In addition, it has been lettered 'Seasons Greetings', and has snowflakes on the sides, as well as an American flag decal on the cab sides.

Engine 12 also has a snowplow mounted on the front pilot. After all, the heart of the AP&W is the upper Midwest!

The kids line up for their gifts from Santa, as they are handed down from the car. A photographer records the moment.

Two more kids come running up, as their caretaker watches. In addition to the kids of the local railroad employees, gifts are also given out to the kids from the Hillsdale House, a home for at-risk children from throughout southwestern Pennsylvania.

IN THE YARDS PT22

A look in the traffic in Hillsdale Yard...

A short string of gons, loaded with scrap, sit in the yard, awaiting delivery to Wilson Steel.

Appalachian 23261 is still in it's as-delivered paint scheme from the 70's!

AP 3901 has the late-80's minimal lettering scheme.

APW 3699 is still in the minimalist lettering scheme, though the conspicuity striping does brighten it up, somewhat.

APW 3877 now has the new logo on the sides.Like most mini-mills these days, Wilson Steel Works recycles scrap metal to create new steel products. In addition to being "green", it is also cheaper than creating new steel from raw materials. It also saves me from having to buy a long string of ore cars to supply the mill with raw ore. Conversely, I still do have to run lots of gons with scrap loads -and I need more gons!

TOWN LIFE PT18 -MORE TRUCKS

With the holiday season in effect, lots of trucks are moving through town...

A JB Hunt semi, behind a newer Freightliner Cascadia, rolls up County Lane. Note that it is a 53' container on a chassis, rather than a conventional box van. With more and more road freight now moving by rail, and the railroads' preference for containers that can be double-stacked for greater efficiency, trucking companies are buying containers in ever-increasing numbers, and JB Hunt was one of the pioneers of the movement.

UPS Freight, the former Overnight Express, is also busy during the holidays. This is the normal daily run into Hillsdale, but more freight is moving in and out of town.

Another Freightliner Cascadia pulls a patriotically painted CIE Freight trailer.

Holiday parties often have pizza; lots more gets consumed while people watch football. The Domino's truck arrives to re-stock the local franchise.

A CRST Expedited semi rolls out of town, behind yet another Cascadia. These are popular trucks, as can be seen by the fact that four of the five trucks so far are Cascadias!

Our last truck is also a Freightliner, but is a Coronado, designed for the owner-operator. It is pulling a trailer full of mulch, a much in-demand item as people get their yards ready for winter. Others will lay down mulch in the spring, so he'll be back in several months.

FINISHED PROJECTS

Here are some of my recently completed freight car projects...

Since I model the contemporary scene, I (unfortunately) need to add graffiti to some of my cars. After getting in some new graffiti decals, I added them to this Walthers autorack, after seeing this in real life. And now, you know why these cars are now fully enclosed; to protect the vehicles from more than just the weather!

After years of sitting in storage, I finally assembled and painted these two Walthers Ortner hoppers. And since they were completed long after the other cars, plus the Testors Africa Mustard paint now has a slightly different hue than before, I gave them an updated look.

Both cars now have painted wheel sets and conspicuity striping along the bottom, as well as the large APW across the top. The latter is slowly being added to the older cars.

In addition, the cars also feature the unique Operation Lifesaver graphic on the left, as well as the new corporate logo in the upper right corner. I have thought about getting some more of these cars, but;

1. Walthers no longer offers the undecorated kits.

2. 40 holes have to be drilled for the installation of grab irons -which are not included!

Lastly, I finished this Atlas PS-2 hopper in MOW service. It, too, has conspicuity striping -the yellow contrasts nicely with the orange car- and the corporate logo at the top; this time centered on the car body. This car will be in company sand transport service. Note that it still has the original friction-bearing trucks -no interchange for this car!

TRAIN GM47 PT2

Last week, the motive power. This week, the train...

Two of the AP-marked AP&W hoppers in the train. The light pole is the "before-and-after" between the car on the right, which has painted wheelsets, and the car on the left, which still does not -but does have graffiti.

If it's a grain train, it has BNSF hoppers in it; this car is representative of most of them in the train.

A GATX car, just to be different.

Another BNSF car, this one an older hopper.

The final car is also a BNSF hopper, not only an older car, but an older paint scheme as well. This was the original BNSF look after the 1996 BN-SF merger.

The EOT flashes at the end of the train. While far cheaper to operate than a caboose. the effect is just not the same!

TRAIN GM47 PT1

Train GM47, the unit grain train from Chicago to Baltimore, rolls through town...

As the train rolls in, the two lead units are of interest.

The engines roll past the converted container-shop on the west end of the yard.

As the train slows to a gradual stop, we can see that the two lead units are special; a BNSF ES44C4, and the Delaware & Hudson heritage unit.

The train will be making a crew change; the two fresh personnel are standing by.

The old crew steps off, glad for a rest after an nine-hour journey through the mountains after leaving Cincinnati. Normally, the crew change is in Uniontown, but yard congestion forced the move to Hillsdale -adding an extra hour to the trip.

After the new crew does the obligatory brake test, radio check, and seat adjustments, they continue the trip on to Baltimore. The train was received in Chicago from the BNSF; hence the BNSF engine on the head-end. The D&H heritage unit was in Chicago awaiting assignment, and added to the train. More on the train itself to come...

TOWN LIFE PT17

FedEx is busy making deliveries downtown; this is one of their newer "Sprinter" vans.

The work crew of Cornerstone Construction takes a lunch break at the Hickory Pit Bar-B-Q.

Later, a city work crew stops at the same place -one of Hillsdale's favorite spots.

Since it's fall, the local equipment dealers are having clearance sales. Here, two new John Deere tractors are being trucked in -much to the dealership's chagrin; they're trying to get rid of the 2015's, not get more!

A common sight in town is this semi. The 40' trailer is long obsolete; but with vent holes cut into the sides, and the roll-up rear door cut down, the trailer is now serving a new purpose hauling wood chips from local logging operations to the paper mill in Dale City. To empty it, the entire semi will be strapped to a platform and tipped on end!