WEST BOUND STEEL CITY EXPRESS

A look at the west-bound Steel City express train...

Led by a single unit, the evening train rolls through as Ricardo heads to the parking lot -and home.

The single unit is engine 156; the Heritage unit done up in Amtrak's original 'headless arrow' paint scheme of the early 70's.

As usual, the train features Amfleet coaches. Note that these two now have painted wheelsets.

Note also that these cars have the new Amtrak 'three sheets in the wind' logo.

The final car in the train contrasts with the others in two ways; first, it's still in the 'phase IV' paint scheme of the late 90's. Second, it is one of the original Walthers Amfleet cars, also from the late 90's, and so has a much less detailed body, as well as a painted finish, as apposed to the metal finish of the newer cars; the difference is apparent in the above photo.

FALL EXCURSION TRAINS

As always, fall is excursion train time!

Engine 34 rolls its little train east to D.C.

Though ancient, the 1897-built steamer has little trouble with the two-car train. The beautiful blue color of the boiler is a darker variation of the Russian Blue found on many steamers around the turn of the 20th century.

The entire train is a collection of museum pieces!

The much-newer -but still 65 years old- EMD F7 of the Dinner Belle rolls westward to Pittsburgh.

The Dinner Belle has the extra dinner in the consist, making for a 4-car train instead of the normal 3-car set. And, of course, the two domes are full!

ROCK TRAIN PT2

The conclusion of last week's rock train...

Several Herzog cars are present; these are ballast cars headed east.

Another look at the Vulcan and AP&W two-bays. Note that the two cars are carrying slightly different types of rock; the AP&W cars are carrying crushed white granite, while the Vulcan cars are carrying crushed gravel similar to the ballast under the tracks. Note also, that the Vulcan cars have painted wheelsets, while the AP&W cars do not.

After the Herzog hoppers, is a string of Herzog gons with broken rock loads.

These loads are headed to a facility in eastern Pennsylvania to be crushed up for use in asphalt.

On the tail end of the train are two cars that are actually related to the fracking scene in western Pennsylvania; a pair of two-bay covered hoppers that are now emptied of their sand loads.

CRDX 21066 is a recent Trinity-built car.

WSOX 804849 is another recent Trinity car -but note the differences in stenciling and reflective stripe placement.

ROCK TRAIN PT1

From time to time, a unit 'rock train' passes through town. This train operates as an extra -E-RM107; Extra, Rock-Movement(!) 107.

Today the train is led by a pair of leased CITX SD70M-2's.

On the head-end are a trio of side-dump cars. These cars are carrying rip-rap; the loads will be dumped alongside the right-of-way where the railroad travels along the Potomac River bank in northern Maryland.

Behind the dump cars are a string of Ortner hoppers.

Unlike the previous two, this one has the 'APW' on the sides above the numbers. It also has an Operation Lifesaver decal in front of the number, which moves the number back a panel. The end "porches" help spread the weight out over a greater distance for higher capacity; due to the density of the load, 100T of rock can be very heavy!

After the Ortner cars, are a string of conventional 2-bay hoppers.

Several are owned by Vulcan Materials. They are traveling to Vulcan's York facility. The grey paint almost matches the gravel loads!