MERRY CHRISTMAS

It's Christmas! Time for the Christmas train!

The train  rolls into town.

The two GE 44-tonners, 12 and 25, lead the train as usual.

Parked in the yard, the lead engine, 12, shows off its snowplow and red paint.

The handing out of presents to the local children of the Hillsdale House, an annual tradition that the kids always look forward to -and so do the railroad employees.

The train crew travels in this lounge car on the road; they stay in local hotels during overnight stops.

After the stop, the train moves on, headed to Cumberland, and eventually Baltimore.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

TOWN LIFE PT23

As the holidays approach...

A FedEx semi rolls into town. This time of year is always busy for them.

UPS Freight is also busy. Both trucks are headed for the downtown warehouses, which are shipping out holiday gifts by the truckload!

The local UPS driver is also busy making deliveries around town -as is the FedEx man!

Street traffic is up, and so are sales at the furniture store!

Speaking of sales, the local clothing store is also having a last-minute sidewalk sale, despite the cold! One man leaves with several gift boxes. His family will be happy this Christmas!Note also, that the store now has a partial interior. Now it just needs a name!

IN THE YARDS PT30

Briggs and two other shop men talk outside the shop. The tan Buick LeSabre belongs to Briggs; that it looks nearly brand new is a testament to the care it has received over the past two owners and four decades!

A pair of pressure-differential hoppers sit in the east side of the yard, awaiting pickup for the trip back west,

Also awaiting pickup is a string of pipe loads from Wilson Steel Works.

Lastly, a string of plastic pellet hoppers sits in storage, awaiting final delivery of their loads; not all will wind up at Pete's Plastics.

An electrician checks the installation of a pair of solar panels. The AP&W is increasing the use of solar energy at its facilities, helping to reduce its carbon footprint -and its light bills!

ANOTHER DAY

On a late fall day in Hillsdale...

The Union Cold Storage delivery truck heads downtown, loaded with bagged ice for the supermarket and convenience stores.

A big Trinity reefer sits in the yard, outside the shop. A problem with the reefer unit sidelined the car.

Briggs talks with two other shop men on break. After the break, he will take the pickup out on a repair job; a non-working signal unit just outside the city.

Speaking of repair work, a contractor's work van rolls through town. They just left the hardware store. Judging by the old Cadillac with the top down, this was an unseasonably warm day!

After finishing the reefer work, Head-End-Power car 11 sits in front of the shop, ready to go in for some upgrade work on the engine generator.

PASSING TRAINS PT39; GATEWAY CHEROKEE Pt3

A set of HUB Group containers, with another C.R. England reefer box among them.

More Hub boxes, this time in the newer green.

Trailers on spine cars, including a JB Hunt intermodal trailer and an Arnold Transportation Service trailer.

The "Triple-57'/Twin-28'" spine car lives up to its billing, carrying a pair of YRC Worldwide 28' pups.

Interstate and Xtra leasing trailers.

The EOT flashes, signalling the end of the train. And note that the semi in the background also has an XTRA Lease trailer!

PASSING TRAINS PT39; GATEWAY CHEROKEE Pt2

Another C.R. England reefer box, along with more Hunt boxes.

After the Hunt units, a block of FedEx Intermodal boxes.

A Tiger Cool Express reefer box mixed in. This is a new start-up in the game, but is rapidly growing; they announced a recent purchase of 300 new refrigerated containers this year.

More reefer boxes, including another C.R. England and a pair of Tiger Cool Express units.

Conventional reefer trailers are also in the train, on spine cars.

A pair of older C.R. England trailers.

Schneider National and Dart containers on the mid-train spine car.The rest of the train to come...

PASSING TRAINS PT39, GATEWAY CHEROKEE Pt1

Train GC10KC, the westbound Gateway Cherokee, rolls into Hillsdale...

Today, the local railfans are in for a real treat; an all-Heritage unit line up! Leading the way is AP&W 1960, the Erie Lackawanna unit.

The second unit is NS 8104, the Lehigh Valley unit.

The final engine is NS 8102, the Pennsylvania unit.

While they are from two different railroads, all three units are GE ES44AC's. Finding one of these units in a train is a rare treat; all three together? Railfan nirvana!

On the head end, JB Hunt boxes, including the "How cool is that?" reefer unit.

More Hunt boxes, and a C.R. England reefer box.

More on the way...

TOWN LIFE PT22, MORE TRUCKS

A pair of JB Hunt reefer semis roll into town. In addition to the dairy plant, there is also a food distribution center downtown, which supplies local grocery stores in southwestern Pennsylvania and northwestern Maryland.

The first is a conventional semi combo, pulled by an International Prostar.

The second is a reefer-container-on-chassis combo, pulled by a Freightliner Cascadia.

Note the graphics on the container. "How cool is that?" indeed!

A Hertz Leasing semi rolls out of town.

PASSING TRAINS, PITT29 PT2

The holidays bring lots of food traffic to the rails...

These two cars are cryogenic reefers, for frozen foods.

While owned by GATX, the car is leased to McCain foods.

The final car is this ex-Golden West car.

The UP cars feature two different reefer units; the first car shows the original Carrier unit, while the second car has been upgraded with a newer Carrier unit.

The CEFX cars feature Thermo King units, along with a slightly different door design.