IN THE YARDS PT25

A pair of EMD SD40 series engines sit in the yard; AP&W SD40 3163 and leased GATX SD40-2 7361.

Both show their age. Note the sooty roof, rust along the dynamic brakes, and fuel stain on the fuel tank.

Note also, that 3163 needs a new air horn!

The roof is nearly black from the exhaust back. Note also the walkway light over the step-up on the walkway; this was added as a safety feature during the 70's.

7361 also has rust around it's dynamic brakes, as well as plenty of dirt on it's trucks.

Note the grime on the nose and sides, as well as the walkways.

While the roof is not as black as 3163's, there is still a fair amount of soot.

IN THE YARDS PT24

With the testing of GE's latest engines, the ET44 series, the GE test car has been on the move.

These photos show the car sitting in Hillsdale Yard one afternoon. But where are the engines?

Another look at the yard shows two 'wood' loads; wood chips in the big hopper car at the rear for the paper mill in Dale City, and a load of ties in the gondola beside it. The new ties are headed to a treatment facility to be soaked in creosote before finally being delivered for placement on a rail line somewhere, probably in the Midwest after an oil train derailment.Speaking of oil trains, with the announcement of a run of detailed crude oil tank cars by a new manufacturer, and with Hillsdale being on the main line from the Midwest to Baltimore, oil trains may soon be running through town in the coming months!

ANOTHER BIG LOAD PT2

This week, the load itself!

The 'A' control cabin.

The transformer load, suspended between the two halves of the car.

The 'B' end control cab. Unfortunately, it's hard to get the camera to focus properly from a distance.

The second flatcar is empty, simply added for extra breaking effort -not an insignificant thing when dealing with a 250-ton transformer!

The final car is this ex-Southern Pacific bay window caboose, now HDTX 4726. The caboose has kept both its number and paint scheme from its SP days; this was the failed SPSF paint scheme. Obviously, after three decades, the paint has been touched up by HDTX. The yellow ends add a nice splash of color -and visibility- to the car. After spending the night in Hillsdale, the train continued on to Baltimore, where it was handed off to NS for the final leg of its journey to a power plant in Delaware.

ANOTHER BIG LOAD, PT1

Once again, there is a big load sitting in Hillsdale Yard...

The "High-N-Wide" train sits in the yard.

The train is lead by a leased GATX engine.

As can be seen here, the engine has a few miles on it! When last seen, on the "Blue Train", it was still clean. Not any more!

Caboose HDTX 714 is right behind the engine.

Behind the first caboose, is a load of rebar. The power plant that the transformer is going to is also doing a facility upgrade, so rather than run two separate trains, the railroad simply added this car to the special movement; the extra weight of the load actually helps the train's handling performance.

Another loaded car is this drop-center flatcar with a compressor segment load.