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.

PASSING TRAINS PT38, PITT29 PT1

With the coming of fall, the seasonal reefer traffic is rolling in priority freights, as the upcoming holiday season looms...

Train PITT29, the priority freight between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, rolls into town.

Since these trains are generally short, the 5000hp of a single SD80MAC is capable of handling them. The engine is trailed by a string of Union Pacific reefers headed back west for reloading with perishables.

Many suffer from being "tagged" by graffiti "artists".

Not all the reefers are UP. Here is a CEFX car, showing accumulated grime from years of service. 

Another CEFX car, with graffiti.

Several tankers for vegetable oil are also in the consist.

Two cars are owned by ADM.

TRAIN FEL31, PT2

The rest of the train...

More ethanol tank cars, these being UTLX cars.

A string of grain hoppers, owned by The Andersons.

More grain hoppers, these two with RUSX reporting marks.

A Cargill car with a unique paint job; painting out the graffiti resulted in this look.

A pair of CP Rail cars. Note the 'SOO' sublettering; the Soo Line was CP Rail's american subsidiary until CP fully absorbed it in the late 90's. Today, many of CP's american-based hoppers still carry SOO reporting marks.

An ex-CNW hopper now owned by the Northern Oklahoma Railroad.

The end brings two BNSF hoppers, in two different schemes!

TRAIN FEL31, PT1

Train FEL31, the westbound train from Farmingdale Ethanol, passes through Hillsdale on the way to Uniontown...

The lead engine passes under the bridge.

The engines in charge today are SD70MAC 8663 and AC4400 8900, both in full "Star" logo dress.

On the head end are several hoppers of DDG pellets; a byproduct of the ethanol distilling process, these are often used in animal feeds. Note the "billboard" scheme worn by the first hopper, while the other two are green -unusual for a covered hopper.

Other hoppers are in the traditional "plain-jane" grey, with minimal markings.

Several tank cars are returning after delivering gasoline, used to make the ethanol unfit for drinking(!).

The main body of tank cars are loaded with ethanol.

Being an ADM facility, it's no surprise to find ADM tanks in the mix.Pt2 will continue next week, with the rest of the train.