SUMMER STEAM EXCURSION TIME!

With the arrival of summer, it's excursion time!

Engine 34 rolls into town, with a extra-long consist of cars. These trips are proving to be popular!

The bell clangs as she passes through Hillsdale Yard, on her way to Cumberland.

One of the new cars is this old Canadian National coach. Like the other cars, it is a wood-bodied car, although it's a 50' car, compared to it's 34' brethren.

A caboose brings up the rear, although it's a "drovers" car. The car gets its name from the early cattle car era, when the "drovers" who accompanied the livestock on the trip to the slaughterhouses rode in the caboose with the train conductor. The passenger section was added to accommodate the riders, and later these types of cabooses were used in mixed train service. Car 145 is still undergoing cosmetic work, but is still good for the trip.

Later that afternoon, engine 34 returns to town, on its way back to Pittsburgh.

Passing along side a lease-unit SD40-2, the size comparison between a steamer built before the turn of the century and a modern diesel is apparent. And the diesel is about 10' shorter than the current models offered by EMD and GE!

The train rolls past County Lane, and Hillsdale, on its way west to Pittsburgh. Not a bad way to spend a day on the weekend!

IN THE YARDS PT31

Several carloads of replaced ties sit in Hillsdale Yard, ready for shipment.

Dash 840C 6045 draws the honors as the ties are being shipped to a dealer in eastern Pennsylvania who sells them to garden centers. Creosoted ties are insect and rot resistant, and so make good retaining walls for raised flower beds. As for 6045 herself, she has been downgraded from mainline to local service, as her age catches up with her; she was built in 1988, and has many millions of miles on her frame.

A short string of oil tank cars sit in the yard, alongside a short string of 56' stack cars loaded with 28' UPS boxes. Both sets will be headed east shortly; the oil cars to a local dealer, and the UPS boxes to New York City. A mix-up placed the stack cars in IC49, the Chicago-Baltimore train, instead of CNY60, the Chicago-New York City train; they will be placed on DN39, the Dayton-NYC train.

Another set of tank cars, these in ethanol service, sit on the opposite end of Hillsdale Yard, after having been brought in from Farmingdale Ethanol. These cars will also be headed east; to a refinery in New Jersey to make the E85 blend of gasoline.

The local crane and a pair of HERZOG gons sit outside the shop. As always, track and Right-Of-Way maintenance is a constant item.

Dash 9-44C 5410, the Rock Island Heritage unit, sits in the yard, after having an engine problem looked at. With BNSF and NS rebuilding their respective fleets of Dash 9's into AC-drive units, it remains to be seen if the AP&W will follow suit with its fleet of 200 units. Given that there are over 3000 AC-drive units on the roster, and the last DC drive mainline units were purchased in 2007, the likely-hood of these units remaining on the roster in current form seems relatively slim. Their Dash 8 predecessors, like 6045, are already being placed in long-term storage, pending their ultimate retirement and sale.

PASSING TRAINS PT46; PITT27 PT2

From last week...

After the tank cars, a string of AOK (Arkansas and Oklahoma) cars, including a high-cube boxcar and several covered hoppers.

Next, a pair of CHTT-marked hoppers, that have yet to receive the AP&W logo.

Another set of tank cars. The number on the placards is 3257, the designation for hot asphalt, though these cars are empty..

Behind the asphalt cars is a long string of empty trash containers, returning west.

The line of orange is broken up by a lone boxcar, as a string of MOW cars has been tacked on for the trip west. Note there are three of each; flatcars and gondolas.

An NS gon brings up the rear. The caboose is long gone; the irony being that low-height cars would have been perfect for placement in front of the caboose, to allow better vision of the train ahead. The lowly EOT device doesn't "watch" the train for trouble, but merely monitors the rear-end brake pressure, and transmits the info to the engineer in the cab. Cost effective, but...sterile.

PASSING TRAINS PT46; PITT27 PT1

PITT27, the priority train from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, passes through town...

EMD demo/lease unit 1204 is the solo engine in charge today.

PITT27 passes through the yard. Note the tail end of the Rock Island unit outside the shop on the left.

A pair of Canadian National boxcars are on the head end. The "CNA" marks are for cars in international service.

A pair of lease-fleet boxcars, dressed in green -one a two-tone!

A pair of coil cars, one for US Steel, and one for UP.

A short string of empty ethanol tank cars, headed back to the Midwest for reloading.As usual, the train requires a second act. See you next week!