THE 80'S PT10

A look at Hillsdale in the 80's...

Traffic on County Lane includes a Kenworth semi pulling a 45' Transamerica Distribution Services trailer. Sights like this were common in Hillsdale through the 80's, as the downtown warehouses were kept busy with local produce, as well as mail-order shipments, and, of course, the U.S. Post Office distribution center, which sorted mail for much of Fayette County.

A look at the offices on County Lane, in downtown Hillsdale.

A woman gets ready to get in her new Pontiac Gran Prix, while an elderly man walks on across the street.

A Mack semi is parked on County Lane, while the driver takes lunch.

A local businessman treats his secretary to lunch at the Hickory Pit Bar-B-Q.

The local school bus rounds the curve, with a group of kids on a field trip to a nearby farm. Fayette County was, and still is, a rural area of southwestern Pennsylvania, so trips to museums and concerts are few and far (literally) between.

A long-time tradition in Hillsdale Yard is the local farmer bringing a truck load of pumpkins into the lot for the guys to purchase. Ned pulls up in his trusty old F-100 as the guys gather around. What he doesn't sell here, he will take to the supermarket -and sell at a higher price!

A woman tries to talk her way out of a ticket, but it's too late; the tow truck is already here!

THE 80'S PT9

After the 1987 merger, engines from the Frisco roamed the system, as former units from the merged railroads wandered all over the map. Here a former SLSF B30-7 works Hillsdale Yard.

863 is a long way from the heart of Frisco territory in Oklahoma and Missouri!

863 switches a string of cars for Johnson Foods, including a cut of corn syrup tank cars.

In 1987, Johnson Foods was making the switch from sugar to corn syrup in its products. Corn syrup is easier to store, has a longer shelf life, and is less likely to be "sampled" by employees!

The opposite end of Hillsdale Yard has a string of auto racks in staging. For ten years, Volkswagon had a plant in southwestern Pennsylvania, near New Stanton. Between 1978 and 1988, the plant turned out about 1.15 million VW Rabbit variants, including the Rabbit pickup. Unfortunately, labor issues and production costs forced the plant to close in early 1988. Coming on the heels of the Kelly Springfield Tire plant in Cumberland, Md. closing in 1987, this was a huge blow to the new AP&W in its early years. The decline of the steel mills in the area didn't help either.

THE 80'S, PT8

A look ar some of the boxcars in Hillsdale Yard, including a pair of Southern "waffle-side" boxcars. The one on the right is the original paint scheme, while the all-brown car represents a recently re-painted car -right before the 1982 merger with the Norfolk and Western that resulted in today's Norfolk Southern.

Along with the RailBox cars are a pair of insulated boxcars from merger partner Frisco. Also seen are more FGE reefers in the foreground.

A covered hopper and a Thrall all-door boxcar sit on the East side of Hillsdale Yard. The boxcar is headed to Smitty Lumber, with a load of wallboard (a.k.a. sheetrock).  The "all-door" design made for easier loading and unloading, but center-beam bulkhead flatcars are even easier to work with -they have no doors to slide open and closed, and the 72' length verses the 56" length of the boxcars mean more capacity as well.

A pair of GATX Airslide hoppers, fresh from delivering sugar to the new City Fizz soda plant in Dale City. City Fizz began using real sugar in its products, but like most soda manufacturers, switched to corn syrup by the late 90's.

An ADM hopper returns from delivering sunflower seeds to Johnson Foods -at the time they made trail mixes. Behind the hoppers are several gondolas with loads from Wilson Steel Works, and behind those are a string of tri-level autoracks.

More gons full of Wilson products, including a coil steel car, both owned by Conrail.

THE 80'S PT7

An FGE (Fruit Growers Express) reefer sits in Hillsdale Yard. Note the misspelled word; it should be "COLD" (you had only one job to do...). Behind the reefer is a cryogenic tank car.

More FGE cars, with the "SOLID GOLD" scheme. These are insulated boxcars; all are returning from Johnson Foods.

A draw-bared pair of GATX Airslide hoppers is also in the yard, after having delivered sugar to Johnson Foods. Note that the FGE boxcars have had their roofwalks removed, but the brackets and high mounted brake wheels remain.

An ex-DT&I gon joins an ex-Appalachian gon with steel coil loads from Wilson Steel.

An ex-AP caboose sits alongside an old scale test car. Scale test cars are important to help keep scales properly calibrated. Railroad shipments are charged by weight, not volume.

A closer look at the cryogenic tank car seen earlier. Carrying 15,000 gals of liquid nitrogen at -320 degrees, this car brought supper cooling capacity to Johnson Foods' frozen food unit.