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.