THE 60's; PT2

More of the 60's...

A worker stands next to an old Dodge Power Wagon converted to a rail truck; note the regular wheels have been replaced with rail wheels. The highway wheels are in the bed. This was in the days before the creation of the "hi-rail" wheels, which allow much easier conversions between road and rail.

A Mack H-61 cab-over sits with a 40' drop-deck trailer advertising the APRR's piggyback service. During the late 60's, and into the late 70's, drop-deck trailers were popular with the railroads and many shippers (especially UPS) as a way to increase cargo capacity, since trailers were limited by law to 40' in length. With the legal length  increased to 45', then 48' during the 80's, drop-decks fell out of favor, and many wound up in storage use, often with one of the two axles removed.
Also of note are the two Ford trucks; one a stake-bed in company service, the other for l.c.l. (less than car-load) service. When freight cars were unloaded at terminals, depots or warehouses these trucks made the final delivery to the customer -and also picked up goods to be shipped out. Today, of course, freight is shipped from point to point in the same trailer or container, minimizing the amount of handling, labor costs -and potential for damage- needed to move goods.
The boxcars on the siding are serving the furniture factory.

Boxcars were still the dominant car, as seen here. The blue TA&G boxcar stands out among the more typical brown cars.

Also of note is this carbon black hopper car. During this time, these cars were rather common in Hillsdale, as they were used not only by local Pete's Plastics, but also common on run-through freights to Cumberland, for the Kelly Tire plant.

The roof of the TA&G (Tennessee, Alabama & Georgia) boxcar is seen here; notice it is not a typical peaked roof, but a flat roof with rounded edges. This is a Pennsylvania Railroad design, the TA&G purchased the car second hand. The "tag" on the car plays to the company's slogan "The TAG Route". Behind it a a red L&N (Louisville & Nashville) boxcar, with the "Dixie Line" slogan, and a grey boxcar in company service.

A pair of SD35's move among the cars. Note the pair of L&N boxcars -this time in blue. They join the two red cars. The red cars are double-door, the blue ones single-door, with "DF" insignias to indicate load restraining devices installed in the cars. Both sets of cars feature one each with one of L&N's two slogans; "The Dixie Line" or "The Old Reliable". The green boxcar is from the Georgia & Florida, and all five cars are 50' Pullman Standard PS1 boxcars.
A further look at Hillsdale Yard (the west end) next week.

THE 60'S PT1

The layout has been renewed! Here's a "look back" at Hillsdale...

Old Fords and Chevys say "60's". (Please ignore the modern building signs!)

More old vehicles, along with a new Dairy Queen.

Old cars pass through the new intersection. Some are taking advantage of the marked spaces on Market St.

A pair of bikers pose for a photo in the DQ parking lot.

A pair of pickups and a hot rod also fill the parking lot, as a woman treats her grand kids at the window on this warm spring day. While most Dairy Queens were painted bright red, this owner decided to go with dark red instead. The difference in paint hasn't hurt business!

A Buick tows an Airstream trailer back home from a weekend at the lake. Meanwhile, only one tractor is left in the lot of the State Line Farm Supply dealership, as one of the attendants talks with a local farmer.

A Cadillac station wagon passes a Ford Mustang in front of the re-located Super Market. A big station wagon can not only hold the family, but all of the groceries as well!
Next week, a look at Hillsdale Yard.

LAYOUT RENEWAL PT5

More changes to Hillsdale...

County Lane now has parking stripes in front of several buildings. Still, there are no handicapped parking spots (yet).

More marked parking spots on Market St., which is now Walthers Street System for its entire length.

The new look of Market Street. While The Pub is still on the corner, and the bookstore next door, the hardware store and the Gemini buildings have swapped places and are now butted against each other, instead of spaced out. And, of course, the library is now moved down to the end of this block, instead of being by itself at the end of the street.

The old view down Market St., with the supermarket on the corner. Note also the condition of the street beyond the tow truck!

The new view, with the relocated hotel now on the corner.

The new look alongside The Daily Examiner. A new, improved sidewalk, improved parking, and a change to the building itself -the rear half is now only two stories instead of three. Still missing from the new intersection are replacement traffic signals!

Another "before"shot. Note the now-removed section of the Examiner building, and the old location of the "NO PARKING" sign. The relocation now allows for parking in front of the entrance -meaning that this woman won't have to try to talk her way out of parking tickets any more! Also note the appearance of the street: the old cardboard sections bowed up often, requiring placement of vehicles -often heavier diecast- to hold them down flat; a problem now fixed with the Street System. The old street sections haven't been discarded however; the intersection piece is now in place on the side street, as seen in the "new look" photos.

A final look at the "new" Hillsdale. with the supermarket now at the front on the corner of County Lane and Church Street. The old street sections here are glued to the board, so I didn't replace them. The bare foam board behind the market will be covered up eventually with a parking lot; I just haven't decided if the sidewalk will go all the way to the intersection or not.
Next week, a "throw-back" look at Hillsdale in the late 60's!

LAYOUT RENEWAL PT4

More updates to Hillsdale...

County Lane is now solid Street System, complete with sidewalks on both sides of the road.

The look continues past the pet shop and Salvation Army shelter, where Tom and Gary sit while waiting for the free lunchtime meal.

There is now a proper driveway entrance to Tony's Garage. Made by splicing two driveway sections together, it is wide enough to accommodate the large tow trucks that will be entering and leaving the lot -and the delivery trucks that will be present in throw-back scenes when it was still a farm supply company.

There is also a small entrance on the other side; eventually, a small business or building may wind up here.
An improvement that was made was to glue the sidewalks overlapping the street sections; this made alignment of the sections much easier without having to actually glue them together as was done with the downtown intersection. It is much easier to handle one foot sections of street than three foot sections!

 Several buildings on Market street have swapped places; these two buildings are now at the end of the block, replacing the library. Also, the painted cardboard of the alley has been replace with Busch parking lot material; this is an adhesive-backed soft thin foam that I cut and applied to the foam base.

The new location of the library can be seen at the far right; the other buildings are back in their old locations, but closer together. While most of the alley is Busch street material, I still needed a small piece of the old cardboard to fill in the corner behind two buildings. Now, with the street permanently attached, I no longer have to constantly re-position small pieces every time the board gets bumped!

One more change to Main Street. While the large warehouse hasn't changed, it now has an owner; Ginete Organic Foods. This billboard, of course, was located along County Lane at the base of the hill beside the Budweiser billboard. I made a small cardboard base on top of the warehouse (two Walthers Armstrong Electric Motors kits) to accommodate it. The Budweiser billboard is still in its old spot on County Lane.
One more look at downtown next week; more changes!