IC48; PT2

From last week...

As noted last week, IC48 is loaded with international intermodal traffic headed to Chicago. And once again, there are more China Shipping containers, along with an MCC container -yet another Far East shipper. Note the AOK stack car in TTX yellow. Most class 1 railroads don't own stack cars, but class 3 regional Arkansas-Oklahoma does!

Another China Shipping box, along with another pair of MCC containers. Also, a pair of CMA-CGM  boxes, in two different schemes! The other green container is owned by Capital Leasing.

Yep, still more China Shipping 45' containers, this time in a 48' Husky Stack repainted into the new TTX scheme. Given that 48' containers are rarely seen anymore, and 48' well cars are being removed from service as a result, the fact that this car was repainted is pretty amazing. Behind it is a 53' well car, with a pair of 40' Uniglory containers -in two different colors!

Once again, 40' and 45' containers in a 53' well car are not the most efficient way to do things, but it gets the job done. Behind the 3-unit set, is a single 40' well car -rebuilt from a 48' car- with a pair of 20' tank containers. Given that they are single- stacked, they are probably loaded -tank containers tend to be on the heavy side.

And so too can 20' boxes. More China Shipping and COSCO units. Recently, these two companies have merged into COSCO Shipping.
The rest of the train next week.

PASSING TRAINS PT3; IC48 PT1

Now that the busy holiday shipping season is over, the westbound flow of empty containers back to Asia begins...

Train IC48 is devoted to international stack traffic between Baltimore and Chicago. Today, it is lead by a pair of CEFX SD70M-2's.

A VERY faded China Shipping 45' container rides atop a 40' NYK box. A pair of single-stacked China Shipping 20-footers is in the next well. As you'll see, this train has a lot of Chinese shipper containers returning to the Far East.

A older Gunderson Maxi-Stack, with a variety of 40' boxes, including a pair of orange Hapag-Lloyd standard-height (8'6") containers. The height difference is quite noticeable. Another Chinese container is the COSCO box (Chinese Ocean Shipping COmpany).

More China Shipping containers, including another faded 45-footer, and another pair of Hapag-Lloyds.

IC48 rolls through Hillsdale Yard past a string of stored ballast hoppers and a pair of gons loaded with shredded scrap metal bound for Wilson Steel Works. Of note is the fact that the first car in the train is a drawbar-connected three-unit set of 53' well cars. Using 53' well cars to carry 40' containers is not the most efficient way to do things, but it happens more than the railroads would like.
Speaking of more, there will, of course, be more of this train next week!

MCP91 PT2

The conclusion of last week's train...

A short string of empty oil cans. They don't always travel in solid trains.

An out-of-place Union Pacific coil car and a cryogenic tank car.

An empty bulkhead flatcar and a boxcar that has had its graffiti painted over. Unfortunately, more will be added eventually (just not by me!).

The Milwaukee, Racine & Troy is the club layout of Model Railroader magazine.

A pair of BNSF 65' gondolas head back home.

An NS gondola brings up the rear.

PASSING TRAINS PT3; MCP-91 (1)

One of the GE ET44AC demonstrators leads a short MCP-91 (Manifest, Cumberland-Pittsburgh) through town.

An AP&W 60' high-cube boxcar starts the train, providing a spacer between the locomotive and the heavy load on the next car.

A large 150 ton generator rides a heavy duty flatcar. It is heading west for rebuilding(!). It's unusual that it's being shipped out; normally a generator this large is rebuilt in place due to cost concerns, but in this case, it's actually been sold and the new owner is taking advantage of a tax write-off. The original power plant has been shut down and mothballed.

Behind the flatcar are more boxcars and a string of tank cars.

The tank cars are kaolin slurry cars. Note that while both cars are UTLX-owned, they have different lettering patterns and paint; the car on the left has higher reporting marks and the blue is lower along the bottom of the car, while the car on the right actually has a black underbody.

Following the kaolin cars is a woodchip car, lettered for Georgia Pacific. The other tank cars, along with the rest of the short train, will be looked at next week.