FALL TRAINS

 The trains of fall are running again! And not just the grain trains either...

DB-P103, the Dinner Belle, returns from Cumberland.

With domes on both ends, the train is especially popular during the fall, and a full-length diner car, second from the end, is added to the consist. With actual meals cooked onboard -not pre-cooked food packs- riders get both a restaurant-quality meal and great views of Southwestern Pennsylvania!

And for an extra fee, you can sit in the rear car, and catch the view through the large window -or relax in the reclining seats in the dome!

Another train is EX34; the steam excursion, behind 4-4-0 34. While the train runs from spring through summer with just the two open coaches, the closed coach is added during the fall season to meet demand. The AP&W's line between Pittsburgh and Cumberland runs through a lot of rural -and undeveloped- country side, crossing plenty of creeks, streams and several rivers, making it an ideal route for rail tours -just so long as they don't interfere with the profitable freight trains!

A true fall train is HL06, the local oil train, which now originates in Uniontown.

Led by genset 300, the train of tank cars rolls through the yard on the way to the Snake Oil oil dealership with a load of heating oil for the winter ahead.

A "borrowed" NS 60' boxcar is on the head end as the required buffer car. Whether NS knows about this or not is unknown.

As usual, the tank cars are of the GATX "Tank Car" design, interconnected by hoses to allow the train to be loaded and unloaded as a unit instead of one car at a time.

Bay window caboose 4368 brings up the rear, also as usual. This caboose is usually assigned to this train when it is running fall through spring; during the summer months it often works local and transfer freights between Pittsburgh and Uniontown.

Next week, another oil train -this time a big one!