PASSING TRAINS PT14; IC49 PT2

 The conclusion of IC49...

A K Line reefer container rides atop a ONE container. More K Line boxes, including a 45' in the top position, follow. Note that while the stack car is yellow, it is NOT a TTX car; it is an SFLC (Santa Fe Leasing Co.) car. The Santa Fe may be gone, but the BNSF still uses the SFLC reporting marks.

A trio of ONE 45' containers ride atop a variety of K Line containers.

A well-worn NYK container rides yet another K Line box, followed by an add-on string of auto racks.

A number of the racks are the newer Gunderson Multi-Max cars. Seen here are Kansas City Southern and CSX cars.

A new AP&W Multi-Max car, resplendent in white. Unlike most auto carriers, the Multi-Max has adjustable decks that can be adjusted for either bi-level (for trucks and SUV's) or tri-level (for cars) configuration, making them much more flexible than conventional equipment.

A NS car.

An older TTX tri-level car, with graffiti.

One last look at the train as it rolls through town.

Another train next month -all month! (It's another long one!)

PASSING TRAINS PT14; IC49 PT1

 Train IC49, is passing through town...

The west-bound Baltimore-Chicago intermodal train, today's IC49 is led by a pair of UP diesels, including MoPac Heritage unit 1982.

A rebuilt Thrall stack car leads the train. It has been shortened from a 48' well to a 40' well.

There are lots of K Line, NYK, and MOL containers in the train -all three of which merged in 2018 to form ONE (Ocean Network Express).

A pair of NYK 45' containers with "billboard" lettering.

A K Line dry box atop a 40' reefer. The cars are more ex-48' wells cut down to 40'; these are Gunderson cars.

A variety of K Line, MOL, and NYK boxes are seen here. Carrying international traffic makes IC49 a very colorful train to watch!

The car is a Gunderson Maxi IV, with 53' wells, being used to ship 45' containers. This happens more often than the railroads would like, but "life" happens to them like everyone else!

The two UP engines head out of town. Sometimes foreign power leads the way on a railroad's trains -especially pool power being returned to their owner(s).

Next week, the rest of IC49 -it's not all container traffic!

PASSING TRAINS PT13

 An extra-dimension train is passing through Hillsdale...

Extra 1960 rolls in behind Erie-Lackawanna ES44AC Heritage unit 1960.

A large coal retort is being shipped east.

The train rolls through the yard, with a variety of cars.

A waffle-side boxcar is the first car. It holds a variety of support equipment for both the train and the load itself. An HDTX caboose is next.

Following the load, are an 89'6" flatcar and another HDTX caboose. Note the flatcar has been converted from a piggyback car into a MOW car, with the removal of the trailer hitches and installation of deck rails to accommodate track equipment.

The tail end of the train passes by. The massive size of the Schnabel car and its load are apparent in this shot.

As Extra 1960 moves along, it is important that its movement is synchronized to avoid conflicts with other trains -especially on curves.

Several shop workers watch as the long load overhangs the adjacent main track as it rounds the curve passing the shop. With the train limited to 10 mph, the curve will be hindered for a while!

UPDATES PT2

 More updates to the layout...

The curve at the end of County Lane now has sharp curve markers to help guide traffic. These are also made by Tennessee Valley.

The convenience store now has an ice chest. It saw lots of use during the holidays, and still will now that the NFL playoffs have started!

Another 35mph speed limit sign has been placed along County Lane.

A fire hydrant has been placed at the corner outside the Super Market, helping fire protection efforts -and lowering insurance costs for downtown tenants!

Another change I made was to finally trim the piece of backdrop that hung down underneath the heating duct. This little piece got in the way of nearly every photo I took of the back end of the layout, and editing it out meant removing a lot of "sky". Now, I have a much neater appearance at this end of the layout -and can have taller images of this area as well.

As anyone will tell you, a model railroad is never really "finished". More changes will be made as time goes on, and new products are introduced. It's not just about "the trains"!

UPDATES PT1

 It's a new year! And now, a look at some of the updates I made to the layout late last year...

Several new warning signs are now on the shop building, warning of close clearances. These are custom-made signs from Tennessee Valley Custom Models.

The lower sign says" Think Safety First". This is a MicroScale decal.

Another pair of custom signs, this time "NO TRESPASSING AP&W RAILROAD" signs.

A pair of "AUTHORIZED VEHICLES ONLY" signs. These are standard signs made by Tennessee Valley.

A work crew finishes up the installation of a pair of AEI (Automatic Equipment Identifier) readers. Now, passing equipment can be tracked moving through Hillsdale.

Along with the AEI readers, another storage tank has been placed outside the shop -this one larger than the first.

These are the changes around the yard. Next week, we'll look at the changes on the rest of the layout.