PASSING TRAINS PT 28; PITT29 PT 2

 The second half of PITT29...

Interstate Heritage unit 8105 pulls PITT29 on through Hillsdale Yard.

The string of former crude oil cars, now re-assigned to ethanol.

A pair of 60' TBOX TTX boxcars. These will be forwarded to the GE appliance park in Louisville Ky.

Several empty kaolin tank cars. When they get to Pittsburgh, they will be routed south to Georgia for re-loading.

Both cars are UTLX; 301548 has a blue underbody, while 24463 has a black underbody.

Another 60' TBOX. This one is loaded -with IKEA furniture!

A pair of 50' ABOX boxcars that have seen better days. At least the first one has been repainted!

ABOX 52039 has had plenty of "paint patches" applied to its sides but the original lettering still shows as bright yellow "shadows" on the car sides where the black lettering has faded off. Note that the plug door has been repainted. These "combo-door" cars were designed to allow a wider door opening when needed, but if not, the plug door can stay closed, providing a tight seal to the car side.

An old VTTX spine car. It was originally an 85' flatcar, class G85, built in the mid 60's. The prominent feature of these cars was the large center sill, with a deck on either side for the trailer wheels to rest on. During the late 80's, with the short length being a detriment (it couldn't carry more than one 45' trailer, while 89' cars could carry two) the cars were stripped of their decks and rebuilt as container-only spine cars, capable of carrying either 40' or 20' containers. With the increase in container traffic featuring 45' and longer boxes, they have once again become dated, and are rarely seen today. This one still has its original paint!

Another car still in its original paint is this empty Trinity well car. Originally designed by Pullman Standard, the "Backpacker" features 40' wells and low sides. Like most well cars of the mid-late 80's, the Backpacker was designed for moving international containers; the design fell out of favor as the rise of 48' domestic containers let to longer well cars. Ironically, 40' well cars have become popular once again for the same reason the originals were built -to carry international container traffic!