PASSING TRAINS PT 31; SND40 PT 4

 The last of SND40...

The tail end of SND40 is UPS traffic. Here, a pair of AP&W 56' well cars carry UPS 28' containers.

Yet another MAXI VI car, this time owned by the Arkansas & Oklahoma (AOK), carries 53' UPS containers.

Note the lack of logos; only UPSU reporting marks.

A visitor far from home: A Ferromex 53' well car makes an appearance with more UPSU boxes.

A TTX 56' well car with more 28' containers. These cars were built specifically for these containers, and TTX and the AP&W were the only two buyers. AP&W bought them due to the volume of UPS traffic it carries; many of the cars can be found on the ex-Erie main between Buffalo and Chicago on either UPSZ76 or UPSZ77, the two UPS hotshot intermodals.

A newly repainted 56' well car, with the new red logo.

More 28' containers, in three paint schemes!

One more 56' well car, followed by the rear-end DPU pusher.

BNSF 4562 shoves hard on the rear, as it assists SND40 through town. While not really needed right now, it will come in handy when the train enters the hilly region around Uniontown, on through Wheeling, W. Va. and across the mountains to Zanesville, Oh., before continuing on across Ohio to Dayton. 

The string of UPS 28' boxes rolls through town.

4562 headlight is dimmed, to provide the required rear-end marker as SND40 heads west- and out of town.

PASSING TRAINS PT 31; SND40 PT 3

 SND40 continues...

The top container is a corrugated-side 53 footer, while the bottom one is an external post box. 

Another pair of corrugated and post side boxes, but reversed, with the top one being an early Hyundai.

The bottom container is another ex-Martin box, while the top one is a late production Hyundai.

A pair of rare white Schneider containers, with a third one in the next well of this BNSF MAXI IV car.

The white container has an orange OptiModal logo.

Back to the standard orange!

Another pair of OptiModal containers. OptiModal is the company's expedited container service run jointly with EMP; which, in turn, is run jointly by UP and NS (and Conrail, before the 1996 split). The AP&W became a partner in EMP in 1997, as a condition of the Conrail split, and now carries a fair amount of EMP and OptiModal traffic.

Again, back to the regular orange. Note that on the exterior-post containers, the posts aren't painted, only the side panels between them.

Two more exterior post containers.

The CIEX car rounds the curve out of town, as SND40 rolls on.

Another shot of SND40 passing downtown.

This shot shows what's to come; a string of UPS traffic tacked on the rear of SND40!

The UPS conclusion of SND40 next week.

PASSING TRAINS PT 31; SND40 PT 2

 SND40 continued...

A Hyundai 53' box rides a Stoughton 53 footer. Both are in a NSC 53' single-unit well car.

The contrast between relatively clean containers and heavily weathered well car is evident in this photo. Another NSC car.

Another MAXI IV well car. This is the "B" unit.

The "C" unit.

The "A" unit.

A white Schneider container is mixed in with the regular orange boxes; note the top container has reflective striping along the bottom. The car is a 53' single-unit Husky Stack, that has been "patched" with the new logo -making it stand out even more!

Another NSC 53' single unit well car, just as grimy as the first two.

Yet another MAXI IV.

CIEX 2012 is a former Pacer Stack Train MAXI IV car which had BRAN (BRANdon Rail) reporting marks.

The "C" unit carries the graffiti.

The "B" unit. Most, if not all, of Pacer Stack Train's fleet of cars has been sold off to other operators.

More SND40 next week!

PASSING TRAINS PT 31; SND40

 Train SND40, the New York-Dayton, Oh. Schneider National intermodal train rolls through Hillsdale...

Rolling behind a pair of almost-new ET44AC's, SND40 enters the yard, with 517 on the point.

528 is the second unit. (Nor coincidentally, 5/17 and 5/28 are my parent's birthdays!)

The Athearn 75th Anniversary unit is sitting in the yard, as SND40 rolls past.

The first car is an FEC (Florida East Coast) 53' Husky Stack  It is also an all-purpose car, with hitches at both ends. Note the two different shades of orange; the top container is an ex-Martin box, and still has a white roof!

CIEX 2002 is a three-unit, drawbar-connected, NSC 53' well car, and a frequent member of both SND40 and the eastbound SDN40.

Another frequent sight in these trains are Gunderson MAXI IV well cars, such as this one. This is the A unit.

The middle C unit.

The B unit, which has the brake wheel.

More of the train next week.

THE 80'S PT 4

 A final look at Hillsdale in the 80's...

A Mack R600 pulls a City Market trailer into town, heading for the grocery distributor warehouse downtown.

A Kenworth K100 Aerodyne pulls a Transamerica trailer out of town. The trailer has been stretched from 40' to 45' and repainted into Transamerica's classic blue and red striped scheme. During the 80's,  and 90's Tranamerica leased trailers, containers and chassis. In 1999, the company was bought by a Dutch firm Aegon, and in 2000, it sold off its intermodal unit to Interpool.

A Peterbilt 359 pulls an Intermodal Systems Inc. reefer trailer into town, headed for the grocery distributor. The slogan on the side of the trailer says "WE CONSERVE ENERGY DOLLARS" -hence the green "Dollar Bill"-shaped graphics.

Yet another 80's classic semi: another Peterbilt 359 pulls another reefer, this one owned by Leaseway Transportation. Seen leaving town after making a pick-up at the dairy plant. Leaseway was also known for the dark blue trucks of its auto-hauling division, and by 1980 was the fourth largest highway transportation company, behind UPS, Consolidated Freightways and Roadway. The 80's recession, however, especially the auto industry's slowdown in the late 80's, hit Leaseway hard; after being taken private at the end of 1986, the company went bankrupt in 1992. It merged with Penske Truck Leasing in 1995.

A shot of Hillsdale Yard, circa 1986. Note the stored 53' Railgons; a common sight during the early 80's. Formed in 1979 as a subsidiary of Trailer Train, the purpose was the same as Railbox; to provide the railroads with a pool of gondolas to ship goods in. By the 70's, many of the gons currently in use were aging (much the same as the nation's boxcar fleet was, which lead to the creation of Railbox), so Trailer Train sought to solve this by creating Railgon. Unfortunately, the early 80's recession shut down lots of steel mills around the country, just as four thousand brand new gondolas were being delivered, resulting in most either being stored or transferred to member railroads; half wound up on either Chessie System or Seaboard System. The situation improved by the late 80's, and Railgon is still rolling on today.

The Norfolk & Western-Southern merger that created the modern-day Norfolk Southern is four years old, but the identities of the two originals remain. The boxcar on the left has been recently repainted into a simplified scheme, while the other one is still in its original paint. (The original NS was a North Carolina railroad that ran from Norfolk, Va. down to New Bern, N.C., and from Elizabeth City west to Charlotte. It was known for its fleet of Baldwin diesels and was purchased by the Southern in 1974).

An APRR 65' gon sits in the yard as well, wearing the tan paint of the newly formed AP&W. This car was recently repainted, but not re-lettered!

A car that has been re-lettered is this former 12-1 sleeper car. Converted into a training car by the APRR in 1970, the Whitefish is resplendent in its new tan and brown paint!