Mysterious railroad ?

[roland1]

Hello ,
I am searching for the name of the railroad wearing the markings "HHLC".Most of the available pictures were taken at Waycross GA. Who has informations ?
regards
Roland Marx
Germany

[jrbarney]

Herr Marx,
First I tried the reporting marks to railroad name listing in the Index of Magazines, at this site. The listing had nothing for HHLC. Then I went to the "fallen flags" site at:
http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/misc-h/hhlc205an.jpg
and found the photo of a GP-38-3 with the HHLC logo listed under HHLX. Apprarently the photo was taken July 2000 in Butler, Pennsylvania. There was no further explanation of HHLX. You'll notice that there appears to be a stable mate freshly painted just behind it. I hope someone else knows more. Good luck.
Bob
NMRA Life 0543
P. S. The reportings marks listing also had nothing for either HHLX or HHL. Sorry.

[ndbprr]

The trouble you had was that you went to the wrong source. You need to go to Official Railway Equipment Register which is commonly reffered to as the ORER. It is published quarterly and it is the railroad bible for cars in interchange service. one of the sections has a list of all reporting marks currently in use and who they are assigned to. With that information you can then turn to the railroad and review its entire list of equipment by number, the number of engines owned, interchange points with other railroads, where its headquarters are and who the officers are. Since I am at work and don't have mine in front of me I am fairly certain that HHLC stands for Helm Leasing Company and is a current reporting mark. That is why you couldn't find it on a fallen flags website. By the way, ORER's are often available of EBay for $10-12 used. The railroads pay $40.00 per copy quarterly but throw them out at the end of the quarter sincethey are in essence last years phone book.

[jrbarney]

Herr Marx,
Lacking a personal copy of an ORER or quick access to one, I did a Google search to see what additional information I could find for you. Helm Financial Corporation, with offices in San Francisco, California, leases locomotives and a variety of rolling stock:
http://www.hlmx.com/fleet/fleet.html
I assume they use the two diesels noted in my earlier posting to move their equipment to and from their storage yard to an interchange with a railroad company. Perhaps someone more knowledgeable in California can provide more details.
Bob
NMRA Life 0543

[ndbprr]

Actually Helm owns a number of engines and leases them to the major railroads. Don't hold me to this without checking but I believe their engines are a dark maroon and blue color scheme with HHLX on the carbody or under the cab window. I know several show up here in the Midwest on the IC on occasions.

[roland1]

Members ,
I found it ! The name of the railroad is : H & H locomotive Leasing Co /
Blackshear GA
Thanks for your efforts

Roland

[jrbarney]

Roland,
Congratulations on finding your mysterious railroad ! Where did you find it ? Maybe we can learn something from your research. Blackshear is only some 15 kilometers from Waycross. It's interesting that H & H chose a reporting mark that is so easily confused.
Bob
NMRA Life 0543

[roland1]

Hi Bob ,
now I would say it was simple - just contacting the right people in the US. Two friends who are involved in the rail industry , one of them at a shortline and the other for a rail service company. Sometimes it looks so simple - after you found the solution.
Thanks to all for the efforts and ideas
regards
Roland