several ?s in this story

[Anonymous]

I osted this elsewhere but didnt get all my questions anwered maby you guys can help me.

after work I headed down to a new spot I found for trains, its in Akron,Ohio and it right at a wye!

so I hear on the scanner that a train is approching from the west and I wait. This train passes and its 2 Locomotives a slug and a third loco and boy is this thing long. So anyway its going by and I spot a mixed consist of freight cars tank cars and then I spot one I dont remember seeing before it looked like a short sided hopper but the sides looked as if they were hinged. What was this? then it goes by and I spot 2 John Deere tractors on a flat car and at the tail end of this train I see a couple of Piggy back type cars that have brite green placards on them about going to home shop for repair do not load. Whats that all about?

I waited about 3 minutes and another train approches and its an old Conrail engine (8764 I think) With a large consist of grain cars some were still marked as Chessie System cars and a couple were Conrail and then the very last one was from a pool from mexico I can not remeber its name something MEX. Anyone ever heard of them?

All in all a great night for Railfanning just led to too many questions. Sorry to ask so much I really want to learn because these were some really great ideas for my layout.

thanks in advance.

[ericsp]

QUOTE: Originally posted by polizi

So anyway its going by and I spot a mixed consist of freight cars tank cars and then I spot one I dont remember seeing before it looked like a short sided hopper but the sides looked as if they were hinged. What was this?

Perhaps you saw Difco Side dump cars?

QUOTE: Originally posted by polizi

I see a couple of Piggy back type cars that have brite green placards on them about going to home shop for repair do not load. Whats that all about?

They are heading to a shop operated by the owner or to a shop that the owner has a contract with to be repaired. Obviously, the defect is not one that keeps the car from being operated, so the owner decided to send it to a "home shop" instead of having the railroad that the car was on at the time repair it.

QUOTE: Originally posted by polizi

I waited about 3 minutes and another train approches and its an old Conrail engine (8764 I think) With a large consist of grain cars some were still marked as Chessie System cars and a couple were Conrail and then the very last one was from a pool from mexico I can not remeber its name something MEX. Anyone ever heard of them?

I saw a car like this once. Its reporting marks had been restencilled, so the previous logo on the car was nothing but an interesting piece of history. I do not know if that is what you saw. If I remember correctly, the one I saw was something like LogistaMex.

When ever you see a curious car that you will probably ask about, it is helpful to write down the reporting marks and number of the car.

[Anonymous]

Thanks eric it looks as if it were a difco side dump only not the one you have pictured there I did a look up of it an found one, Logistamex that was the name I was not expecting to see that but then again I was not expecting to see the Chessie cars either, The placard thing makes more sense If it had not been 2 in the am I might have had a camera and taken some shots the location is on a long grade and the trains pass slowly.

[ndbprr]

the shop cars were on the end of the train in case they had to be set out and couldn't make it all the way. The hopper cars were probably ballast cars. there are number of prototypes so the ballast can be spread along the track as opposed to dumped between the rails. There is a Tex-Mex railroad in Texas and many Mexican railroads that are all same gauge as the US so it could have been anything along those lines.