I studied the PBC rather extensively back in the '90s, even produced a VHS video on it which sold decently despite my pitiful production equipment (a camcorder and a VCR, basically). What amazed me about the operation was not just that they still use l&p couplers, they actually MAKE COUPLINGS with them on a routine basis!

The little Plymouth tows a train of dump cars up to the plant, uncouples, runs through a spring switch into the dump shed, then backs onto a second train of dump cars and shoves it back to the clay pile. The unloader operator hooks a cable to the loads and pulls them into the shed with a winch, manually dumping each one. The cars then roll back down to the second track. The whole operation takes two men.

The line is about a mile and a half long and deserves to be awarded the name "The World's Easiest Railroad to Railfan" because it's paralleled by Brickyard Road its entire length, and the train's speed is never more than 20mph or thereabouts. One thing I noticed -- when he's making couplings, the unloader operator uses the pin to hold up the link and guide it -- smart man!

I always wanted to find a 3' Crown set or something and talk PBC into giving rides, or at least holding a one-time special railfan event or some such. ;o) I haven't been back to Wallace in a good 8-10 years now, but they used to operate the train primarily early in the week and do maintenance later in the week.