Empire Belt GP30s

Empire Belt GP30s
The EBRR GP30s round a curve on the Empire City Belt Line.

Sunday, August 10, 2025

Passenger Car Rescue / Osgood-Bradley New Haven Coaches

Greetings All,
Passenger Car Rescue
Osgood-Bradley New Haven Coaches
A pair of used and in need of help E&B Valley HO scale New Haven Railroad passenger car kits purchased earlier this summer for $6.00 have gone thru the NYCTL Shops and emerged ready for revenue service. 
Project Scope
The scope of this project was to fix the cars so they would run reliably in revenue service, look decent but not to turn them into prototypical replicas which would have been very hard since the kits were already built poorly with glue stains on various parts and broken trucks. Let's take a look at the models and prototype information.
Osgood Bradley
The Osgood Bradley Car Company manufactured railway passenger cars and streetcars in Worcester, Massachusetts. The company was founded in 1822 to manufacture stagecoaches and sleighs. The company's first railway passenger cars were built for the Boston and Worcester Railroad in 1835. During the American Civil War, the company produced gun carriages for the Union Army. Osgood Bradley was purchased by the Pullman Company in 1930.
"Car 1002, built 1900by Osgood Bradley, Worcester, Massachusetts Post Office Square" by Boston City Archives is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.

The Worcester factory is popularly remembered as the manufacturer of the American Flyer streamlined passenger cars during the 1930s. Walter Dorwin Teague designed a rounded aircraft-style body for railway cars manufactured of Cor-Ten steel. These cars weighed 15 tons less than conventional heavyweight steel cars. It was hoped these attractive lightweight cars might encourage public use of rail transportation while offering improved economy to the railway companies. 

New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad purchased the first of these cars in 1934. Other purchasers included Boston and Maine Railroad, Bangor and Aroostook Railroad, Kansas City Southern Railway, Seaboard Air Line Railroad, St. Louis Southwestern Railway, and Lehigh Valley Railroad. 
A. C. Gilbert Company, with New Haven trains running past their factory, decided to produce models of this car for their American Flyer toy train sets. Thousands of these toys were produced from 1946 to 1958; and railfans used the name American Flyer to describe the streamlined cars made by Osgood Bradley.
Model Information
The two kits in the single box were in need of a lot of TLC and some additional parts to make them layout worthy. The parts included new Walthers passenger car trucks, weights, and making bolsters to attach the new trucks to the model.
The first of the coaches is ready for testing. The steps had to be shortened to allow for the trucks and couplers to swing enough to handle the 22'' and 24'' radius curves on the layout.
 The bottom view shows some underbody detail that was applied by a former owner. On the second car the detail parts were broken off the cars but included in the box.
Getting the trucks to attach to the coach was challenging and required some imagineering and some trial and error. This configuration of a 2-56 screw, 2-56 washer, #4 washer, 2-56 nut, #4 washer, 2-56 washer and two 2-56 nuts worked best. The 2-56 nut fit very nicely into the large hole in the Walthers trucks.
Four ounces of weight has been added to each coach. The NMRA weight for this car is seven ounces but that made the car feel way to heavy so I started with four ounces which seemed heavy enough.
Time for final assembly. I cut some cardboard strips from a Cheese Club box as the backside looked to be a pretty close color to the shades I saw on the New Haven 1959 blog site(see link below).
The cars are ready for further testing and revenue service. The "shades" do a good job hiding the glue marks on the windows.
In this post 1955 photo the American Flyer cars would be about twenty years old as the trailing coach is in the McGinnis scheme. Some of the American Flyer cars would receive similar McGinnis paint and would be conveyed to Penn Central in 1969.
Check out the Osgood Bradley American Flyer cars in action.
Final Thoughts and Comments


Sunday, August 3, 2025

Penn Central Car Movements #112 Part 6

 Greetings All,
Welcome Back to PCCM #112
Our three layout virtual op with my layout interchanging freight traffic with Ralph's Kings Port Division and Sir Neal's Atlantic Pacific Railroad continues today with the EBRR taking center stage and the running of our final inbound trains.

The action opens up at the Empire Belt RR's North Side Yard the EBRR trainmen preparing for today's work. PC Ralph will be at the throttle of the 6294 and work the Belt Job this morning.
The Belt Job leaves North Side Yard.
The first stop today is Neal's Lumber and Hardware to deliver EL boxcar 73510 loaded with bricks from Port Owen Brick and the NYC Early Bird boxcar loaded with bagged cement from Boom's Ready Mix in West Mill, NY.
1:87 Emery catches the Belt Job working the mid town siding from atop his usual perch at Empire Produce.
Empty EL 50' reefer 5010 gets spotted at Empire Produce for its next PCCM load as 1:87 Emery photographs the EBRR locomotives.
With the work in mid town done it's time to head to the Hohman Ave Industrial Park.
Now in the Hohman Ave Industrial Park a non PCCM GN boxcar gets pulled from the Drywell Inks siding.
Being shoved into the Drywell Inks siding are PC boxcar 104478 loaded with new 55 gallon drum from ACCO in Mayfield, NY and empty Rock Island boxcar 35062 for its next PCCM load.
Over at City Pallet two MEC bulkhead flatcars from Half Moon Lumber in West Mill, NY are spotted for unloaded with empty PC boxcar 77047 being left on the siding for its next PCCM load.
Being placed at Moore & Company are the NYC Pacemaker boxcar loaded with sewing and twister parts from Quality Fabrications in Bloomberg, NY along with empty NYC boxcar 80775 which will be getting its next PCCM load.
PC Ralph has the Belt Job back together and gets ready to head back to North Side Yard.
The Belt Job is on the move.
After uncoupling from the Belt Job freight consist PC Ralph sets up the yard for the Haydon Heights Job to pick up the PCCM and non PCCM freight cars to be moved there.
Over in the Heights Senior Engineer Sir Neal and conductor John walk to the GP18s assigned here today due to heavy traffic.
Sir Neal pulls non PCCM covered hoppers out of the Quaker Plant. The PC and NH cars were fine additions!!!
More non PCCM traffic is pulled from Gervais Pipe & Fitting and the Quaker Plant.
The HH-1 makes its way to North Side Yard.
Sir Neal and PC Ralph shoot the breeze as they wait for conductor John to return from the yard office with the waybills for the inbound freight cars going to Haydon Heights.
Train HH-2 departs North Side Yard.
Sir Neal gets right to work placing empty EBRR and PC gondolas at Gervais Pipe & Fitting for their next PCCM loads.
The final move for now is to shove NYC covered hopper 892010 loaded with grain from Empire Grain in West Mill, NY into the Quaker Plant siding for unloading.
Senior Engineer Sir Neal and conductor John head to the yard office after tying down their engines and caboose on the Haydon Heights lead.
A little while later the waybills and movement cards are ready and the guys will go about building Train EB-2.
Train EB-2 departs North Side Yard for Terminal Yard with Sir Neal at the throttle.
The EB-2 rolls thru Bedford towards Terminal Yard.
Train EB-2 arrives in Terminal Yard.
After uncoupling the EB engines from the freight consist the EB and PC guys meet and get complimented by Superintendent Shore on their good work keeping the yards fluid and the freight traffic moving. EB caboose 1604 will stay here when Train EB-3 departs with an EB pool caboose for North Side Yard.
Train EB-3 departs from Terminal Yard
After arriving in North Side Yard conductor John uncouples the caboose from the EB-3 consist.
Sir Neal places the engines on track 1 and the yard is ready to receive LIRR Train MA-3.
A short time later LIRR Train MA-3 from Fresh Pond is rolling towards North Side Yard.
The MA-3 continues thru Bedford towards North Side Yard.
LIRR engineer Jimmy Alco is still holding down the MA-3 /MA-4 run and checks in with the EBRR guys.
Train MA-4 departs North Side Yard for Fresh Pond. Sir Neal is making note of the amount of revenue his APRR freight cars are earning in this one train alone!!
Long Island Train MA-4 Freight Consist
AP 5035                              Non  PCCM car
AP 58260, 58279, 58203    Freihofer to Pilgrim State Hospital with bake goods
NPM 473                            Freihofer to Pilgrim State Hospital with frozen cakes
BAR 7574               C&P Rest Supply to Pilgrim State Hospital with frozen packaged meals
IC 30130, GTW 516158    Van Winkle Canning to Pilgrim State Hospital with canned food
EB 5728, 5726, 5730         C&P Rest Supply to Nassau Comm. College with frozen food  
AP 5794, 5782, 5760         C&P Rest Supply to Nassau Comm. College with frozen food 
PC 288573                         ACCO to West Chemical with storage tanks
NAHC Corning                 Empty to West Hills Silica Sand for its next PCCM load
Put it in the books!!! 
Train MA-4 heads to Fresh Pond and this closes out my portion of PCCM 112.
Be sure to catch all the PCCM action on PC Ralph's Kings Port Division and Sir Neal's Atlantic Pacific Railroad.

Thanks for reading and watching!!!
See you soon!!!




Saturday, August 2, 2025

Penn Central Car Movements #112 Part 5

 Greetings All,
Welcome Back to PCCM #112
Our three layout virtual op with my layout interchanging freight traffic with Ralph's Kings Port Division and Sir Neal's Atlantic Pacific Railroad continues today with local trains and the arrival of more inbound trains!!

The Bedford Turn, Train BT-27, leads off today as it is getting ready to depart Terminal Yard.
Train BT-27 heads to Bedford.
Due to train length the BT-27 is working from the Bedford mainline to switch out the local industries. The first move is to pull a pair of non PCCM freight cars from the Schaefer Brewery.
Empty HR 40' boxcar is placed at the Schaefer Brewery for its next PCCM load. Empty BAR boxcar 5226 is placed at Neubaum's Coffee & Tea Importers for its next PCCM load. 
The BT-27 starts working the long industrial siding and couples up to some non PCCM freight cars at the Hostess Plant.
The PC GP7s have shoved back to pull non PCCM traffic from University Millwork and Ralph's Grocery Warehouse.
The BT-27 caboose is coupled onto the rear of the freight cars going back to Terminal Yard.
Getting shoved to the Ralph's Grocery Warehouse siding is PC boxcar 360063 loaded with packaged meals from Cavendish Food & Spirits in Mayfield, NY and P&LE boxcar 35892 loaded with bagged flour from Blue Ribbon Flour in Kings Port, NY.
Also being shoved to the Ralph's Grocery Warehouse siding are P&E boxcar 3638 loaded with kitchen gadget from REVCO in Bloomberg, NY and a Tropicana RBL loaded with juice products from Tropicana in Rock Ridge, NJ.
Being placed at University Millwork are PTTX bulkhead flat 91313 loaded with lumber from Half Moon Lumber in West Mill, NY and empty PC boxcar 360158 for its next PCCM load.
Empty PC boxcar 229036 is placed at Berk Enterprises for its next PCCM load.
Last but not least a Hostess covered hopper loaded with flour from the large Cargill Facility in Rock Ridge, NJ is placed at the Hostess Plant.
The BT-27 GP7s hold on the secondary as they await clearance to make their runaround move.
A Terminal Yard to Selkirk Hotshot rumbles down the mainline.
The GP7s have coupled onto the headend of their train and prepare to head back to Terminal Yard as Train BT-28.
Unfortunately for the BT-28 the dispatcher has other ideas.
Train BT-28 is finally cleared to return to Terminal Yard.
The GP7s join the F7As in the engine terminal.
Big Mike and Kar Knocker are ready to start working the TE-16 and BT-28 freight consists.
Empty PCCM cars held in Terminal Yard during the outbound portion like the EL reefer are cut into the freight cars from TE-16 for interchange with the Empire Belt RR at North Side Yard.
Empty NYC boxcar 47062 which was held in Terminal Yard during the outbound portion is coupled up to a trio of empty hoppers that came in on the TE-16.
Ex NYC SW8 9622 gets the call for a short MR-1 that will bring PCCM empties to T&R Gravel and Hudson Coal.
Train MR-1 departs Terminal Yard.
APRR, NYC and PRR empty hoppers are spotted at Hudson Coal for their next PCCM loads.
The MR-1 pulls non PCCM freight cars from T&R Gravel.
The non PCCM cars are coupled onto the caboose.
Empty NYC boxcar 47062 is spotted at T&R Gravel for its next PCCM load.
The 9622 couples up to the non PCCM traffic going back to Terminal Yard.
Train MR-2 shoves its way back to Terminal Yard.
With the MR-2 out of the way Alco Joe reports for Train EC-1 that will take PCCM traffic to North Side Yard.
Looks like Alco Joe may be cooling his heels as Train LI-1 from Selkirk with PCCM traffic from the APRR and KPD for the LIRR going to Terminal Yard gets orders at Bedford Tower.
Train EC-1 departs Terminal Yard and meets Train LI-2.
Train EC-1 arrives in North Side Yard.
Alco Joe checks in with the EBRR Trainmen before departing with Train EC-2 that will take non PCCM traffic from North Side Yard to Terminal Yard.
Train EC-2 heads back to Terminal Yard.
We'll cut it here for today with Alco Joe arriving back at the engine terminal fuel pad. Willie, Willie, Willie we need to talk...
We'll pick it up tomorrow in North Side Yard with the EBRR trainmen making their moves and the LIRR picking up their PCCM interchange traffic.
This closes out Part 5 on the NYCTL. Be sure to catch all the PCCM action on PC Ralph's Kings Port Division and Sir Neal's Atlantic Pacific Railroad.

Thanks for reading and watching!!!
See you tomorrow!!!