Relocating Ralph's Grocery Warehouse & Distribution Center

 Greetings All,

Relocating Ralph's Grocery Warehouse & Distribution Center

As reported in the end of the year report press release Ralph's Grocery Warehouse and Distribution Center, a favorite Empire City rail served industry for well over a decade that provided a good amount of PCCM and non PCCM rail operations during that time, has pulled up stakes and moved to the nearby town of Bedford.

What prompted the move? 

The single word answer is Cargill.

Cargill?

I built this Walthers kit when I first started the layout about fifteen years ago and it ended up in the middle of Empire City where it looked good. But a grain elevator in the middle of a city not located near grain sources or a water shipping location started to nag at me.

The solution to the Cargill conundrum was to incorporate Cargill into a larger industry like a cereal manufacturer. 

Getting the Project Started

In order to move the project forward Ralph's Grocery Warehouse which was located across the street from Cargill had to relocate. Here it mocked up in Bedford on what I call the overbuild.

Using the same structures for the mock up truck traffic is increased from one trailer to nine as the railcars delivered to RGW&DC are placed at the loading dock under the structure.

As seen from the layout room entrance.

A PCCM KP&W trailer is spotted at the original single truck loading / unloading dock.

The overbuild is coming along now with supports in place. Seven trailers are backed up to the building. I have a lot of trailers and like TOFC traffic and this is a grood place to display them.

Not too bad. The building flats have been in place for a very long time and add some depth to the scene.

To make the dock doors for the trucks and boxcars I used Model Builder software that was gifted to me by our late friend Engineer Ed.

The boxcar loading dock doors in the below configuration can handle five 40' boxcars or a four car combination of 50' and 40' boxcars

Three 40'ers and one 50'er from PCCM 108 are placed at the siding.

Nine truck loading dock doors are in place.

A sampling of trailers from my collection including three PCCM trailers ( EBRR silver, PC silver and PC green) that arrived at the Terminal Yard TOFC Ramp in PCCM 108 are being unloaded.

Another view from the opposite side.

PC Ralph himself makes a visit to check on the progress.

Now we can eat!!! The Empire Belt crew visits PC Ralph and prepare to feast at Pizza Land.

Stone support walls are being added.

Vehicular and Truck traffic no longer fear plummeting onto the tracks.

Not bad but still lots to do.

Last Minute Change

In early January, 2025 I still wasn't sold on Pizza Land occupying space on the overbuild and again looked for an empty lot in Empire City I came across this undeveloped corner lot which I had dismissed earlier and now thought it would work better.

Local politicians and mobsters gather at the empty lot to discuss purchase, development, and political donations to open up Pizza Land at this location. 

An undercover ECPD Detective hides behind a newspaper as he surveilles the meeting of mobsters and politicians. 

Looks like the ECPD Detective has been spotted as he gets a wave from a chubby mobster. The circling Crown Vic didn't help

With the proper permits bought and the construction unions blessing Pizza Land has been relocated in an amazingly quick fashion.

A who's who of railroad employees from the Empire Belt, Penn Central, and Long Island gather for the reopening.

Final Thoughts and Comments

The overbuild solves the Empire City Cargill silo problem that was nagging me and adds some visual interest to the Bedford shelf portion of the layout. It still needs work and may get some lighting to highlight what is going on down below. 

Another option may be to just add a building flat to better see and handle the rail freight traffic coming and going to RGW&DC which would eliminate the truck trailers up top.

As for Pizza Land the spot at the edge of the overbuild had me worried it would be knocked to the ground. It is protected at it's new location and should not be prone to accidental damage.  

Next installment we'll take a close look at Trains BT27/28, The Bedford Turn, that services the Bedford Industries and see how the addition of the RGW&DC impacts the BT27/BT28 operations.

Thanks for reading!!!

See you soon!!! 

 

End of Year Report / 15 Years and Counting

Greetings All,

15 Years and Counting

Today begins the 15th year of this blog which has documented my enjoyable journey into the model railroading hobby that began in 2011 when I started building the NYCTL (which is my third layout) in my newly finished basement. It has been quite a ride. 

End of Year Report

Readers of this blog may well remember that each December I posted a year in review post that took a look back at the happenings on the layout, new rolling stock and motive power etcetera. This year instead of looking back we're going to look to the future similar to the Empire Belt "Road To The Future" slogan adopted earlier this year. With that said I provide you with this.

 Press Release For Immediate Publication

The Quaker Oats Company, headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, has agreed to purchase the Cargill Grain Elevator located in Empire City, NY in order to expand their operations to the northeast.

Quaker has also agreed to purchase the Ralph's Grocery Warehouse & Distribution Center Empire City location which is  across the street from the Cargill Grain Silos. Quaker plans to replace the existing structure with a state of the art manufacturing center. 

Quaker has also offered to purchase the small lot that currently houses Pizza Land which was pending at the time of this  report. 

Empire City Mayor Julius (Big Julie) Fiorello released this statement thru his Office for Economic Affairs. The people of Empire City will greatly miss all three businesses which have been good neighbors and employers for over a decade.  The sale is contingent on an approved environmental impact study and traffic study (bribe) which the citizens of Empire City are all too familiar with. 

"'Not to be used for bribing politicians.' You tell 'em, dollar bill!" by artgoeshere is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/?ref=openverse.

As industries continue to leave the Northeast Quaker Oats is reversing that trend by setting up shop on land in Empire City, NY that already has two existing rail spurs served by the Empire Belt RR. The EBRR in a prepurchase meeting with the Quaker people assured them they have the equipment needed to service the new plant which will have increased car movements from prior traffic levels.

Empire Belt management cited that the railroad has a solid history of providing exceptional service. To prove the point they noted the recent acquisitions of a third GP18 with the bold "Road To The Future" proclamation to handle increases in tonnage and the addition of 50' plug door boxcars designated for flour and cereal loading only.

The Empire Belt freight agent has reached out to neighboring railroads for suitable freight cars to handle the anticipated shipments of Quaker products like this EL XF class 40' boxcar.

The Quaker Plant mock up is now under construction. 

The Ralph's Grocery Warehouse & Distribution Center is also in the planning stages on an overbuild in the town of Bedford.

Final Thoughts and Comments

These two projects mark the first rail served structure projects undertaken on the layout since 2019 proving the old adage once again that a model railroad layout is never finished.

In follow up posts we'll take a closer look at the relocation of Ralph's Grocery Warehouse and and what this means for local Train BT-27/BT-28 which will have increased length and tonnage. We'll also focus on the build up of the Quaker Oats plant and what freight traffic this will require and generate. There is a lot happening on the NYCTL right now!!!

A special thank you goes out to the many regular readers who have been along on the journey. I hope you will continue to do so as I uncover some more interesting facets to further the enjoyment of our model railroading hobby.

Thanks for reading!!!

See you soon!!!

Merry Christmas from Empire City

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah and Happy Holidays to All!!!

As we countdown the final hours until Christmas the Pennsylvania RR, The Standard Railroad of the World, has taken over the layout. Being a New York Central fan my oldest son took to being a Pennsylvania RR fan. So for years and years I purchased my competition and we exchanged barbs back and forth as we ran our trains. 

He has since grown and moved out but left his trains in my care. Bringing back memories of Christmases past I dug under the layout and brought out a portion of his PRR empire. I can't believe I bought all this stuff!!!

Enjoy the very Pennsy Holiday Salute.

It's beginning to look a lot like...Pennsylvania?

 Tuscan passenger power ready to go.

An IHC GG1 and a pair of Proto 2000 E8As are ready to haul the PRR varnish.

Brunswick Green freight engines like this Proto 1000 C-Liner and Erie Built bring an M&E Train over the High Line.

Empire City Station was the place to be to catch some of the finest PRR passenger trains.

A pair of old school Athearn Super Powered F7As and a non powered unit easily and loudly pulled a good sized passenger train.

A BB PA and PB handled another passenger train.

Over at North Side Yard a Brunswick Green Proto 1000 Erie Built with C-Liner B and A units lead a long freight train.

Bachmann RF16 Brunswick Green Sharks were spotted coming off the High Line near Bedford Tower.

An IHC PRR 4-8-2 Mountain moves a freight train past North Side Yard.

A Spectrum 4-6-2 K-4 Pacific and P-2000 E8A 5700 with mars light wait to depart from the station.

Uh oh!!! Looks like the Kings Port Railfan Society guys have run into a serious roadblock at RA Tower. Wonder what's happening here?!!

Later that day a pair of IHC GG1s lead a TT train towards RA Tower. This is the first PRR Electric TOFC Train I've ever run. Glad I finally came up with the idea!!!

A Bachmann Plus F7 A-B-B-A consist closes our PRR Holiday  parade bringing another TT Train out of Terminal Yard. 

Enjoy the Pennsy Holiday Parade!!!

Best Model Railroad Barb of All Time

Many years ago while running our NYC and PRR trains and fighting for layout supremacy my son looked over to me and said "I cannot believe you'd sink so low and run that clinking, clattering collection of caliginous junk" I had no comeback. We still laugh about it

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, Happy Holidays to All!!!

See you soon!!!

More Holiday Railfanning Parts 3 & 4

 Greetings All,

Happy Holidays!!

More Holiday Railfanning Parts 3 & 4

We close out the 2024 Holiday Railfanning today with some interesting foreign road trains rolling thru the layout! 

Part 3

The Erie Lackawanna Phoebe Snow rolled into Empire City Station powered by an Alco PA-PB-PA consist.

New York Central FTs hauled the hotshot Pacemaker LCL Freight Train thru Empire City towards Terminal Yard.

Four Alco cab units head in the opposite direction with a long coal drag.

A Union Pacific 2-8-0 leads a NYC 2-8-0 and a string of UP heavyweights past RA Tower towards EC Station. What?!!!

B&O E7A 1423 departs Terminal Station with a passenger train.

Two Alco PAs brought a long train of B&O varnish past RA Tower.

See the Part 3 trains on the move with a Holiday Soundtrack!!!

Part 4

A B&O freight train with an A-B-B-A set of F7s rolls thru Empire City.

ATSF Warbonnets made their Christmas appearance.

Southern Pacific Train #3, The Golden State Limited, was spotted in Empire City Station.

CB&Q F3s known as the atjoes brought a detoured freight train past RA Tower.

Erie Lackawanna Train # NY-98 rolls thru Terminal Yard.

Lehigh Valley Train JSA-1 leaves Terminal Yard for Sayre, PA behind an Alco FA-FB-FA consist.

Part 4 trains on the move to Holiday music!

Thanks of reading and watching!!!

 

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah and Happy Holidays to all!!!

See you soon!!!