Welcome to my Blog. The scope of this blog is to record the trials and tribulations of building and maintaining an HO scale layout, the trains and all of the ancillary projects that go with it. In 2017 New York Central subsidiary short line Empire Belt Railroad came into existence. The New York Central / Penn Central and Empire Belt are now the major railroads featured.
New York Central Alcos
NYC RS32 #2040 leads a trio of R32s hauling Train NY-4
We're back for our fifth NY-NJ Virtual Op with my NYCTL interchanging freight traffic with Sir Neal's Atlantic Pacific Railroad as well as other off layout connections.
The Empire Belt trainmen get the honors today of opening NY-NJ #5 with the EBRR U23Cs back working North Side Yard after a long absence. As usual senior engineer Sir Neal will be at the throttle with conductor John handling the paperwork and directing the car movements.
The EBRR Belt Job shoves out of North Side Yard to begin its work.
Four EBRR gondolas of pipe from Gervais Pipe & Fitting are shoved to the Belt Job caboose for further movement towards Shapeless Steel in Rock Ridge, NJ.
Empty Cargill covered hoppers are pulled from the Quaker Oats Plant including the Cargill Salt car going to Allentown Yard for movement to Cargill at White Marsh, MD and its next NYNJ load.
The Belt Job is ready to head to the Hohman Ave Industrial Park to continue serving the local industries.
The Belt Job is on the move.
Work starts at Moore & Company with the U23Cs coupling onto two of the four APRR 6000 series RBLs loaded with bulk paper for Marcal in Rock Ridge, NJ.
The four APRR 6000 series RBLs and a GN boxcar from City Pallet are pulled out of the siding.
The Hohman Ave switch work is complete.
The Belt Job heads towards North Side Yard.
The U23Cs bring the train down the Belt Line across from North Side Yard where some switch work is needed to reorganize the train.
The Belt Job has been blocked and the EBRR guys await the pending arrival of the Long Island Train MA-3.
A short time later Long Island Railroad Train MA-3 from Fresh Pond Junction gets a highball at EB Tower.
Train MA-3 heads thru Bedford towards North Side Yard.
After yarding his train LIRR engineer Long Island Mike checks in with Sir Neal and conductor John.
LIRR Train MA-4 departs North Side Yard for Fresh Pond Junction.
Next stop Fresh Pond Junction
With the LIRR train now gone the EBRR guys get to work putting together Train EB-2 which will take NY-NJ traffic to the PC Terminal Yard.
Freight cars brought into North Side Yard in LIRR Train MA-3 are
shoved back.
The LIRR freight cars are coupled onto the Empire City cars.
EBRR Train EB-2 departs North Side Yard for Terminal Yard.
After yarding the EB-2 the EBRR guys collect their caboose and shoot the breeze with the PC yard crew.
Train EB-3 heads back to North Side Yard caboose lite.
A couple of hours later Kar Knocker has completed inspecting the EB-2 freight consist. Big Mike prepares to block the cars for their next moves using a pair of ex PRR SD9s. He was heard muttering What junk!
Big Mike has the yard in order with the NY-NJ freight cars preliminarily blocked for their next trains.
Big Mike clears the running track for the next outbound train to depart.
Over in the engine terminal a PC engineer confers with engine hostler Wet Willie as he picks up his assigned motive power.
PC GP38-2 #8146 couples onto the headend of hotshot TOFC Train NYNJ-1.
The terminal switcher couples PC caboose #26403 onto the hind end.
Train NYNJ-1 departs Terminal Yard for Rock Ridge Yard.
We'll cut it here for today with the NYNJ-1 getting a highball at Bedford Tower and proceeding towards Rock Ridge Yard.
We'll pick it up tomorrow at Bedford Park Yard with engineer Robert R. reporting for duty.
This concludes NY-NJ #5 Part 1 on the NYCTL. Be sure to catch all the NY-NJ action on Sir Neal's Atlantic Pacific Railroad.
Welcome to another freight car spotlight. Today the spotlight will shine on the Canadian National 50' Newsprint Boxcars.
Prototype Information
In 1967 the National Steel Car Corporation started building 70 ton 50' boxcars specifically designed for shipping rolls of newsprint from paper mills in Canada to newsprint companies throughout North America. A total of 3,2592 were manufactured between 1967 and 1971 for six railways.
"Boxcar, Canadian National - 10586862645" by Gary Lee Todd, Ph.D. is marked with CC0 1.0.
The boxcars have an inside height of 11'0" enabling newsprint rolls to be loaded in two tiers. To provide maximum protection to the easily bruised newsprint rolls the cars have smooth interior walls and a cushioned underframe.
"CN Boxcar" by djaytoo (d*jay) is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.
The cars also featured an aluminum roof, NSC designed corrugated ends and either a smooth or exterior post Youngtown 9' wide plug door. The vast majority of these cars remained in service through 2001.
"CN Boxcar" by djaytoo (d*jay) is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.
Model Information
I came across this four car set of Limited Edition P1K boxcars on the Trainz.com website which were listed as used with a very nice price plus I had a coupon for 10% off.
I've seen numerous types of these 50' Newsprint boxcars in various videos moving through the Northeast in pre and post Conrail era freight trains and thought they would be perfect for serving printing companies on and off the layout and as interchange traffic.
Freight cars like these could be found on NYC/PC Train VN-4 out of Selkirk which was also known as "The Paper Train" heading to Manhattan for delivery to the various newspaper printers like the NY Daily News, The Post, etc.
The boxcars come as kits with some add on details in the plastic bags. The also feature metal wheelsets and Proto knuckle couplers.
The end ladders and door lock rods have been installed. A nice feature is that these parts were cut from the sprues at the factory eliminating that chore. 1/4 ounce stick on weights were added above the trucks.
The CN 400549 is back together. The proto couplers have been matched to the Kadee Height Gauge. The factory applied ACI label is a nice touch.
All the boxcars received a shot of Testor's Dullcote. The trucks were painted with rattle can flat black and the wheel faces have been brush painted flat black.
The four car block is now ready for service.
Train VN-4 "The Paper Train" rolls thru the layout.
Final Thoughts and Comments
After initial testing I wasn't happy with how some of the cars wobbled when rolling. Truck tuning didn't help the situation and I ended up swapping some of the Proto metal wheelsets with plastic axles for Walthers metal wheelsets with metal axles. This solved that issue. I did use the Proto metal wheelsets in some other newly acquired freight cars and the rolled along just fine. Go figure.
This four car block along with other newsprint / paper service only boxcars in the fleet should make for a good looking freight train coming from papermills in the north with the needed materials to "keep the presses rolling" in the big city.
Welcome to another installment in the ongoing Locomotive Spotlight Series. Today the spotlight will shine on Central of New Jersey EMD SD35 #2503.
Prototype Information
Between 1964 and 1966, EMD built a total of 360 six-axle 2,500hp SD35 locomotives. An additional 35 steam generator equipped SDP35 locomotives were also built during this period. These were all part of EMD’s “35-Series” which also featured the four-axle, 2,250hp GP35 locomotive. Below is one of the 24 SD35s (7400-7423) purchased by the B&O.
"10/27/77, Chessie System SD35 7402" by OHFalcon72 is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
All locomotives included the standard EMD 567-series prime mover. A stock model weighed 360,000 pounds, but many roads chose to add weight to increase the locomotive’s tractive effort. From the mid-1960s through the 1980s, the SD-35 could be found in road service on both large and mid-sized roads across the US.
"6/23/76, CR SD35 6018" by OHFalcon72 is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
Today the number of active units has dwindled to a select few, including those operated by regional railroad Montana Rail Link.
"BNSF SD38P 1559 (ex BNSF 1805, ex BNSF 6265, ex BN 6265, ex VMV SD35 2601, nee SOU 3099)" by Kansas Scanner is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
The SD35 Sets the Trend
EMD had long been producing Special Duty locomotives like the SD7 and SD9 which were mainly in use for yard, hump and heavy freight transfers. When it was shown early in the second generation motive power era that high horsepower four axle locomotives lost much of its advantages in the mountains the Pennsylvania RR decided to test EMDs claims about the high horsepower six axle locomotives and ordered forty SD35s
"10/27/77, Chessie System SD35 7415" by OHFalcon72 is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
The result; The PRR never purchased another four axle locomotive setting the trend for six axle power that continues to this day.
"Chesapeake & Ohio EMD SD35 7421" by Digital Rail Artist is marked with Public Domain Mark 1.0.
Central Railroad of New Jersey
The Central Railroad of New Jersey, (reporting marks CNJ), also known as the Jersey Central, Jersey Central Lines or New Jersey Central was a Class I railroad with origins in the 1830s. It was absorbed into Conrail in April 1976 along with several other prominent bankrupt railroads of the northeastern United States.
The CNJ's main line had a major presence in New Jersey. Most of the main line is now used by the Raritan Valley Line passenger service. CNJ main line trackage in Phillipsburg, New Jersey, became part of the Lehigh Line under Conrail.
"RDC at Newark NJ Station 1967" by over 26 MILLION views Thanks is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.
Following World War II, passenger traffic diminished, and was almost entirely commuter business, requiring great amounts of rolling stock for two short periods five days a week. Three-fourths of CNJ's freight traffic terminated on line; the railroad was essentially a terminal carrier, which meant little if any profit. In addition, taxes levied by the state of New Jersey ate up much of CNJ's revenue.
"diesel engine 1509, CNJ, 3 of 17" by rich701 is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
In 1965, CNJ and the Lehigh Valley Railroad consolidated their lines along the Lehigh River in Pennsylvania and portions of each railroad's line were abandoned. The commercial anthracite traffic that had supported both railroads had largely disappeared. CNJ operations in Pennsylvania ended March 31, 1972.
"21092 LV Coal Hopper 50 tons (1)" by lastpicker1 is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.
The CNJ purchased 12 SD35s (2501-2512) that would eventually be conveyed to Conrail on April 01, 1976 and renumbered (6040-6051).
Model Information
A used Atlas Yellow Box SD35 joined the fleet in August 2026 for use in some early Conrail rainbow lash ups.
The model came with this letter from the seller which I appreciated. It's nice to know the provenance of the model and reading about it explains much of the details that were added to the SD35.
The CNJ SD35 #2503 has a lot of add on details like lift rings, horns, numbers in the number boards and painted handrails.
Additional details on the front of the SD35 include mu hoses, an airline, uncoupling lever, and marker lights.
Additional details on the rear of the SD35 also include mu hoses, an airline, uncoupling lever, and marker lights. Missing are the rear headlights which I will address.
New lights were added using Model Maker clear glass. it's so clear you can't see it!!
CNJ SD35 makes its first revenue run as part of an early Conrail train.
The CR rainbow lash up rolls thru Bedford.
Another day, another train. CNJ SD35 2503 is second out in this early Conrail consist.
The rainbow lash up heads for Selkirk.
An LV caboose brings up the markers as the rolling stock of the predecessors gets scrambled.
The SD35 and friends haul early Conrail freight trains across the layout.
Final Thoughts and Comments
An Atlas Yellow Box CNJ SD35 was an EBAY search that was in place for about a year or more. When this one popped up I was immediately interested and after some give and take on the make an offer price I made the purchase.
Seeing the model up close in the seller's photos I noted the extra details like numbers in the number boards, painted handrails and Kadee underset shank couplers that were already done that sealed the deal for me.
The CNJ SD35 #2503 adds another predecessor locomotive to my Conrail Rainbow Fleet. However, I'm not sure that an olive drab engine adds all that much color to the rainbow!!!
The four APRR 6000 series RBLs and a GN boxcar from City Pallet are pulled out of the siding.
The Hohman Ave switch work is complete.
The Belt Job heads towards North Side Yard.
The Belt Job has been blocked and the EBRR guys await the pending arrival of the Long Island Train MA-3.
Train MA-3 heads thru Bedford towards North Side Yard.
