Newly Painted Freight Cars

Greetings Blog Followers,

I have finally finished painting and lettering three freight cars that I have been working on this past week. The cars were stripped of their factory paint, sprayed with a rattle can Jade green and lettered using Microscale decals. I think the cars came out nice and they are now ready for revenue service.

PC 167346 is a Bachmann 40' Hi-Cube Boxcar. Originally painted and lettered for the CB&Q. This car was one of my first boxcars and one of my first weathering attempts that did not come out that great. I have two additional CB&Q Bachmann 40' Hi-Cubes which relegated this car to the box for many years. Now that it is repainted and lettered it will enjoy a lot of revenue service on the layout.

NYC 75509 is a Mantua Heavyweight Classic formerly painted in an extremely bright yellow and lettered for Railbox. I used the large NYC System oval on this car.

NYC 49577 is also a Mantua Heavyweight Classic that was formerly a Railbox Car. I bought these two cars last year at a clearance sale with the intent of repainting them. This car received a smaller NYC System oval. 

End view of newly painted and lettered PC 167346. Car received excess height warnings and end reporting marks and numbers. The two cars behind PC 167346 are also custom painted PC cars that I completed last year. These cars are featured in a blog post from November 2012.

End view of newly painted and lettered NYC 75509. Cars in background are other NYC cars that I custom painted.

A shot of the eight cars that I have stripped, repainted and lettered for use on my layout. This shot shows the NYC end of things

 A shot of the same eight cars from the PC end

The switch crew admires the newly painted cars 

The switch crew resigns themselves to the fact that this will be the way of their future. The switcher is a Proto 2000 SW8 

The crew talk it over and ask themselves, "what's with the mating worms?" Seeing their a NYC crew the are happy that the cars are jade green and not the dreaded oxide brown of the PRR.

The eight cars that I have custom painted so far. The red caboose is Clinchfield 1064 on loan from the Southeastern Railway Museum for local switching. The caboose is a custom painted Athearn Blue Box car with horns, bells and other features. The car is a replica of the actual CRR 1064 used daily at the S.R.M. The car was painted and lettered by my good friend Sam R. Sam presented this car to me as a gift and it seems to always find itself in the middle of the action. 

PC Hot Shot Reefer Action

Greetings Blog Followers,

A hot shot reefer train rolled through Empire City Station yesterday behind my two newest PC locomotives. The highlights of the train consist are 3  jade green custom painted NYC cars, 2 jade green custom painted PC cars, 3 Tropicana cars received from interchange with the Atlantic Pacific RR and 3 Lehigh Valley RR N.I.R.X. cars.

The NYC PC custom painted cars are 4 Bachmann  and 1 Model Power. The cars were purchased about 20 years ago in road names and paint jobs that I did not care for. They sat in the bottom of a box for many years seldom being used. After deciding to repaint and re-letter the cars I upgraded them with metal wheels, body mounted Kadees and appropriate weights. The cars were painted using rattle can jade green and lettered with Micro-scale decals.

The 3 Tropicana cars are from Athearn (Blue Box), Lionel and TYCO. The TYCO car is 60' and carries FEC reporting marks. These cars were purchased used from a former L.H.S. for the princely price of $1.00 each. The cars received metal wheels, additional weight and body mounted Kadees. Tropicana started shipping in bulk via train from Bradenton FL to Kearny NJ in 1970.  In 1971 the "Juice Train" was the first unit train in the food industry and consisted of 150 cars. An additional 100 cars were soon added. The Penn Central hauled the train from Potomac Yard in VA to Kearny NJ and back. The "Juice Train" continues today behind CSX power.   

The Atlantic Pacific Rail Road is a short line railroad that serves heavy industrial areas. The APRR interchanges with several class 1 rail roads and serves the final mile from yard to customer and back. Excellent customer service are the hallmarks of the APRRs success and they continue to operate under the leadership of long time CEO Neal M.  

The 3 N.I.R.X. Lehigh Valley Cars were purchased new from the former International Hobby Corp in Philadelphia PA at least 15 years ago for the exorbitant amount of $2.00 each. The cars have received new numbers, additional weight, metal wheels and body mounted couplers. The N.I.R.X. reporting marks belong to General Electric Rail Services and I believe a total of 4 cars were purchased by General Electric and leased to the Lehigh Valley. I have a total of six of these cars however the other three are awaiting metal wheels and not yet available for interchange.     

 

More U Boat Action

Greetings Blog Followers,

U Boat sightings continue at Empire City Station. One enterprising rail fan caught a consist of U28Cs waiting for clearance when a pair of U30Bs arrived with a string of tanker cars. All engines are Athearn Blue Box. Tank cars and covered hoppers are from various manufacturers.

F.M. Coal Drag

Greetings Blog Followers,

Train watchers continue to enjoy the parade of freight trains being diverges through Empire City Station. The latest buzz on the platform was created by a pair of Fairbanks Morse H-16-44 diesels assigned to a long coal drag.

The FM units are from the Bachmann Spectrum series and were custom painted and lettered by me. They continue run well, look good and see plenty of assigments.

U-Boat sighting!!

Greetings Blog Followers,

Passengers at the Empire City Station were ecstatic to see four unit set of GE U-Boats leading a unit grain train through the station. Lead by a U28C 6533 the four unit consist made a great sight and passengers waiting on the platform were treated to a steady ground rumbling as these behemoths rolled through the station.

U28C Background... Built by General Electric in 1965-66. The locomotives were 65'6" in length and weighed in ay 183 tons. They boasted 2,800 HP. Although they weer not big sellers they paved the way for later offerings of six axles high horsepower diesels such as the GE U30Cwhich succeeded the U28C in 1966 and sold over 600 units.

On the layout the U-28Cs see service on high speed long haul freights just as their manufacturer intended them for. They are quite impressive in multiple lash ups and can handle my toughest assignments.

PC SD40 & GP40 haul priority freight train through Empire City

Greetings Blog Followers,

Track work in Empire City has resulted in many freight trains being rerouted through Empire City Station. Local rail fans have been able to catch a lot of the action and I'll be posting a few of their short videos over the next several days.

Sharks Swim into Empire City

Greetings Blog Followers,

This past week saw one on my Bachmann RF16A units suffer a mechanical failure for the second time in two months. The rear universal coupling has been separating from the metal shaft on top of the truck. This is a "press fit" and the only unit so far that has had this happen. After the first occurrence I press fit the coupling back into place and the engine ran fine for a few days. After the second time I added a little CA and hope this solves the issue. The RF16 diesel engines were made by Baldwin and nicknamed "Sharks" due to their appearance. They were powerful but somewhat unreliable. The New York Central Shark fleet was downgraded from road service to transfer service. On the New York Central Layout the "Sharks" still enjoy being assigned to priority freight trains.

Here is a short video of my NYC Sharks in action

Penn Central Power Move

Greetings Blog Followers,

A recent Penn Central power move was caught passing through Empire City Station yesterday.

Enjoy!

New Penn Central Diesels

Greetings Blog Followers,

The New York Central Layout Purchasing Department recently contracted with Neal M Diesel Consultants  to independently test one Bachmann DCC GP38-2 and one Bachmann DCC GP40. Upon completion of rigorous testing N.M.D.C. issued a satisfactory report and supplied links to facilitate the purchase of new engines.

The new PC diesels arrived on Father's Day and were put to the test today. Out of the box both the PC GP40 and GP38-2 ran well. The GP38-2 is a little more detailed than the GP40 and a little quieter as noted in the N.M.D.C. review report. Both ran well singly and M.U.ed. The diesels were assigned a 15 car freight train which they handled with ease.

Later in the day the Penn Central Train master authorized a none unit power move with the GP38-2 and GP40 providing the power. Once again the new diesels handled the assignment with ease.

 Bachmann DCC GP38-2 #8148 and GP40 #3007 lead a freight train on the upper level

Bachmann Plus GP35 #2320 rounds out the power trio 

EMD Power on point of freight train Two newest PC diesels facing forward with older GP35

PC GP38-2 #8148

Latest arrivals put right to work

Penn Central Power Move...GP38-2 on point with GP40 right behind

At the crossing just before entering Empire City Station

Two EMD F7s in the middle of the power move

 Two GE U-boats bring up the rear of the power move

A special guest tucked in between the EMS and GE units, an Alco RS2