P.C.C.M. 39A

Greetings All,

Another three layout Penn Central Car Movement between my N.Y.C.T.L., Ralph's Kings Port Division (K.P.D.) and 1:1 Sir Neal's Atlantic Pacific Railroad (A.P.R.R.) starts today! 

I'll originate the action on my layout and dispatch train(s) from Terminal Yard to Selkirk. Ralph will pick up the action from there and get the cars in play down the Penn Central's River Line to his West Mill Yard and on to Weehawken Yard. Once he's done with his portion 1:1 Sir Neal will take the torch and close it out from his Rock Ridge Yard.

Let's get started!

To:         Kings Port Division, West Mill
              Atlantic Pacific RR Rock Ridge Yard
From:    Empire Belt RR  North Side Yard
Subject: Delivery of freight cars for K.P.D. and A.P.R.R. from                       North Side Yard to Terminal Yard

We'll start the action in Empire City on the Empire Belt at North Side Yard. Left to right we have 1/87th scale Engineer Ed, Sir Neal, Conductor John and ATJOE who will be with Sir Neal today. The guys do the time honored rock, paper, scissors to see what assignment they'll get.

1/87th scale Engineer Ed has drawn the morning transfer run from North Side Yard to Terminal Yard with the E.B. GP30s for power. Note the empty boxcar acting as a buffer between the engines and the pipe loads in the gondolas. The Coal Job is working across the river at Bedford NY.

1/87th scale Sir Neal and ATJOE will work the local industries with the E.B. GP9m's for power. Below 1/87th scale Sir Neal checks out some of the new A.P.R.R. and Tropicana RBLs leaving the yard for his own A.P.R.R. layout.

E.B.R.R. #2161 crosses the Cornelius Vanderbilt Memorial Bridge. That's Bedford Park in the background and if you look close you can see 1/87th scale rail fan Ralph in front of the yard office.

The transfer run rolls past the the Coal Job at Bedford NY

With the transfer run gone 1/87th scale Sir Neal and ATJOE get to work. Below they're crossing over to the industrial lead.

First order of business is pulling these three empty PC covered hoppers from Empire City Cargill. They'll be heading back to the large Cargill plant on the A.P.R.R.

With the work at Cargill done the crew pulls these two empty breadbox trough coil coaches from Gervais Pipe & Fitting. Also known as clam shell hoppers the cars are heading back to Kings Port Steel in Kings Port NY 

Now in midtown Empire City at Neal's Lumber & Hardware the crew picks up PC boxcar #77047 loaded with wood pallets for Reynolds Beverage Distributors in Kings Port NY. Check out that older 40' double door AP boxcar!

The E.B. Geeps head past Empire City Caterpillar where they will pick up that PC depressed center flat car and excavator and the Morton Salt Covered Hopper at Red Wing Milling.

The excavator on the PC flat is headed for Sal's Salvage in West Mill to temporarily replace the excavator there which is in need of an overhaul. The Morton Salt covered hopper is heading to Morton Salt on the A.P.R.R.

 The GP9ms roll under the overpass towards the West Side

"Watch this rook" 1/87th scale Sir Neal has cut the engines from the train and heads into the West Side reverse curve. Hmmm...

Boldly going where no one has gone before! 1/87th scale Sir Neal has entered the covered tracks at Superior Furniture to pick up empty B&M RBLs #109 &110 that are heading to Corning Glass in Corning NY. We'll need to check the engine horns when the train gets back. If they're still attached!

The crew is now working Walsh Steel Wool Products and picking up EL 40' boxcar #73510 loaded with muffler mesh for ACME Auto parts in Mayfield NY.

With their switching work done the guys have coupled back up to their train and are admiring Hohman Ave tower operator 1/87th scale Larry D's classic 1955 Chevy Bel Air while they wait for Engineer Ed to return from Terminal Yard.

1/87th scale Double E is holding at the signal while the Coal Job pulls a string of coal hoppers from Hudson Coal headed for R.M.O. Electric on the A.P.R.R. You know E.E. is thinking he never got held for a coal train before he joined up with the E.B.R.R.! 

After a short delay 1/87th scale Engineer Ed and his transfer freight arrive at Hohman Ave. 1/87th scale Sir Neal will head out to Terminal Yard as soon as he gets clearance. The guys have worked it out so that each day they both get a run to Terminal Yard and to to work North Side Yard and local Empire City industries.

Extra 7279, the afternoon transfer run piloted by 1/87th scale Sir Neal gets the high ball from 1/87th scale John B working at Bedford Tower. 

"It's good to be the king" chuckles 1/87th scale Sir Neal as the Coal Job holds for his Extra at Bedford Station. 

The E.B.R.R. transfer train's arrival is being recorded by the Kar-Trak reader as they enter Terminal Yard. And even more importantly to E.B.R.R. management is that the horns are still attached to 7278!

That's it for today. Tomorrow we'll catch up with the Coal Job and take a look at other Penn Central action as we gather, sort and build the outbound trains for the K.P.D. and the A.P.R.R.

Thanks for reading!!

The Purgatory Box Comes Thru Again!

Greetings All,

I could have titled this blog entry "Blame it on Ralph!" Ever since he used the phrase 'nothing says railroading like a coal train' he lit a fire for me to upgrade and expand my own coal hopper fleet. "Ralph" being my friend also known as PC Ralph or Ralph V. to the model railroading world. His Kings Port Division layout blog and his youtube channel RalphPCvids will show you that he knows a thing or two about coal trains and model railroading!

We've mentioned the term "virtual ops catalyst" in the past and this is another one of those projects that should pay big dividends for the P.C.C.M.s. Our last P.C.C.M. was a three layout unit coal train that traveled from the N.Y.C.T.L. to the K.P.D. to 1:1 Sir Neal's A.P.R.R. . We all had a good time with it and I'm looking forward to additional unit coal trains traveling to and from the three layouts. You know it's been said 'there's nothing that says railroading like a coal train'...

Early in this endeavor I was fortunate to find six Stewart brand coal hoppers with three lettered for the NYC and three for NYC subsidiary the P&LE at a swap meet. That was a quick 6! 

Going forward once my freelance Empire Belt Railroad became a reality I wanted to add some black E.B.R.R. coal hoppers 
to my fleet. To accomplish this in a budget friendly way I turned once again to the purgatory box. I knew I had a variety of coal hoppers in a rainbow of colors that no longer saw layout time. Some of them had actually been converted to body mounted Kadees and metal wheels over the years. Most however were not. 

I placed the cars in a container of 91% alcohol to strip them of their paint and lettering. If the paint and lettering stayed on after this then I just painted right over them. They're coal hoppers and the E.B.R.R. could certainly have bought second hand cars.

Here's the latest batch from the N.Y.C.T.L. Paint Shop. The car brands range from AHM, IHC, Bachmann, ConCor and Lionel to name the ones that come to mind. 

Converting the cars to body mounted couplers was a bit time consuming as no two cars required the same work to line up with the Kadee height gauge. But in the end they all do now. 

All told since Ralph uttered that coal train phrase I've been able to paint and letter about 12 cars for the E.B.R.R. Nine of these were from the purgatory box and are now seeing new life. 

Following the E.B.R.R. numbering guide the rib side hoppers are in the 416500 - 416999 sequence and the offset side hoppers are in the 416000 - 416499 sequence.  

6 E.B.R.R. coal hoppers are now at Hudson Coal waiting to be loaded. This string of coal hoppers looks so much better to me than the colorful yellow, orange and red coal cars they once were.

These two gondolas are recently out of the purgatory box as well. The E.B.R.R. car on the left is an old Model Power 'Recycled Steel' gondola that I painted during the coal hopper project. The NYC car is an old Mantua gondola that came with a coal load. Both sat in the box seldom used. For some reason yesterday I finally decided to remove the coal load from NYC gon and place it in regular revenue service. Look for these cars in future blog entries.

In conclusion the project was a big one that took some substantial hobby time. I was able to take a bunch of very colorful older coal hoppers from various manufacturers, some long gone, and reclaim them from an unknown fate. This is one of the aspects about this hobby that I really enjoy. I think I have a few more rainbow hoppers somewhere under the layout so once my rattle can trigger finger is ready I'll start the search for them. Thanks Ralph!

Thanks for reading!!

P.C.C.M. 38 / Dispatch of Unit Coal Train URN-3

Greetings All,

To:         West Mill and Rock Ridge Yards
From:    Terminal Yard
Subject: Dispatch of Unit Coal Train URN-3

All during the P.C.C.M. 37 concluding episodes on the N.Y.C.T.L. the Coal Job was spotted during various installments. This was done to set up the dispatch of PC Unit Coal Train URN-3 (Terminal Yard - West Mill). 

After arriving at West Mill on Ralph's K.P.D. layout URN-3 will be divided into a block of coal hoppers for the KP&W / B&O train to the Genesee coal docks in Rochester NY and the remainder of the coal hoppers will then be forwarded from West Mill to Rock Ridge Yard via Weehawken Yard on 1:1 scale Sir Neal's A.P.R.R. layout. So I'll originate the action today and you can follow the coal train as it arrives at West Mill on the K.P.D. and progresses to Weehawken and Rock Ridge on the A.P.R.R.  

The Coal Job with two AlCO RS units works Hudson Coal as a trio of GP20 rescue engines pass by on their way to Bedford Park.

1/87th scale PC Ralph is passing a block of coal hoppers at Bedford NY on his way back to Bedford Park with ALCO C424 #2415 running long hood forward.

Passing a long string of loaded hoppers stretching towards Bedford Station.

The following day train VN-4 meets the Coal Job as it has pulled another group of loaded coal hoppers from Hudson Coal.

With the empties spotted the Coal Job waits for Train EC-1 to clear the main at Bedford so it can proceed to Terminal Yard.

The Coal Job has gone thru the weigh in motion scales. The TY switcher will pull the caboose and the engines will cut off. 

With the engines cut off and the caboose pulled off this set of GE U Boats makes it's way to track 8 to couple on to the soon to be Unit Coal Train URN-3 

The big GE's couple up and start pumping the air under the watchful eye of the scale master himself AKA Jenny Craig.

Here comes URN-3 heading downgrade out of Terminal Yard with U33C #6554 in the lead. The 6554 came in to Terminal Yard as part of train SV-2 in P.C.C.M. 37C.

URN-3 meets BP-41 with a string of loaded auto racks at Bedford NY. 

The coal hoppers of URN-3 stretch all the way back to the curve at T&R Gravel in the distance while BP-41 crawls along on track 3 waiting for URN-3 to clear the main.  

The coal hoppers and loaded auto racks represent two current projects being worked on at the N.Y.C.T.L. Shops.

The URN-3 U-Boats cross the High Line with coal hoppers stretched all the way back past Bedford Tower.

Next stop West Mill!

That concludes the dispatching of PC Unit Coal Train URN-3. Be sure to follow the action on Ralph's K.P.D. and 1:1 scale Sir Neal's A.P.R.R.

Thanks for reading!

P.C.C.M. 37H / Wrap Up Party!

Greetings All,

Today we'll wrap up the P.C.C.M. 37 series here on the N.Y.C.T.L. Thanks for sticking with the whole series. This one has been a lot of fun and it was nice to formally introduce the Empire Belt to the virtual ops. 

Another highlight was adding a boxcar from the Los Feliz and North Western, L.F.N.W. #160, to the ops and to my fleet. The L.F.N.W.  is fellow modeler and blogger John Bruce's home road and joins the A.P.R.R., K.P.&W. and the H.R.C. as the fourth freelance RR that I've been fortunate to add to my roster courtesy of this blog and the virtual ops. Check out John's blog here http://modelrrmisc.blogspot.com/  He's always working on something interesting and his projects range from the most current DCC installations to vintage paper and wood freight car kits. This guy knows how to model!

Now let's wrap up the 37 series!

What's this! Looking like a scene from Pavonia Yard in Camden NJ the Bedford local is being powered by four Baldwin S12s.

 The S12s bring the train into Bedford NY

 Passing Bedford Station to work the Heileman Brewery.

The S12s shove a quartet of 40' hi cube boxcars into the Heileman siding. Those tall neck bottles are getting very popular!

With the work at Heileman complete the local gets ready to switch out Hostess, Berk Enterprises and University Mill Work and Lumber.

 Pulling freight cars out of the lead. 

The long pull as seen from the highway overpass.

TPFX #5510 and PC #16050 are spotted at University Mill Work and Lumber. Both cars are empty and will be loaded with cabinetry for Battaglia Brothers Warehouse in Kings Port NY.

NYC #892010 loaded with flour from Blue Ribbon Flour in Kings Port NY is spotted at the Hostess plant.

The crew of the S12s receives permission to clear out the stacks and will run up the High Line thru Empire City and reverse thru the west side before heading back to Terminal Yard.

The S12s slow down back at Bedford NY and will have to hold here. 

The once a day L.I.R.R. transfer run to North Side Yard has priority and his heading towards N.S.Y. on track#2. 

An L.I.R.R. orange caboose sans lettering and number brings up the markers directly behind two empty 34' hoppers heading back from NYS DOT Region 10. They'll eventually end up at T&R Gravel on the N.Y.C.T.L. for a load of ore for Kings Port Steel on Ralph's layout.

 The L.I.R.R. ALCOs bring the their train over the High Line.

Crossing the Empire City viaduct. The E.J.&E. 65' gondola has a load of cable from Circle Wire & Cable in Maspeth NY 

The L.I.R.R. heads into Terminal Yard via the Hohman Ave entrance.

Having dropped it's freight cars on track #3 the L.I.R.R. units have exited North Side Yard via the east side and are heading back towards Hohman Ave. 

The L.I.R.R. ALCOs have reentered the yard and coupled to P&E 40' boxcar #3638 loaded with packaged meals from Cavendish Food & Spirits located in Mayfield NY  

 The L.I.R.R. reclaims it's caboose on track #3

Taking the west side curve out of town we get a good look at the bridge girder from Kings Port Steel loaded onto a P&LE drop end mill gondola with two idler flats protecting the load and distributing the weight. The girder is head to NYS DOT Region 10 for the ongoing extension of the Long Island Expressway,. 

 And lest we forget the Bedford local and it's 4 Baldwin S12s it's shown here rounding the curve behind T&R Gravel as they make their way to Terminal Yard.

 The S12 led local arrives back at Terminal Yard

And heads towards the new expansion. Alright this shot is gratuitous but I really like the way these BB S12s were looking and running with this train!

Back at Bedford Tower tower operator 1/87th scale John B gives the bridge girder load a good visual inspection as it rolls by.

 Next stop Bliss Yard!

That wraps up the P.C.C.M. 37 series! 

Thanks for reading!