P.C.C.M. 41A

Greetings All,

The 41st Penn Central Car Movement series is underway. Billed by me as the Tom Seaver series it's time to get the ball rolling.

Tom Seaver fun fact #1: Tom was originally drafted and signed by the Atlanta Braves in 1966. The MLB commissioner ruled the signing invalid. The Mets won his signing rights in a three team lottery. Tom began his MLB career in 1967 winning 16 games for the last place Mets and the NL Rookie of the Year award.

To:        West Mill / Rock Ridge
From:    North Side Yard, Empire Belt RR
Subject: Interchange of freight cars with the L.I.R.R., 
              Dispatch of Empire Belt Transfer to Terminal Yard.

We begin with the Long Island Railroad's daily freight transfer from their Fresh Pond Yard to the Empire Belt's North Side Yard located in Empire City. L.I.R.R. RS3 1556 is making it's way past Bedford NY with an eight car freight train.

Bringing up the rear is my de facto L.I.R.R. caboose. I'm going to have to break down and buy a decal set for this car. 

The L.I.R.R. train coming around the Bedford Curve approaches the Cornelius Vanderbilt Memorial Bridge as some MOW workers attend to the newly placed ballast.

The new Hohman Ave extension is now open, or at least partially open. As anyone living in a city knows as soon as the road work is done it's time to tear it back up to add new pipes, wires or whatever else the local utilities decide they need to replace.

 L.I.R.R. 1556 pulls into North Side Yard

After dropping their train in North Side Yard the 1556 couples up to the outbound freight cars left on the Empire City Mainline. While running the P.C.CM.s the layout is basically point to point and this curve lay unused. By placing an outbound freight train here I can maximize the layout's point to point capacity and streamline the switching operations. 

The L.I.R.R. train is coupling up to their caboose and add more headaches for local motorists on Hohman Ave. Tower Operator 1/87th scale Larry D is contending with the constant blare of car horns and train horns.

#1556 heads back to Fresh Pond passing Bedford Tower and it's operator 1/87th scale John B. John's thankful he has enough seniority to hold down this much quieter tower position. 

Senior Engineer 1/87th scale Sir Neal is once again running things at North Side Yard and he's teaming up today with newly promoted conductor 1/87th scale AT JOE. Their power today is this pair of loaner GP9s.

As the GP9s warm up the Coal Job arrives with a string of loaded coal hoppers.

The Coal Job enters North Side Yard. They'll tie up their train on track 3, take a meal break and then head back out caboose lite to pick up empties at Terminal Yard to work Hudson Coal.

With the Coal Train out of the way the NSY crew gets to work spotting some cars before they make their last run of the day to Terminal Yard.

Newly minted conductor 1/87th scale AT JOE is manning the rear platform and protecting the shove move towards the East Side. Over at Empire City Caterpillar it looks like that refurbished excavator is ready for shipment back to Sal's Salvage in West Mill NY.

Empty gondolas M.C.R.R. 350623 and KP&W 2140 are spotted at Gervais Pipe and Fitting.

The E.B.R.R. guys coming thru mid town on their way to work the west side.

What's up AT JOE!!! shouts Hohman Ave tower operator 1/87th scale Larry D.

Uh oh! Looks like some unpleasantness on the West Side. 1/87th scale AT JOE gets a close up view as he and 1/87th Senior Engineer Sir Neal begin their work spotting two A.P.R.R. boxcars at Moore & Co to the left.

An unidentified person appears to have been crushed by this heavy covered load that fell after being lifted by the crane to the right. Accident? Intentional? We may never know as these west side guys keep their mouths shut.

With the A.P.R.R. boxcars spotted the crew shoves back to North Side Yard with 1/87th scale AT JOE once again protecting the shove move from the back platform.

Back at North Side Yard the guys ready their train the run to Terminal Yard

Coupled up, air hoses connected and air pressure building. After a terminal air test the transfer run to Terminal Yard will be under way.

The E.B.R.R. transfer run, Extra 505, heads past Bedford Tower and gets the highball from 1/87th scale John B.

Freight cars in the transfer run include these cars from the L.I.R.R. The PC boxcar is loaded with Rheingold Beer for Reynolds Beverage Distributors in Kings Port NY. The empty Morton Salt covered hopper is headed back to Morton Salt in Rock Ridge NJ and the Tropicana RBL is headed to the big NJ Tropicana Plant.  

Extra 505 arrives at Terminal Yard

1/87th scale AT JOE is on the ground helping with the TY switch crew with pulling the freight cars and caboose from their power units.

Extra 505 couples back up to their caboose and will depart Terminal Yard as Extra 412. In the distance 1/87th scale is entering the Terminal Yard office to see when the E.B.R.R. GP9ms will be back from their 30 day inspection.

Extra 412 leaves Terminal Yard

Arriving at North Side Yard we see the Coal Job engines and caboose are ready to head back out. 

That's it for today. Good job rookie! proclaims 1/87th scale senior engineer Sir Neal. We get to do it all over again tomorrow. 

Thanks for reading!!!