Another Empire Belt RR / Atlantic Pacific RR Joint Paint Project is in the books!

Greetings All,

Another Empire Belt RR and Atlantic Pacific RR joint paint project is in the books! We started the project in early December 2017 and a little over a month later it's now checked off the to do list. 

1:1 Sir Neal once again scored big at various train shows in 2017.  He's kind of like a magnet for great deals! The first phase of the project will be these 8 Atlas PS2 undecorated covered hoppers.

Phase 2 will be the stripping, painting and lettering of four 86' auto parts boxcars from Athearn.

Hey! What's going on here? My red WCRC 8601 is almost identical to 1:1 Sir Neal's brown WCRX 8601. Were they brown or red? I'll let you guys decide. //www.rrpicturearchives.net/rsList.aspx?id=WCRC&cid=2 
The brown is heading to the paint stripper and the red one is on borrowed time. 

A surprise snow storm and extreme cold shut down the Patti -O paint shop for over a week.

A sunny 50 degree day allowed me to reopen the Patti O Paint Shop. But the nice weather lasted only one day. Right now the A.P.R.R. and E.B.R.R. 86' boxcars have two of their three colors applied. AP 8 door 86' boxcar mocked up with decals for the other side in the container.

Continued cold weather had the Patti O Paint Shop closed for another few weeks. Finally we experienced a January thaw and I was able to get the eight PS-2 hoppers completed.

Here are four of the PS-2 hoppers ready for revenue service.

 The 8 car string of PS-2's ready for road testing. 

A close up of two of the four different lettering schemes the PC used on their PS-2 covered hoppers.

The other two schemes.

A short video of the PS-2 hoppers being pulled from the shop

With the sun shining at last and the temps hovering around 60 I was able to get the last of the painting for the 86' boxcars completed.

With the cars painted it was time to apply the decals! I got down to the nitty gritty of the project and here's the 86' boxcars with their decals finally installed.

We left the PRR car as is due to the fact it's very well done and fits right into our virtual ops scheme. The NYC/E.B.R.R. car is a duplicate of one of mine that we'll use in the virtual ops and the AP 86037 will be seen on the AP.

The 1/87th scale trainmen of the the N.Y.C.T.L. have once again gathered to  see what's new coming out of the Patti O Paint Shop.

On January 22, 2018 all cars for the A.P.R.R. from this project were dispatched to Rock Ridge Yard in PC Train: AP-12.

Thanks for reading and watching!!

The package arrived at 1:1 Sir Neal's house on January 25th!

Train Show Finds

Greetings All,

On January 20th, 2018 Engineer Ed and I attended a local Train Show and I'm pleased to report we both did extremely well. In addition to our scouring the show for deals we were fortunate again to run into our train buddy Matt Burton from Chattanooga, TN. Always a pleasure to see Matt and learn of his model railroading adventures.

Matt, Engineer Ed and myself. 

I felt a little out of place as both Matt and Ed had at least two overflowing shopping bags of train goodies by the end of the show while I only had a single bag. I'll need to bring more money and a bigger list to the next show!

Engineer Ed has posted about his train purchases on his Hoschton Railway Company blog. 

Armed with a shopping list and a single shopping bag I got down to business. Top on the list was a controller for the Terminal Yard expansion that has been wired for two cab control. I found success at a tried and true vendor I've been buying from for years. 

I sought him out as soon as I got into the show and he came thru nicely.

In addition to the 2400 controller I bought this Roundhouse 50' CNW boxcar with ROUTE ROCK and the big R clearly present. Not sure if it's prototypical but it was a must have that I didn't know I must have until I saw it. I also bought the Roundhouse P&LE boxcar from the same vendor. The Athearn BB P&E boxcar was my final purchase from a different vendor. It caught my eye early in the show and I circled back to it before I left.

Other purchases included these Walthers Burlington 32' trailers for my 75' C.B.& Q. 75' T.O.F.C flatcar and a Bowser PS-2 hopper for a future paint project.

A Walthers PRR 75' T.O.F.C. flatcar to add to my T.O.F.C. fleet rounded out my purchases. These cars perform very well on my 22" and 24" curves. 

Here are the new freight cars on the layout;

An ongoing joke with 1:1 Ralph. The big R should be for the Ralph Island! One day I'll try and slip a ROUTE RALPH past the faithful.

P&LE 30890 after a shot of Testor's Dullcote and the installation of Intermountain metal wheels. The car and the CNW car above came with Kadee #5s already installed.

P&E #4222 with Proto 2000 wheels and Kadee #5s added. This car has also been sprayed with Testor's Dullcote. The 'QUICKER via Peoria' logo is an eye catcher and the P&E did use this slogan on some of their freight cars.

The Burlington trailers built and in place on the C.B.& Q. T.O.F.C. flatcar. The trailer has been sprayed with dullcote and the chassis and tires rattle can flat black.

After the show and a nice lunch Double E and I enjoyed a short ops session with the new Terminal Yard expansion. We also worked out some decal options for future projects that we are looking forward to putting in motion. 

All in all it was a great day enjoying the hobby and the friendships. 

 Thanks for reading!!!

New Penn Central Gondolas Join The Fleet

Greetings All,

Followers of the P.C.C.M. 42 series saw the first virtual ops revenue run of Penn Central gondolas 576104 and 576123 which had been recently added to the N.Y.C.T.L., K.PD. and A.P.R.R. railroads.

Here they are on Ralph's K.P.D. in P.C.CM. 42F with their bulkheads in place and some great looking pole loads made by scratch builder extraordinaire Ralph himself.

Here they are on my layout heading thru Bedford towards NYS DOT Region 10 on an L.I.R.R. train. 

Here is the story on the gondolas and my trial and tribulations to get mine into revenue service.

At the end of 2017 I added two Walthers Penn Central G43a gondolas to my ever growing Penn Central fleet. When I first saw the cars I really liked the way they looked and kept my eyes open for them to hopefully go on sale. Eventually they did and I was able to score some from MB Klein known also as modeltrainstuff.com

The PC gondolas are numbered 576104 and 576123 and are based on the PRR G43 and later Penn Central G43a gondolas. In the first half of 1968 Penn Central's Hollidaysburg Shops built three lots of G43a gondolas for a total of 2,150 cars continuing on with the G43 lineage originated at Altoona prior to the merger. The cars have a 100 ton capacity and an inside length of 52'6''. The cars were extremely rugged and successful marking the last of the PRR and first PC gondolas.

In the Penn Central promotional video Call us Penn Central the newly built G43a gondolas can be seen starting at the 1:45 mark.

The Walthers PC G43a models are nice representations of this sturdy and iconic PC car. Rivet counters will find some discrepancies but they look to be few. 

Upon initial inspection of the new gondolas it was noted that the knuckle couplers were drooping significantly. A Kadee fiber washer should take care of that. Once the drooping coupler was fixed it was noted that the couplers did not couple up to the Kadee height gauge even though the were at the exact same height. Hmm. Closer inspection found that the factory installed Proto-Max coupler faces were slightly bent downward. This caused the coupler face not to fit inside the Kadee coupler. This is what should happen when coupling.
 
The PC gondolas have been placed on the layout now coupled up with Kadee #5s. Bulkheads and a steel coil cradle were included with the models and make for some nice additional operational opportunities. The defective couplers are shown at the ends of the car.

PC 576123  looking fresh out of Hollidaysburg sits in Terminal Yard. The bent Proto Max couplers have been removed.

Other Walthers cars delivered by Santa sit in Terminal Yard. The PC 50 boxcar, 360063 courtesy of PC Ralph was perfect out of the box as was the 10-6 sleeper car. Both matched up perfectly with the Kadee height gauge and were extremely free rolling.

Upon testing of the gondolas I noted they did not roll as well as the other two cars listed above. Investigation into this revealed some flash on the ends of the axles. This was easily removed with a single edge razor blade. After this procedure the cars were rolling smoothly and wobble free.
A look at the underside of the gondolas shows the bolsters were broken during assembly. Wrong sized screws? Machine setting not right? Who knows? But it really shouldn't be damaged like this right out of the box.

With everything coupling and rolling smoothly I put some loads in the cars along with the bulk heads. They look good! I also added ACI labels going with prototype photos for the location.

With the steel coil cradles installed and great looking steel coils made by Ralph inside, the cars are now ready for revenue service!

A test run with the cars headed for North Side Yard. The steel coils will be delivered to Gervais Pipe and Fitting.

The obligatory company photo from the Empire City viaduct.

Conclusions: I contacted Walthers Customer Service and advised them of the coupler issues found on the gondolas. The service rep was cordial, expressed the expected I'm sorry to hear that and then promptly sent me replacement couplers which arrived on January 2nd. 

All things considered shaving of the axles and replacing of the couplers should not be necessary on a ready to run model that has an M.S.R.P. at around $25.00. But it was. Walthers to their credit promptly made good on the defective parts. Ralph and Sir Neal report no problems with their gondolas so these may be two that got away. 

As you saw the cars are now in service and look very good on the layout. I am happy to add them to my fleet but needed to be honest  about them in case I'm not the only one to face these issues. Would I buy them again if on sale? Yes.

Thanks for reading!

P.C.C.M. #42J

Greetings All,

Today we'll wrap up the P.C.C.M. 42 series with the Empire Belt Railroad taking center stage.

To: Terminal Yard, West Mill, Rock Ridge, Zenith Yard, 
       H.R.C. West Side Yard 
From: Empire Belt RR North Side Yard.

Placement, constructive placement and interchange of freight cars forwarded to the E.B.R.R.'s North Side Yard.

North Side Yard out...

1/87th scale senior engineer Sir Neal is giving today's Empire Belt crew some last minute instructions before heading out to oversee construction on the new A.P.R.R. Southern Division. 1/87th scale PC Ralph will be the lead engineer for the E.B.R.R. today.

Over at Terminal Yard 1/87th scale Engineer Ed and conductor AT JOE hold a similar briefing with the TY yardmaster as their power set idles on track 9. Engineer Ed and AT JOE will be on Double's E's favorite train, EC-1, the transfer run from Terminal Yard to Empire City's North Side Yard.

Bedford Tower operator 1/87th scale John B is out and ready to give PC Train EC-1 (Terminal Yard to Empire City) a high ball and roll by inspection.

EC -1 passing Hohman Ave Tower

1/87th scale Sir Larry is out and ready to greet EC-1 as it makes it way into Terminal Yard.

EC-1 arrives at Terminal Yard and cuts off it's train. The cars for EC-2 are sitting on track 3 with a pooled caboose.

1/87th scale EE has run the engines around to the Hohman Ave side of the yard and couples up to the freight cars that will make up EC-2. After a terminal brake test they'll be off to Terminal Yard.

Train EC-2 heads back to Terminal Yard.

With EC-2 now gone 1/87th scale PC Ralph and the Empire Belt RR crew gets to work on sorting and delivering the freight cars left by EC-1. The first move was to pull off the cars for the L.I.R.R. and two boxcars from Ralph's Grocery Warehouse. With five inbound cars today and spots for only three the Rock Island and PC boxcars will be considered constructively placed in North Side Yard and will be spotted once space becomes available.

The Empire Belt crosses over to the industrial main

With the caboose out of the way the E.B.R.R. engines shove into the Gervais Pipe / Ralph's Grocery siding to pull these cars.

Spotted at Ralph's grocery are P&LE  35892 loaded with bagged flour from Blue Ribbon Flour on Ralph's layout, E.B.R.R. 358150 loaded with paper products from Marcal Paper on Neal's layout and L.F.N.W. 160 loaded with canned foods from Oswego Manufacturing in West Egg , CA on John B's layout.

The crew has spotted this empty PC gondola at Gervais Pipe &  Fitting. They are now spotting one Cargill covered hopper loaded with grain from Empire Grain on Ralph's layout and three loaded PC covered hoppers from the large Cargill facility on Neal's layout at Empire City Cargill.

PC depressed center flatcar 766053 loaded with a Caterpillar excavator gets a royal welcome at E.C. Caterpillar. Caterpillar management, legal department, foremen and the E.C.P.D. are all happy to see the long lost excavator returned from the clutches of Sal Monella and his Sal's Salvage henchman.   

The E.B.R.R. crews heads over to the West Side across the Empire City viaduct.

First order of business is spotting NYC 50' boxcar 80775 loaded with new 55 gallon drums from Kings Port Steel at Drywell Inks.

BM 109 and 110 loaded with glass and mirrors from Corning Glass are spotted at Superior Furniture. Cushion cars with air pak load restraints makes these cars perfect for these shipments. Having 1/87th scale PC Ralph at the controls doesn't hurt either as he is very familiar with moving high cost and fragile loads.

The last move on the West Side is pulling TP&W 40' boxcar #627 from Walsh Steel Wool. The car is loaded with steel wool scrap for Boom's Ready Mix on the K.P.D.

The E.B.R.R. crew is back at North Side Yard and preparing for the arrival of the L.I.R.R. transfer run.

Cars for the L.I.R.R. include P&E 3638 and IC 30130 both loaded with packaged meals from Cavendish Fine Foods are consigned to Pilgrim State Hospital. The two Penn Central gondolas loaded with telephone poles from Bell Pole are headed to NYS DOT Region 10. All four loads originated on the K.P.D. 

1/87th scale PC Ralph and the crew have the yard ready for the L.I.R.R.'s arrival.

Like clockwork the L.I.R.R. makes it way thru Bedford NY towards Empire City's North Side Yard.

The L.I.R.R. arrives at North Side yard.

The cars from the L.I.R.R. are spotted on track 1 and the L.I.R.R. RS-1 has run around to couple up to the cars headed out to Long Island. 

The L.I.R.R. reclaims it's caboose and heads back towards Bedford NY.

Rolling thru Bedford NY towards Long Island tracks we catch the PC gondolas , IC and P&E boxcars bringing up the rear of the train.

P.C.C.M. 42J Addedendum

The following day we're back at North Side Yard shortly after 1/87th scale Engineer Ed and AT JOE have arrived with train EC-1. If we look past the UP boxcar we can see that excavator leaving Caterpillar on a low boy trailer with some sketchy paperwork having been submitted to transfer the unit.

Here is Double E shooting the morning breeze with 1/87th scale PC Ralph who is again filling in for senior engineer Sir Neal who is attending to matters on the A.P.R.R. Southern Division today.

With EC-2 gone the Empire Belt gets down to business placing RI 35062 loaded with grocery products from Ralph's Grocery Davenport, Iowa warehouse and PC 77047 loaded with Woodstock Hills All Natural Soda located in Kings Port NY.  

With the RI and PC cars spotted the E.B.R.R. engines head back to pick up three empty boxcars from Ralph's Grocery and the loaded PC gondola from Gervais Pipe sitting on the industrial lead. 

The E.B.R.R. gets busy in North Side Yard setting up Train EC-4 which will be leaving for Terminal Yard this afternoon. By late tonight the P&LE, E.B.R.R. and L.F.N.W. boxcars will be ready for loading and the gondola loaded with pipe should make the cut for PC Train LI-1 due out of Terminal Yard for Selkirk at 04:00 AM. We'll save these stories for P.C.C.M. 43.   

That wraps up the P.C.C.M. 42 series!

Thanks for watching and reading!