Penn Central Car Movement 44B

Greetings All,

Welcome to the second installment of the Penn Central Car Movement 44 series! We opened up the action on 1:1 Sir Neal's A.P.R.R. layout, we'll continue the action here today and then send it over to Ralph's K.P.D. for installment #3.

This series is mostly focused on our virtual ops coal operations and the cycle of hopper cars and trains needed for delivering the black diamonds from my Hudson Coal to some of their respective end users featured on Neal and Ralph's layouts.

One of the cool features we've incorporated in this series is that UHC-1 and UHC-2 will 'meet at Ralph's' West Mill Yard. Trainmen of the entire Northeast look forward to seeing 1/87th scale Cappy Foster deal with these tonnage trains and the regularly scheduled manifest trains.

To:        West Mill / Rock Ridge
From:    Terminal Yard
Subject: Dispatch of Penn Central Unit Coal Train UHC-2
              Engines: 3007, 8024, 3180, 1802, 1908
              Total HP: 11,000
              Caboose: 416035
              Loads / Empties: 30/0
              Total Cars: 30
              Total Weight: 1,995 tons.
              HP / WT Ratio: 5.5:1

We start the action today at Terminal Yard with the Coal Job ready for departure. The GP20s will be heading to Hudson Coal with a string of empties while a string of loads waits on track 5 to the left.

The Coal Job makes it's way to Hudson Coal where we see the loaded cars we'll need to pick up before spotting the empties.

The familiar Coal Job caboose is shoved in to couple up to the first string of loads.

Track 2 is pulled and then track 3 will follow.

With the loaded hoppers pulled out the Coal Job is at Bedford Tower where they get permission to proceed and then change over to track #3 from tower operator 1/87th scale John B. 

Shoving the empties back thru Bedford towards Hudson Coal. The loaded train waits on track 2 with the caboose in place.

The coal cycle continues as the next batch of empties are shoved in for loading. These are the last available empties until Train UHC-1 arrives.  

The Coal Job has spotted their empties and it won't be long before they are loaded and ready to be pulled. By that time the empties from UHC-1 should be in Terminal Yard and ready for dispatch with the Coal Job.

The Coal Job is back together on track#2 and waits for an Empire Belt train to clear the tracks ahead of it. The E.B.R.R. train is headed for North Side Yard in Empire City.

The Coal Job is underway heading up the grade towards Terminal Yard. The two turbocharged GP20s have no problems with this train and grade.

Arriving back at Terminal Yard the Coal Job heads towards track 9 

 And the weigh in motion scale.

That done the GP20s have cut off the train. Yard power is this pair of GP9s and they have coupled up to the caboose. They'll take this cut of cars and couple them up to the loaded coal hoppers we saw sitting on track 5 in photo #1.
The hostlers have put together a nice group of first and second generation motive power for UHC-2. GP40 #3007 leads the train out of Terminal Yard.

The five engine consist boasts 11,000 HP. With the PC the hope is all units will stay online but there is no guarantee. Extra units assure the mainline will stay open but it comes with the cost of extra fuel and engine shortages. 

 UHC-2 at Bedford Station crossing over from track 3 to track 2

Up and over the Cornelius Vanderbilt Bridge and onto the High Line. The string of coal hoppers stretches all the way back past Bedford Station. 

Rounding the High Line curve we see several rail fans enjoying the action and some food from the benches. Next stop West Mill!!!

Thanks for reading!

Be sure to follow up the action on Ralph's K.P.D.!

New Structures for the N.Y.C.T.L.

Greeting All,

Over the last couple of weeks I've enjoyed building some structure kits that I received for Christmas. Shown below are the kits involved. The Walthers Industry Office, the Smalltown USA Furniture Showroom and Model Power Signal Bridge were ordered as site specific. The Scene Master BBQ Food Trailers were a gift from my mother in law who is a huge fan and supporter of the layout. The Blair Line Pizzaland kit was a gift from 1:1 Engineer Ed who liked the Market Street Mob portion of the layout.

The non operating signal bridge was the easiest to assemble and add to the layout. Here it is on the lower level.

The green shack had been the de facto Terminal Yard office and gathering place for quite awhile. I've been looking to change that and thought the Walthers Industry Office would fit the bill.

The new Yard Office is built and in place. Right now it's drying and waiting for additional details.

Some roof top vents from my parts box, decals from the kit and the Terminal Yard sign from my printer now identify the structure beyond a doubt. The 1/87th scale trainmen of the N.Y.C.T.L. have gathered for the opening day celebration. 

A side view showing some additional signs and off street parking for RR employees only.

The next kit I built was the Blair Line Pizza Land building. This is a laser cut wood kit and my first time building one. Following the kit instructions it was a pretty straightforward build and the results were nice. 

 A side view showing the burglar bars on the windows and signature Pizza Land sign. 1/87th scale Double E has told the guys this is the best pizza in Empire City and they are lined up waiting for the restaurant to open.

The next building I tackled was the Smalltown USA Furniture Showroom. This was ordered site specific for this site. The  Furniture Showroom was a pretty easy build. It's really two buildings combined into one and required some wall cutting to get it to fit together properly. Prescribed cutting lines made the job pretty simple.The windows are molded in place and the store front is several pieces that fit together nicely.

Pizza land has been turned so the larger building will still fit. The guys have returned for more so I guess it is the best pizza in town.  

The food carts have been built and are in place on the east side of town. This is the official train watchers location with benches and a great view of the High Line. Now food and beverages will be available for the rail fans to enjoy while they watch the parade of trains going by.

Once again we find the 1/87th scale trainmen of the N.Y.C.T.L. looking to fill their stomachs!

The Furniture Showroom is now complete with signs and window treatments that were included with the kit now in place. Pizza Land has been relocated for the time being as the scene was just a bit too crowded to fit the location. It may return though as it looked good at that corner.

The Furniture Showroom occupying the corner lot  allows the driveway to the left to be operational for vehicle access to the rear of both buildings. 

Pizza Land sitting at the corner of Market Street and Water Street putting it in walking distance from the Market Street Mob's ACE Cafe HQ.

While the kit looked good in the above location it kind of gets lost tucked into that spot. I later put it here next to Ralph's Grocery Warehouse where it's much more visible. No matter where it ends up you can be sure the 1/87th scale trainmen of the N.Y.C.T.L. will find it! 

Thanks for reading!!!!

Hauling Steel with 1/87th scale Sir Neal

Greetings All,

Today we'll catch up with 1/87th scale Senior Engineer Sir Neal at the throttle of a steel products freight train running from Selkirk to Empire City's Terminal Yard and do a fun 1/87th scale horsepower to tonnage ratio comparison. 

In P.C.C.M. 43C 1/87th scale Senior Engineer Sir Neal commented that he thought the power to tonnage ratio was light for Freight Train LI-1. N.Y.C.T.L. management promptly looked into it's power to tonnage practices and compared them to others in the industry. The power to tonnage ratio also reared it's head in P.C.C.M. 43I when one of Ralph's big Alco RSD12's needed an assist to get it's train up the hill to Marion NY. 

Was LI-1 under powered? Was it not? Let's take a look.
  
                                      LI-1 from P.C.C.M. 43C
ENGINES: GP38 #7692, GP38-2 8038, GP35 #2327, GP38-2 8024

Total HP 8,500

Freight Cars: 23 weighing 1,295 tons.

HP to Tonnage ratio: 6.56:1

Here is LI-1 idling at Terminal Yard prior to departure.

Now let's take a look at today's train;

Extra 2228 South

ENGINES: GP 30 #2228, GP30 #2204, GP30 #2218, F7A #9651,                       F7A #9656 and GP35 #2500. Total HP 12,250
Freight Cars: 29 cars weighing a combined 2,355 Tons
HP to Tonnage ratio: 5.20:1 

With the math out of the way let's enjoy the action;

The Steel products train left Selkirk as Extra 2228 South with Senior Engineer Sir Neal at the throttle and 1/87th scale AT JOE as conductor. Extra 2228 South was routed thru the lower level of Empire City and is stopped waiting for the commuter train on the bridge to head in and out of Empire City Station which is right around the curve. Sir Neal and AT JOE take the time to stretch  their legs and greet their buddies.

Extra 2228 South is now on the move and we see the third, fourth and fifth engines in the consist. 1:1 PRR F7A 9651 will eventually become PC 1447.

 Engine 5 and 6 roll by. 1:1 PRR F7A 9656A will become PC 1900

Extra 2228 South's freight consist is 29 cars loaded to their max weight with steel scrap and steel products from Shapeless Steel and Kings Port Steel. 

The six engine lash up is very impressive. Four engines are actually powered. All engines are from Bachmann Spectrum or Plus.

 Steel and more steel as makes it's way thru Empire City Station.

 Covered steel coil cars follow the steel slabs.

Open gondolas with steel coils followed by breadbox trough cars with more steel coils. The good looking coils were made by 1:1 PC Ralph.

More open steel coils and breadbox trough cars The breadbox trough car was built by Evans and introduced in 1965.

And finally an N5 caboose in PRR Focal Orange. Looking closely the caboose is fitted with a track cleaning pad.

So how did I come up with the weights and horsepower ratings? Pretty easy. HP ratings for the engines used are available on the web and in some books in my library. Freight car weights were gathered from the cars LD LMT data. I used the max number and rounded it off to tons. Close enough for today.

In the 1:1 world I read that the Union Pacific used a 1:1 HP tonnage ratio on most trains and Conrail used a 1.75:1 on most of it's trains. Variations of this would include condition of locomotives used, grades, curves and speed. A hot T.O.F.C or intermodal train may have a HP to tonnage rating of 4:1 or more to keep the train at max speed. A RR like the bankrupt PC and early CR would often dispatch twice as many engines as needed hoping that enough would stay online to keep a hot main open.

On the N.Y.C.T.L. keeping the mainlines open and the trains on time is one of our operating goals. With that in mind we'll take 1/87th scale Senor Engineer Sir Neal's sage advice and make sure we have an abundance of available horsepower to meet our needs. Now the question to be asked is. Do we need more engines in the fleet to meet these requirements? Of course we do!
  

Thanks for reading!  

Penn Central Car Movement #43C

Greetings All,

Welcome back to the P.C.C.M. 43 series. We wrap up the origination portion today. We'll start it off with some yard switching and close it out with the dispatch of PC Train LI-1. Train LI-1 was an actual PC train that rain daily leaving from Oak Point Yard in the Bronx NY at 04:00 AM for Selkirk NY with a scheduled arrival time at 12:00 PM.

To: Selkirk, West Mill, Zenith Yard
From: Terminal Yard
Dispatch of Train LI-1 (Empire City to Selkirk)

With all freight cars heading to the K.P.D. and L.F.N.W. now in Terminal Yard it's time to put together a switch list and blocking order.

With the blocking order and switch list prepared the Terminal Yard switching crew gets busy pulling E.B.R.R. caboose 1604 from the rear of the Empire Belt transfer run. Terminal Yard power today is a pair of PRR FM H16-44s. Of the Penn Central's 38 H16-44s the PRR contributed 10. The PC will round up all FM H16-44s and assign them to Chicago to be closer to their Beloit WI parts supply.

Freight cars from Empire City are at the bottom of the photo and freight cars from Bedford are at the top. The switch crew will be working both of these trains to build outbound train LI-1

Getting down to business the switch crew has spotted NYC caboose 21698 on track 6 where they will start building LI-1.

The Selkirk block is now in place. PC depressed center flatcar 766053 will be cut off at Selkirk for storage. L.F.N.W. 50' boxcar 160 and GN 40' boxcar 3630 will be removed at Selkirk and transferred to train LS-1 where they'll travel to Elkhart IN for inclusion in train BN-1 that will take them to Chicago to interchange with western railroads for their journey to John B's California based L.F.N.W. layout.

Three Penn Central gondolas make up the West Mill transfer to Williams Yard block. PC 576104 & 576123 are loaded with scrap for Kings Port Steel and PC Gondola 288673 is loaded with pipe for the Hudson Valley Ag Coop.

The IC and TP&W boxcars are consigned to industries in Kings Port NY, PC 77047 will be heading to Marion NY, the NYC Pacemaker car and PC 360063 will be headed to Bloomberg NY. 

P&LE and GM&O boxcar along with the Cargill covered hopper are all headed to industries in Mayfield NY

The crew has doubled over to track 7 to continue buiding this outbound train. BM 109 and 110 will be be going to Corning NY and NYC 80775 is headed to Canton box in West Mill proper.

The yard crew has added five empty covered hoppers for Empire Grain also within the city of West Mill. 

Oops! BM 105 was left out of train LI-1. Obviously an office error. The crew will have to place it in the proper block.

BM 105 loaded with printed packaging for Blue Ribbon Flour is placed at the rear of the West Mill transfer to Williams Yard block. The crew is using their collective heads here. Putting BM 105 behind the gondolas eliminates having to add a buffer car at Selkirk once the cars for the L.F.N.W. are pulled. BM 105 will protect the men in the caboose in case any of the pipes in PC 288673 come loose. The pipes are just above the top of the car necessitating this protective move.

The power is in place, the crew is on board a terminal air test will be performed once they connect to the rest of the train on track 6. 

LI-1 has left Terminal Yard and is coming downgrade behind Hudson Coal.

Next stop Selkirk!!!!

It's a wrap! P.C.C.M. 43 now moves onto Ralph's K.P.D. 

and then John B's L.F.N.W. 

Thanks for reading and watching!