Having Fun With ''Wasteful'' Dispatching

Greeting All,

Recently the Penn Central celebrated it's 50th Anniversary (02/01/1968 - 02/01/2018). During this time 1:1 PC Ralph shared with us his witnessing PC trains on the River Line led by up to seven locomotives. Ralph lamented that being young he didn't think to take any pictures and could not identify any of the engines involved. He did recall how impressive the sight of these big lash ups were. 

I was kind of envious of Ralph's good fortune to witness these monster consists. My only recollections of trains during this time period were the graffiti covered subway trains I rode to high school. This also reminded me that another rail fan was watching the River Line during this period documenting the action and armed with a camera. 

Fortunately for us Penn Central fans Robert J Yanosey was out recording the comings and goings of the PC. Mr Yanosey is an author, photographer and the publisher of Morning Sun Books which started with the Penn Central Power book. My absolute favorite railroading book.

Perhaps Mr Yanosey caught the same lash ups as described by Ralph. Here is one such seven unit lash up that he photographed on page 55 of the Penn Central Power book. It is used here with permission.

Here's the excerpt from the PC Power book where Mr. Yanosey commented on the above photo. Aside from excellent photos R.J.Y. can turn a phrase. It is used here with permission. 

Being a model railroader I thought this might be fun to emulate. I originally toyed with the excessive engines concept in my Hauling Steel with Sir Neal blog post by using a six engine consist. 

I also used a five engine lash up for Train UHC-2 in P.C.C.M. 44B

Then on a rainy late February Sunday I hit the train room and spent an enjoyable day putting together some 5 and 6 unit consists to power my freight trains. I focused on getting the Steel Products Train to Terminal Yard and then to North Side yard for interchange with the Long Island RR. I didn't have to worry about excessive fuel consumption or locomotive shortages like the Penn Central. Although I think my house lights were dimming with some of the older engine lash ups!

A three train meet at Bedford NY with a total of thirteen engines. An Empire Belt transfer freight holds on track 3 while PC Train LS-1 behind a five engine lash up heads towards the camera on track 2. On track 1 Extra 2228 climbs the grade on track 1 towards Terminal Yard.

1/87th scale Engineer Ed is at the throttle of the LS-1 five engine lash up (not in the photo is SD45 6190 trailing SD40 6282). All engines are home painted and all are powered Athearn Blue Box models. Talk about the house lights dimming!

1/87th scale Senior Engineer Sir Neal has the steel train extra climbing the grade on track 1 at a slow and steady pace. With LS-1  clear Sir Neal's Extra 2228 has the green signal to proceed towards Terminal Yard.  

The thirty car steel products train continues it's climb up track 1 under the watchful eye of Empire Belt GP30 engineer 1/87th scale PC Ralph 

This is one long steel products train and the six engine lash up may have been prudent to tackle the grades on track 1 and behind Hudson Coal. This is the first time I've run this train and it's all a learning experience today. 

Extra 2228 arrives at Terminal Yard. The six engine consist had the power to get the thirty car train up the grades.

Extra 2228 rolls thru the weigh in motion scales which groan in protest.

The Empire Belt transfer run arrives next at Terminal Yard. 

The Empire Belt train with the two cabooses and Extra 2228's focal orange caboose wait for the yard switcher.

 The switch crew at work pulling the cabooses from both trains.

The following day the steel products train needs to be moved to North Side Yard for the Long Island Railroad to pick it up. The Empire Belt has cajoled the Terminal Yard power desk and will borrow this five unit lash up to get the steel train to their North Side Yard in one move.   

1/87th scale PC Ralph will be running the five engine lash up that are all Atlas Yellow Box home painted engines. Another light dimming consist! Train designation will be EC-1.

Train NY-2 and EC-1 meet at Bedford NY. 

Six axle power is in evidence on both trains. SD45 6190 leads NY-2 with SD40 6282 right behind it. EC-1 boasts SD35s 6018, 6024 and SD9 6922. The 6922 is out on the main for a carbon cleaning. 

 A very busy 1/87th scale John B gives EC-1 a rolling inspection at Bedford Tower.

1/87th scale Sir Larry is out of the tower to check out this ground shaking lash up. BTW the construction crews have left and new grade crossing lights and arms have been installed.
EC-1's five engines cut an impressive figure as they pull into track 3 at North Side Yard. 

EC-1 has doubled the train over to track 2 and is coupling up to the freight cars on track 1 for the return trip as EC-2 to Terminal Yard.

 EC-2 holds temporarily on track 3 as a commuter train zips by.

Not to be outdone the Long Island RR has leased two RS-1s from the PC to assist their two RS units in getting the steel products train out of North Side Yard in one move.

L.I.R.R. RS-3 1556 couples up on track 3 while their inbound cars sit on the outer main.

L.I.R.R. RS1 561 leads the four engine consist with the steel products train in to towards their home rails.

That wrapped up the action and a very nice afternoon of running trains on the layout. All told I was able to get thirty one locomotives some run time on the layout and had a very enjoyable time doing so. 

A special thank you to Robert J. Yanosey, author, photographer and publisher of Morning Sun Books for granting me permission to use the aforementioned caption and photograph.

Thanks for reading!