P.C.C.M 50A Prelude #1

Greetings All,

Hi, my name is John and I'm a virtual opsaholic...

Our Penn Central Car Movements are approaching their 50th series during the Penn Central's 50th anniversary year and the guys have agreed to try and make this our biggest and best effort yet. To accomplish that all involved will launch their portions of the series on Saturday September 29th, 2018. The focus on that date will be the dispatching of trains from each layout in the direction of Perlman Yard at Selkirk NY. 

To further the efforts and keep everything moving smoothly each layout owner has the option of posting as many pre P.C.C.M. 50 train moves in support of the opening day dispatch that they want. This is where it all went off the rails for me so to speak. Instead of a few photos or a couple of installments I've got five. That's right five.

Anyway after D-Day on September 29th we'll regroup and focus our efforts on the inbound trains coming onto our layouts with another mass posting on October 06th, 2018.

So let's kick off the behind the scenes saga to get the trains on the N.Y.C.T.L. where they need to be for the big launch date.

It's early morning in Bedford NY as an L.I.R.R. train from Bliss Yard makes it way west towards the Empire Belt RR's North Side Yard with a long string of cars from NYS DOT#10 and Suffolk Community College. These cars were featured going east in P.C.C.M. 48. Passing the L.I.R.R. train is Penn Central train NY-2 that originated in Chicago and is headed towards Terminal Yard with meat products and perishables for the Empire City markets.

The following day another L.I.R.R. transfer run to North Side Yard meets Penn Central Train NY-2 once again at Bedford Station with three Alcos and a pair of EMDs tacked on just in case. The NY-2 was a high priority train that originated in Chicago, was refueled on the mainline and came thru Selkirk as it now heads towards Terminal Yard. The L.I.R.R is bringing back freight cars forwarded  to them in P.C.C.M. 48.

A little later in the day we turn our attention to the Empire Belt RR as it works some of the industries in Empire City. Below 1/87th scale Senior Engineer Sir Neal is once again manning the E.B.R.R. GP9ms and is switching out the Empire City Cargill facility.

A pair of 50' RBLs and a 57' Mechanical Reefer at Ralph's Grocery Warehouse are up next to be pulled on 1/87th scale Sir Neal's switch list.  

Once finished at Ralph's Grocery Warehouse it's off to Empire Produce to pull these three empty reefers.

Last but not least is pulling this GN boxcar loaded with shipping crates for the Woollett Shoe Company in Zenith from Neal's Lumber & Hardware.

With 1/87th scale Sir Neal working the Morning Industrial Job 1/87th scale PC Ralph is sorting the cars brought in by the L.I.R.R. at the Empire Belt's North Side Yard.

With the yard now in good working order PC Ralph and his GP30s are shoving this cut of cars to be picked up by Sir Neal's GP9ms for departure to the Penn Central's Terminal Yard. 

The E.B.R.R. GP9ms are heading out of town thru the West Side and will enter the PC tracks at the High Line as train EC-2. The stored 40' NH boxcars in the background are part of a group of 100 NH cars awaiting removal to the Penn Central's Holidaysburg Shops where they will be extended to 50' as part of a 1969 boxcar stretching program that calls for 700 40'ers to be stretched to 50'.  

EC-2 is now on the High Line and heading towards Bedford NY

Meanwhile 1/87th scale PC Ralph has blocked the inbound cars from the L.I.R.R. for Empire City consignees. 

There's plenty of work to do but with the cars lined up properly all should go smoothly. We hope...

The next order of business is to clear out the West Side storage tracks of these stored New Haven cars and Empire Belt cabooses.

E.B.R.R. caboose 1603 and 1605 will be going back to North Side Yard with the boxcars behind them going to North Side Yard and then onto Terminal Yard. 
The 2160 is on point thru midtown as it heads back to North Side Yard

Over on the east side 1/87th scale PC Ralph encounters E.B.R.R. train EC-2 sitting on the High Line with 1/87th scale conductor John checking his watch monitoring the delay before giving the E.B.R.R. train a roll by inspection.

The head end of EC-2 is at Bedford Tower and being held due to heavy congestion at Terminal Yard. 1/87th scale Sir Neal is shooting the breeze with tower operator 1/87th scale John B. and hoping he'll get under way soon

We'll cut the action here for today and take it up again tomorrow. 

Thanks for reading!!!