Trailer / Container Chassis Repair Shop

Greetings All,

In my recent Empire City urban renewal project blog post one of the buildings being moved out of Empire City was Nobody's Auto Repair which is an old Life-Like "Sparkle Car Wash" kit. I believe these are now in the Atlas products line.

Looking to repurpose and fit the repair shop into a place on the layout I thought a Trailer / Container Chassis Repair Shop would work well in this corner of Terminal Yard near my TOFC track.

The common practice at many railroad intermodal yards is to lift trailers and containers from railcars and put the trailer on the ground and the container onto a chassis specially designed to transport them over the road. Many of these chassis can be adjusted to carry containers that are anywhere from 40' to 48'.

This can lead a container chassis to undergo a beating during the loading procedure. The most common issues I observed while working for CSX Intermodal were with the tires and landing legs. In winter the air brakes would freeze and dragging a chassis around the yard trying to get the brakes to release would cause flat spots in the tires. Railyards being what they are flat tires were not uncommon.

Swinging a loaded container onto the chassis front end to set it into the chassis pins would at times cause the landing legs to take the brunt of the weight and sometimes buckle. This practice saved some time and an experienced crane operator could do this in their sleep. You can see the container pins in the photo.

Both of the above were in violation of the rules and procedures but were not an uncommon occurrence. These shortcuts and remedies however did not always work out. Solution: Get a new chassis and take the damaged one to what we called the roadability shop.

Trailers sometimes didn't fare so well either with a rookie crane operator. The trailer should land on the rear tires first not the landing legs which can leave one scratching their head. It's called the landing legs!😉

Here's a close up of the trailer / container chassis repair shop with extra chassis, wheels, parts etc. This is a good place for an extra chassis or trailer to add some additional visual interest to TOFC and COFC operations. 

Many of these chassis management and repair locations are operated by third party vendors like Consolidated Chassis Management  and Trac Intermodal. 

Chassis pools and the containers that go with them were a challenge for me when I started working for CSX. Container X had to go on a SERP Chassis and Container Y an SATL Chassis. Here's a look at various chassis stenciling courtesy of CCM. Finding the right chassis could be quite challenging at times. The easiest containers to deal with were from JB Hunt. They could only go on a JB Hunt chassis which was bright orange and could be stacked only with another JB Hunt container in a train.

Here's a recent "How to model intermodal trains and yards" video from DJ's Trains. DJ is a CSX engineer and N scale modeler.

Thanks for reading!!

See ya soon!!

Empire City Urban Renewal

Greetings All,

I've been working on some ''urban renewal projects'' courtesy of my friend 1:1 Sir Neal, C.E.O of the 1/87th scale Atlantic Pacific Railroad, who recently sent this trio of Model Power building kits my way for use on the NYCTL. 

The first victim of the urban renewal project is Nobody's Auto Repair which has been relocated and repurposed. Those black post track bumpers, left, will also be replaced as I work on this area. 

This prime Empire City real estate is now ready for redevelopment.

The first two buildings are almost done.

The third building will occupy the home of the former Globe News building. The vacant lot next to it will be developed at future date.

The three buildings are now in place to provide a better backdrop for the west side curve.

Some decals have been added for visual interest and an Allied Moving truck is moving in the first tenant.

Construction equipment is in place for the undeveloped lot. The cones and barriers are from the old Life-Like product line and are courtesy of 1:1 Sir Neal. 

The new building has lost most of its backyard to fit into the allotted space. The scene will remain pretty much like this while I ponder adding another building or just decide to fence in the area and make a more detailed permanent construction scene.

 The remaining two buildings have received some decal signs .

The west side curve with the three new buildings is looking better already. New Walthers track bumpers have been added on the right.

Looking into the curve from the North Side Yard area. Another new Walthers track bumper can be seen to the left. 

Here's the purpose of the whole project, a backdrop for the trains.  An EBRR train comes out of North Side Yard.

 A PC transfer run heads back to Terminal Yard.

APRR GP38-2 #358 on loan to the EBRR heads to North Side Yard. The 358 sporting an earlier APRR paint scheme was painted by the Patti-O Paint Shop in March of 2015.

There is still some work to do on the buildings that includes adding some additional details and weathering which I plan to complete over the upcoming weeks. But for now they are in place and serving their intended purpose.

A special thanks to 1:1 Sir Neal for his generosity and continued support of the NYCTL. Thanks Sir Neal!!!

Thanks for reading!!

See Ya Soon!!

P.C.C.M. 63 / Part 6 / Put It In The Books!!

Greetings All,

Welcome back to the 63rd Penn Central Car Movement series!!

Today we finish with the EBRR delivering cars from PC Ralph's  Kings Port Division and Sir Neal's Atlantic Pacific Railroad that came into North Side Yard with PC Train EC-1. We'll close it out with the LIRR making it's daily run to North Side Yard to interchange freight cars and post a final railyard status report.

Picking up the action from yesterday 1/87th scale Sir Neal brings the EBRR Morning Industrial Job over the Empire City Viaduct to get into position to work the westside industries in the background.

The MIJ has shoved back to pick up the NYC Pacemaker boxcar from Moore & Co that is loaded with burlap bags for Agway and has shoved back to grab empty TP&W boxcar #627 from Drywell Inks for their next PCCM destinations.

The MIJ is now working the storage track to move some non PCCM cars and get access for a delivery to Walsh Steel Wool.

Empty TP&W boxcar #627 has gone from Drywell Inks, right, to Walsh Steel Wool Products on the left for it's next PCCM load.

NYC boxcar #80775 loaded with new 55 gallon steel drums from ACCO is shoved back to Drywell Inks.

Empty EL 40' boxcar #73510, picked up earlier at Ralph's Grocery Warehouse, is spotted at Moore & Co for it's next PCCM load.

The stored EBRR cabooses are returned to the storage track.

The work done on the westside 1/87th scale Sir Neal brings the MIJ back thru midtown towards North Side Yard.

The MIJ comes into North Side Yard from the eastside entrance.

Sir Neal has cut the engines from the MIJ and sets up for the arrival of the LIRR. Conductor John is protecting the shove as the cars for the LIRR are shoved east to pass the east side yard lead. 

With yard set up for the LIRR's arrival the guys go over their afternoon plans. The fuel truck driver has been told to be back first thing in the morning to top off the three EBRR reefers that are in the yard awaiting delivery to Ralph's Grocery Warehouse.

A short time later the LIRR is seen heading thru Bedford for North Side Yard with an empty PC gondola for Gervais Pipe, three NYC 50' boxcars loaded with toys from the IDEAL Toy Co for Battaglia Brothers Warehouse in Kings Port NY,

a Corning covered hopper with a fresh load of silica sand for the Corning Glass Works and LIRR caboose #C-91. 

The LIRR arrives at North Side Yard thru the Hohman Ave lead. 

and pulls thru the yard toward the eastside entrance. The EBRR guys will inspect the train and then assist the LIRR crew with picking up their outbound cars and caboose.

The LIRR has coupled up to its train and is heading west towards Hohman Ave

PCCM cars include GM&O boxcar #21129 loaded with bed frames from Quality Fabrications for Pilgrim State Hospital, KP&W PS2 hopper #445052 loaded with aggregate from Hedberg Aggregate for Lombo Concrete, KP&W and MCRR gondolas with utility poles from Bell Pole for the Long Island Lighting Company. 

A PC depressed center flat car with a storage tank for Olin Matheson and a Cargill covered hopper loaded with flour for Ronzoni from Blue Ribbon Flour round out the LIRR outbound train which has stopped just past Hohman Ave to await it's caboose.

1/87th scale Sir Neal has fired up the GP9ms and FB and is shoving the newly arrived LIRR cars towards Hohman Ave to couple the LIRR caboose onto the outbound LIRR train.

The LIRR caboose is coupled on.

The LIRR train is back together and heads out of Empire City as seen from the Empire City local news traffic helicopter.

Final PCCM 63 Report from North Side Yard.
PCCM cars in yard: 15. Loaded: 9.
PCCM cars for Empire City industries: 4. Loaded: 3
PCCM cars ready for transfer to Terminal Yard: 11.

Final PCCM 63 Report from Terminal Yard.
PCCM cars in yard: 7. Loaded: 0
PCCM cars ready for transfer to Selkirk: 5 

That wraps up the NYCTLs portion of PCCM 63.
Put it in the books!!!!

Be sure to follow the action on 

PC Ralph's Kings Port Division and

Sir Neal's Atlantic Pacific Railroad

Thanks for reading!!
See ya soon!!

P.C.C.M. 63 / NYCTL Part 5 / Trainmaster & the MIJ

Greetings All,

Welcome back to the 63rd Penn Central Car Movement series!!
                         This is the NYCTL's 5th of 6 posts.

Today the NYCTL will continue delivering cars from PC Ralph's Kings Port Division and Sir Neal's Atlantic Pacific Railroad that came into Terminal Yard with PC Train LI-2.

We're at the Terminal Yard Engine Facility with 1/87th scale Alco Joe called for train EC-1, the morning transfer run from Terminal Yard to the Empire Belt RRs North Side Yard in Empire City NY. With no Alcos in sight Alco Joe has confronted Wet Willie who assures him he's going to really like what the he has set up for him. 

Hot diggity! thinks Alco Joe as he is at the throttle of an honest to goodness Fairbanks-Morse H24-66 Trainmaster. Word is this engine was intercepted going from 59th Street Yard to Altoona. 
Two smooth running SD9s are coupled up to the Trainmaster just in case there are any problems with the big FM unit that is nearing the end of it's career.

Local rail fans caught wind of the Trainmaster assigned to EC-1 and filmed it coming thru Bedford Station loud and proud.

Trainmaster #8704 leads EC-1 into North Side Yard and the EBRR trainmen have come out to take a look. The 8704 would become  6704 for the PRR-NYC merger. None of the nine ex PRR Trainmasters received a Penn Central paint job.  

1/87th scale Alco Joe has cut from his train and run out of the eastside of the yard. Below he has crossed onto the industrial track and is running the engine consist back toward the Hohman Ave tower. What's going on here?

He's running the ex PRR engines thru the westside reverse curve. Aha! I see what he's doing.

Now back at North Side Yard 1/87th scale Alco Joe has coupled the engines onto his caboose with the Trainmaster now in the lead. Below Alco Joe explains the move to the EBRR guys. I can run the Cadillacs anytime but running this Trainmaster might be a once in a lifetime event for me and I'm going to enjoy it as much as I can.

The Trainmaster leads EC-1's engines and caboose out of North Side Yard and thru the westside curve. All 9 of the PC Trainmasters were off the roster by the end of 1970 making Alco Joe's earlier reverse move a very good move indeed.
EC-1 running caboose lite back to Terminal Yard. That good looking PRR N6B caboose was built and painted by 1:1 John Bruce and looks like a perfect match for this lash up.

With EC-1 and the Trainmaster gone the EBRR trainmen decide that 1/87th scale Sir Neal will run the Morning Industrial Job and PC Ralph will work the yard.

1:1 scale Conductor John has filled out the second PC Ralph switch list to assist 1/87th scale Conductor John with his MIJ duties. The list to the right has cars brought in on EC-1 and PCCM cars sitting at Empire City industries that need to be moved. 

The MIJ gets right to work shoving into the Gervais Pipe siding to pick up these two empty Evans Coil Coaches that will head back to Kings Port Steel in a future PCCM.

The MIJ has shoved back to Ralph's Grocery Warehouse to retrieve empty 40' boxcars BAR 5226 and EL 73510 for their next PCCM destinations.

With the empties out of the way a trio of APRR 57' Reefers loaded with packaged meals from C&P Restaurant Supply are shoved into the Ralph's Grocery Warehouse siding.
The work is done on the eastside and the MIJ is now working Neal's Lumber & Hardware in midtown pulling this pair of empty EBRR 40' boxcars for their next PCCM destination.

With the EBRR empties out of the way a pair of loaded boxcars from Hedberg Aggregates in Marion NY are shoved in to Neal's Lumber & Hardware. P&E boxcar #3638 is loaded with bagged gravel and PC boxcar #77047 loaded bagged landscape rock 

The MIJ with one car in tow heads toward the westside to pull that NYC Early Bird boxcar from Prestage Gear loaded with gears for Laroche Cycle. Working the yard 1/87th scale PC Ralph has pulled out three EBRR 57' reefers so the diesel fuel truck can fill their fuel tanks. The EBRR cars will go to Ralph's Grocery Warehouse once the APRR cars are emptied and reloaded. Right now they are considered constructively placed.

The EBRR hard at work! 1/87th scale Sir Neal has the MIJ back together after some car shuffling and is going to pass the Hohman Ave Tower to work the westside industries. PC Ralph is working on getting the final EBRR 57' reefer fueled and will shove the cut back into the yard.

We'll end it here for today with the MIJ crossing the Empire City viaduct. Tomorrow we'll close out PCCM 63 with the MIJ working the westside industries in the background and the LIRR making its daily run to North Side Yard to interchange freight cars with the EBRR. 

Be sure to follow the action on 

PC Ralph's Kings Port Division and

Sir Neal's Atlantic Pacific Railroad

Thanks for reading!!!

See ya tomorrow!!