Happy New Year! / 2019 End Of Year Recap

Seasons Greetings and Happy New Year!

Hoping that everyone reading this is enjoying a happy and healthy Holiday Season. For many model railroaders, including me, this is the time of year that first propelled us into the wonderful world of model trains. 

The Holiday Season is also the time of year that I like to look back at the past twelve months to see what if any progress I've made on the layout, rolling stock and motive power projects for the year. 

Let's take a look at some of the NYCTL 2019 highlights.

New 1/87th scale personnel

Conductor Robert R, in the blue cap, joined the NYCTL in June. Here he is with 1/87th scale Big Mike being introduced to PC Ralph in the cab of the 2160 on his first day on the job. 

Metro Division Sup't I.D. Shore, in the New Haven RR orange & green, arrived in December.

Motive Power Projects for 2019 included the following:

Penn Central U28B #2822. An Athearn BB paint project.

Penn Central GP7 #5870. An Athearn BB paint project. 

Penn Central C425 #2059. A non powered Tyco paint project that honors the last diesel engine received by the New York Central.

Penn Central C628s #6303 & #6304. IHC C630s repainted as Penn Central units.

Penn Central C630 #6324. A Tyco kitbash project with excellent custom shell work done by John Bruce and the rest supplied by 1:1 Sir Neal.

Penn Central GP9 #7412. A non powered AHM paint project.

Penn Central F7B #3469. A powered Bachmann paint project.    

Penn Central GP7s #5692 & #5693. An Athearn BB paint project.

New York Central #2399. An Athearn BB renumbering project after I learned the NYC actually had a GP35 with dynamic brakes.
 
New York Central GP30s and U30Bs. A group NYC renumbering project to correct previously painted models.
 

Rolling Stock projects for 2019 included the following;

Empire Belt RR 60' Boxcar #608279. A joint APRR-EBRR paint project for virtual ops use.

Penn Central, Atlantic Pacific RR & Empire Belt RR boxcars. Another joint APRR-EBRR paint project for virtual ops usage.

Atlantic Pacific 50' RBL project. A contract paint project for the APRR and virtual ops usage.

Empire Belt & Atlantic Pacific Gondolas. A joint APRR-EBRR paint project for virtual ops usage.

Hoschton Hoppers. A purgatory box paint project honoring my late friend Engineer Ed using his Hoschton Railway decals.

KP&W Coal Hopper #4527. A simplified Kings Port & Western scheme to highlight the train traffic with friend and virtual ops co founder PC Ralph of the Kings Port Division fame.

Other rolling stock projects included the weathering of my gondola  fleet.
  

And the weathering of my hopper car fleet.

Some layout 2019 layout projects included the following;

RA Tower project. A Bachmann kit added to the lower level.

Empire City Station project. A three part series using a Walthers Bailey Savings & Loan kit as an elevated train station.

Bedford Condos. A Walthers Bralick Building kit opened up to be backdrop condos behind Bedford Station.

Pier 16 Grain Silos. A project using powdered drink containers, construction paper, foamcore and dowels.

Empire City Urban Renewal. A project using three Model Power kits to upgrade the west side of Empire City.

Empire Power Authority AKA the E.P.A. A project using foamcore, hobby sticks, stick on letters and plumbing parts.

Railroad Right of Way Improvements: Ongoing projects that added more ballast and got the ROW looking more 1970s Penn Centralish with trash and junk scattered along the ROW.

Virtual Ops / Penn Central Car Movements;

The NYCTL participated in thirteen multi layout virtual ops in 2019. These ops are more commonly known to the participants as the P.C.C.M.s for Penn Central Car Movements which was the original name PC Ralph and I gave them.

The P.C.C.M.s continue to be a great source of enjoyment and the catalyst for many of the above model railroading projects. Many thanks to PC Ralph's Kings Port Division, Sir Neal's Atlantic Pacific RR, Brian's (ATJOE1972) Ralston Creek RR and John Bruce's Los Feliz & North Western for their participation.

Some P.C.C.M. Highlights for 2019;

The guys commemorated the 50th Anniversary of the New Haven inclusion into the Penn Central back in January in P.C.C.M. 56.

My freelanced Empire Belt continues to evolve as the P.C.C.M.s progress under the leadership of 1/87th scale senior engineer Sir Neal, with PC Ralph, his trusty brakeman and Conductor John all working together to provide good rail service.

The EBRR's North Side Yard continues to be very busy handling freight cars for Empire City industries and interchanging with the Long Island RR.

Bedford Park has seen a resurgence in rail traffic and as a result received a new Alco S-4 and caboose to handle the moves.

Lastly 1/87th scale Alco Joe, Big Mike, Robert R, Kar Knocker and the rest of the Terminal Yard crew continue their hard work keeping the NYCTL freight moving.
 

Thanks for taking a look back at 2019 with me!!

I've been very fortunate to meet some great fellow modelers thru this blog and have been blessed by their generosity. 

A special thanks goes to all those who have read, watched and commented on the various blog posts throughout the year. 

Best wishes to all for a Happy and Healthy New Year!!!

See Ya Next Year!!!

Seasons Greetings from the N.Y.C.T.L.!

Seasons Greetings and Merry Christmas All!

Silver bells, Silver bells, it's Christmas time in Empire City! Ring a ling, hear them ring soon it will be Christmas Day....

As alway the 1/87th scale trainmen and Empire City business owners do their part to ensure all the children have a great Holiday Season. Neal's Lumber & Hardware displays the Toys for Tots banner letting folks know they can drop toys off here.

Ralph's Grocery Warehouse on the east side of town proudly participates in the Toys for Tots program and has donated several containers of food to a local charity. 

1/87th sale John Bruce points to the banner outside of Bruce Electric Equipment letting everyone know B.E.E. is a Toys for Tots collection site.

With Christmas just around the corner the 1/87th scale trainmen of the N.Y.C.T.L. gathered in Empire City for their annual passenger train rail fanning and holiday party. 

A Christmas staple at Empire City Station is the very classy ABBA set of Santa Fe warbonnet engines hauling an Amtrak train. This paint scheme has sold more trains than any other in the world and  reminds me of the old Sears Christmas Catalog.

The Railway Express Agency is working diligently to get those last minute gifts forwarded to their northeastern destinations.
REA packages from Chicago are offloaded for eagerly waiting Empire City recipients. United Parcel Service? FedEx? Who?😉

The Standard Railroad of the World made its presence known with a long passenger train with plenty of head end cars..

The guys ventured down to the Empire City Station platforms for some passenger train watching.

With PRR sleeper "Paul Revere" in the background the guys catch an all sleeper NYC intercity train rumbling into the station. 

The E8s burble away as the R.E.A. guys hustle in the baggage car to load and unload the express Christmas packages. This NYC varnish cannot be delayed!

Next into Empire City Station is a BINO Desul with a string of BINO passenger cars.

A pair of Penn Central E8s led a long distance PC train into and out of Empire City Station.

Enjoy a short compilation of the days passenger train traffic.

After working up an appetite with all that train watching the NYCTL traimen head over to Dominick's for their Holiday feast.

From my layout to yours Season's Greetings and Merry Christmas!

Thanks for reading and watching!!

Happy Holidays and a Merry Christmas to all!!!

P.C.C.M. 67D / Coal Operations / NYCTL Part 2

Greetings All,

Welcome to the Penn Central Car Movements #67D

NYCTL Part 2!!

Today we'll continue to focus on coal operations at Hudson Coal, Terminal Yard, the Empire Power Authority Power Plant and conclude with the dispatch of a Coal Extra with loaded hoppers for PC Ralph's Kings Port Division and Sir Neal's Atlantic Pacific RR.

Train CJ-2 heads out of Terminal Yard behind a trio of GP7s.

CJ-2 has stopped here so the brakeman can open the switch to Hudson Coal. Once the signal is given the engines will shove back. 

CJ-2 is pulling the loads from Hudson Coal that includes a block for RMO Electric in Rock Ridge NJ served by the A.P.R.R. 

The last of the loaded hoppers are pulled out.

The CJ-2 engines and empties cross over to the mainline for their shove move back to Hudson Coal.

The shove move is underway as the engines pass Bedford Tower.

Another fifteen empties are spotted at Hudson Coal as the loading cycle continues.

The CJ-2 engines have coupled up to the loaded hoppers on the Bedford secondary and prepare to head back to Terminal Yard.

Not so fast!! CJ-2 is held for an outbound train with a pair of GP38s sandwiching a GP9. Some iconic PC power on display below?  Indeed!

While CJ-2 is out taking care of business the Empire Power Authority switcher is pulling a block of empties to the two track coal hopper yard.

The EPA crew has cut from the empties and positions a block of loads for delivery back to the Empire Power Authority Plant. 

After a runaround move the EPA crew couples to the empties to shove them into the coal hopper yard.

The EPA crew couples up to their block of loaded coal hoppers. 

The EPA engines with loaded coal hoppers in tow. 

The loaded hoppers get shoved into the unloading track.

Meanwhile CJ-2 patiently waits for another outbound freight train behind an F7A-F7B-F7A combo to clear the line to Terminal Yard. 

CJ-2 finally gets a green signal and starts out for Terminal Yard.

CJ-2 rolls across the weigh in motion scales as it passes the yard job engines. 

The trio of GP7s from CJ-2 return to the engine terminal.

With 1/87th scale Kar Knocker done with his inspection the Yard Job gets to work on the loaded hoppers from CJ-2 as it builds an outbound Coal Extra. 

The Yard Job couples up to the loaded CJ-1 coal hoppers to add to the CJ-2 coal hoppers in the background. These loaded hoppers will make up our outbound coal train. 

PC 9999 tacks on the ex PRR focal orange caboose.

New 1/87th scale Metro Division Sup't I.D. Shore tells hostler Wet Willie he wants all the big Power Pool B* Alcos on the coal extra.

The engines are coupled on, 1/87th scale Kar Knocker has released the train and a very happy Alco Joe has been called for Extra 6309.

Extra 6309 leaving thru the Terminal Yard tunnel.

Extra 6309, five Alcos strong, rumbles thru Bedford NY past a steel products train.

 6309 gets the green signal as it approaches Bedford Tower.

 Next stop Selkirk!!!!

That wraps up the NYCTL's portion of P.C.C.M. 67.

*Power Pool B: PC engines assigned to mineral (coal & ore) train service. Power Pool A (preferred symbol train service) and Pool B are managed interchangeably to accommodate the hills and valleys of traffic flow. Source: PC Bi Annual Page 21-22.

Be sure to follow the action on 

PC Ralph's Kings Port Division and

Sir Neal's Atlantic Pacific RR!

Thanks for reading and watching!!

See ya soon!!