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!!!