Exploring New Off Layout Freight Traffic Part 1

Greetings All,

A new possibility of railroad traffic and interchanges using the Terminal Yard extension staging tracks under the Pier 16 Grain Silos presented itself in the recent P.C.C.M. 69.

Imagining Pier 16 is located off the Hudson River with access to other RR yards in Empire City an Erie Lackawanna transfer freight comes off an imaginary 12th Ave running track.  The EL had a car float operation at Pier 67 and a small yard at West 28th Street and 12th Ave in Manhattan going back to the Erie days in 1902. The EL merger in 1960 added Pier 68 to the Erie's 'west side influence'.

An experimental short transfer freight from the EL's 28th Street yard arrives at Terminal Yard. 

The EL engine heads back to West 28th Street with a block of cars for either their freight house, Lifshultz Freight Forwarders or to be floated back to their side of the Hudson.

The EL transfer rolls back towards 12th Ave. The EL's car float and West 28th street yard operations appear to have lasted until 1975.

A pleasant surprise when reading about the West 28th Street Freight Station was that Alco S-1s #308, 311 and 315 were assigned there.

Across the street from the Erie West 28th Street Freight Station sat the Lehigh Valley West 27th Street Freight Yard that was opened in 1902. The LV freight yard was leased to William A Starrett who built a 19 story 1.8 million square foot building directly above the yard with the LV retaining the ground floor as a freight yard providing the LV with a large pool of potential customers. Mr Starrett died in 1932 and the LV bought the building that same year.

Freight traffic was floated across the Hudson River from the LV Jersey City Pier to Pier 66 on the Manhattan side. The LV discontinued this service in 1966 and the B&O took over Pier 66.

According to the website the Lehigh Valley utilized an EMD SW1 #874 at this location. Using some modelers license I'm using LV SW8 #292 and have extended the LV's presence at West 27th Street into the PC era.

Sitting at West 26th Street was the B&O Freight Station that received cars floated across the Hudson River from New Jersey at a float bridge at West 26th Street. The B&O served the west side of Manhattan until 1974.

Last but not least at West 37th Street the PRR / Penn Central operated a float bridge and pier stations at Piers 77 and 78 from 1885 until sometime around 1971. The pier stations featured stockyards and were the largest of the offline RRs serving Manhattan. 

The New York Central, the only railroad with direct freight access into New York City, had extensive West Side freight operations.   

NYC EMD SW8 #9608 drags a small cut of empties to be dropped off at the EL, LV and B&O yards. An "empties transfer" to dump these foreign road cars back at their respective RRs will help reduce the per diem payments incurred at Terminal Yard.

Lower Manhattan's west side was known for years as the meatpacking district. Other potential freight traffic could be reefers and stock cars to supply these meatpacking houses.

Other options presenting themselves are the 40' reefers being unloaded in the yard as I've seen in many New York City yard photos. A Pier 16 switcher has spotted such a block for unloading.

As evening fast approaches a reefer starts getting unloaded.

Mechanical Refrigeration cars need fuel for their equipment and the PC has such a truck to provide it.

The above thoughts and ops are random as I took the photos as the whole thought process unfolded. I'm going to study my New York Central RR GC Terminal / Hudson Division Timetable #22 that went into effect on October 29, 1967 for additional information that can be used here. I also plan to run a more focused op using Train NY-4, The New York Central Meat Products Train, as the originating train and will record that in a future blog post.

Thanks for reading!!!

See ya soon!!! 

P.C.C.M. 70C Part 3 / Conclusion

Greetings All,

Welcome back to P.C.C.M. 70!!

Today this three layout virtual op featuring 

1:1 Sir Neal's Atlantic Pacific RR and 

1:1 PC Ralph's Kings Port Division 

enters its third and final day of virtual operation.

We open up our final installment at North Side Yard in Empire City NY with the 1/87th scale Empire Belt trainmen having their daily briefing.

1/87th scale senior engineer Sir Neal draws the Morning Industrial Job (MIJ) assignment in his familiar GP9s. Below he is coupling up to the three Penn Central RBL boxcars.

1/87th scale conductor John releases the brakes on the caboose and is ready to protect the shove move out of the yard.

The Morning Industrial Job (MIJ) crosses from the mainline onto the industrial running track.

The MIJ is working the east side industrial complex and shoving the PC RBL boxcars loaded with juice products from Tropicana in Rock Ridge NJ into the siding. 

A gondola loaded with pipe is shoved back to Ralph's Grocery Warehouse to pull empty P&LE boxcar #35892 for it's next P.C.C.M. load.

With the juice spotted at Ralph's Grocery Warehouse 1/87th scale Sir Neal orders a meatball sandwich to go as the other EBRR trainmen take advantage of the lunch special at Pizza Land.

A short time later the MIJ heads west on the industrial running track with four freight cars and two hot sandwiches.

1/87th scale Sir Neal brings the MIJ to a stop in North Side Yard on track #3. Time for beans!! Or meatball sandwiches!

A short time later the daily Long Island Railroad Transfer run from Bliss Yard comes around the west side heading for North Side Yard

 The LIRR RS-1 brings the freight train into yard track #2.

Slowly rolling up track #2 the RS-1 couples onto the PC gondola and the rest of the cars heading back to Bliss Yard.

1/87th scale PC Ralph's trusty conductor / brakeman comes out to swap paperwork and admonish the LIRR engineer for his bad timing today. "Whaddaya bothering us for now, we're eating" Then he does the right thing and invites the LIRR crew in for some pizza.

With full stomachs the LIRR crew reclaims it's caboose. That sharp looking Tropicana RBL Boxcar is loaded with juice products from Tropicana in Rock Ridge NJ and heading for the A&P Warehouse in Garden City NY.

The LIRR RS-1 pulls the train out of the yard. The two PC gons loaded with steel slabs from Shapeless Steel in Rock Ridge NJ are going to Mid Island Steel in Medford NY 

The LIRR train heads across the Empire City viaduct.

The LIRR Transfer heads thru Bedford back towards Bliss Yard and that ends the NYCTL's portions of P.C.C.M. 70.

But wait! There's More!!! 

Catch the LIRR's inbound and outbound run 
with a surprise ending here

And we have special bonus coverage of 1/87th scale Robert R completing his first day as an engineer!!

1/87th scale Robert R is back in the confines of Bedford Park Yard and is spotting two empty auto racks at the Ford Plant.

The third autorack is shoved into the tiny Bedford Park Yard and 1/87th scale engineer Robert R ties down the train here completing his first day on the job. Nice work!!

After work the guys all gather at Moriarty's Pub & Restaurant to celebrate Robert R's promotion and first day as an engineer. That's how we do things on the NYCTL!!!

Be sure to check the PCCM 70 action on 

1:1 PC Ralph's Kings Port Division

and 1:1 Sir Neal's Atlantic Pacific RR 

Thanks for reading and watching!!!

See ya soon!!!

  

P.C.C.M. 70C Part 2

Greetings All,

Welcome back to P.C.C.M. 70!!

Today this three layout virtual op featuring 
1:1 Sir Neal's Atlantic Pacific RR and 
1:1 PC Ralph's Kings Port Division 
enters its second day of virtual operation.  

We open up today's NYCTL action at Bedford Park Yard with 1/87th scale Robert R fresh out of engineer's school protecting the Bedford Park yard job. Congratulations Robert R.!!!

The tight confines of this area have humbled many an engineer. Lets see how the new guy handles things on his first day on the job. He's looking good here pulling the three inbound cars left on the lead yesterday into Bedford Park.

The Alco S-4 has been disconnected from the inbound cars and is pulling an empty NYC boxcar from All City Storage. The three empty NYC cars need to head out for their next PCCM load.

1/87th scale Robert R gets the tiny yard in order blocking the three empty NYC cars together. I'm thinking he'll grab the caboose next. 

The caboose is on the hind end of the NYC cars to the left. The S-4 has run around the inbound cars and is spotting APRR 50' RBL #58260 at All City Storage. The car is loaded with forwarder merchandise from Three Amigos Warehouse in Rock Ridge NJ. 

After another runaround move 1/87th scale Robert R heads over to work the Ford Plant.

The empties are pulled.

And coupled up to the empty NYC 50' boxcars. Hmm. The 86' boxcars can be troublesome on that tight curve. Nice work!

EBRR 86' boxcar #67358 and EBRR 60' boxcar #608279 loaded with auto parts from IDEAL Auto Parts in Rock Ridge NJ are spotted at the Ford Plant.

1/87th scale Robert R has brought his train out onto the Bedford Park Yard lead. Towerman John B congratulates him on joining the engineer ranks and hands him his first set or train orders.

Catch new 1/87th scale engineer Robert R's first run here;  

The run completed Robert R brings his Alco S-4 to the fuel pad and gets to say his first "fill'er up Willie" to engine hostler Wet Willie.

We'll cut here for today and pick up the action tomorrow in Empire City as the Empire Belt RR trainmen prepare to get to work

Be sure to follow the action on 

1:1 PC Ralph's Kings Port Division.

If you're just checking in you can catch the opening P.C.C.M. 70A on 1:1 Sir Neal's Atlantic Pacific RR blog

Thanks for reading and watching!!!

See ya tomorrow!!!

P.C.C.M. 70C Part 1

Greetings All,

Welcome to another three layout virtual op featurning 1:1 Sir Neal's Atlantic Pacific RR and 1:1 PC Ralph's Kings Port Division. 

If you're new to the virtual ops, that we call P.C.C.M.s for Penn Central Car Movements, the premise is that we interchange freight cars with each other on layouts that are a thousand miles apart without the freight cars actually leaving our respective train rooms.

The action starts in P.C.C.M. 70A at the APRR Rock Ridge Yard where the freight cars were gathered and ultimately sent out towards Selkirk via Penn Central's Weehawken Yard.

In P.C.C.M. 70B trains WV-2 going to Selkirk and Extra 3003 reached West Mill on the KPD. Freight cars for the NYCTL continued on to Selkirk in Train WV-2 and Extra 3003 terminated at West Mill . 
After a power swap at Selkirk Extra 2228 will head to the NYCTL Terminal Yard. Below, Extra 2228 has come up and over the Selkirk Hurdle and is rolling thru Empire City towards Bedford NY and Terminal Yard.

Extra 2228 heads for Terminal Yard

Extra 2228s power has been cut from the train and eases into the engine terminal passing some MOW plows getting ready for their next call.

The yard job, a pair of GP9s and an S12, couple up to Extra 2228s caboose to start working the train.

The yard job has set up the daily transfer train to Bedford Park and Empire City on track #5 and is now shoving a boxcar with a pair of reefers towards Terminal Warehouse and Cold Storage.

Shoving into the Terminal Warehouse & Cold Storage siding PC boxcar #142770 loaded with forwarder merchandise from Three Amigos Warehouse couples up to an empty Swift Reefer.

The empty cars are set aside. NPM Reefer #473 blocking the road is loaded with frozen food from C&P Restaurant Supply.

The loads are spotted at Terminal Warehouse & Cold Storage. The EL 57' reefer is also loaded with frozen food from C&P Restaurant Supply.

The yard job is in the clear on yard track #4 as our MOW train  comes into the yard on track #6.

Over at the engine terminal 1/87th scale Alco Joe has been called for Train EC-1 and heads towards his assigned power. 

The trio of Alco Century's have coupled on to EC-1 and are ready to head out to Empire City.

EC-1 rolls thru Bedford to North Side Yard

EC-1 heads into Empire City on the High Line.

 EC-1 rumbles over the EC Viaduct.

 EC-1 rolls into the Empire Belt RRs North Side Yard.

1/87th scale Alco Joe has EC-1 tied down on track #2 and gets out with his conductor to turn over his waybills and say hello to the EBRR trainmen.

1/87th scale Alco Joe couples up to his transfer caboose and a trio of freight cars for Bedford Park Yard.

EC-1 moves slowly past Empire City Station as a symbol freight passes it on the right.

EC-1 arrives at Bedford Tower and gets orders from towerman 1/87th scale John B.

1/87th scale Alco Joe shoves back to drop three freight cars on the Bedford Park lead.

Running caboose light thru Bedford NY 1/87th scale Alco Joe overtakes the symbol freight that has outlawed on the main.

 We'll it cut here with EC-1 heading back towards Terminal Yard.

We'll pick it up tomorrow at Bedford Park Yard and then turn it over to the Empire Belt RR.

Be sure to follow the action on PC Ralph's Kings Port Division.

Thanks for reading and watching!!!

See ya tomorrow!!!