40' Hi Cube Boxcar Project

 Greetings All,

Another joint APRR - NYCTL Paint Project is in the books! 

In May 2021, 1:1 Sir Neal, CEO and President of the 1:87 scale Atlantic Pacific Railroad, sent me a message that he had six 40' Hi Cube boxcars that were no longer being used on his layout and would I be interested in painting them for the virtual ops. I replied that I would and Sir Neal sent the box of cars my way.

The cars are Athearn Ready to Run Models that with Kadee couplers added and installed by 1:1 Sir Neal.

From the factory these cars are glued at their corners and Sir Neal made sure they came apart prior to shipping. Here are the cars on my workbench separated from their chassis and doors. 

Having been an APRR freight car painter for many years when I asked what color he wanted the cars 1:1 Sir Neal replied "do whatever you want". After stripping the factory paint in 91% Isopropyl Alcohol I'm doing what I want with the cars and painting them on the Patti O Paint Shop. I hope Sir Neal doesn't regret his decision!

Color #1, Rust-Oleum rattle can Gloss Sun Yellow has been applied and the cars are awaiting the next paint color

Color #2, Rust-Oleum Aluminum has been applied to the car roofs. 

Color #3, black rattle can paint was applied to the doors that are now attached.

Empire Belt #4385 and Atlantic Pacific #4194 start to take shape. 

Make no mistake working with the outside braced boxcars is very time consuming. Each car side took about forty five minutes to decal. This included cutting out all of the individual decals in the decal containers for that particular side. It does not include the time spent finding, selecting and cutting the decals that were placed in the containers.    

The end is in sight!!! The cars are now fully lettered with color #4, white, applied for the excess height requirement and decals. The cars are now in the Solvaset Phase. Once this is completed the cars will be sprayed with Testor's Dullcote.

I mentioned above about the searching and selecting of the decals used for this project Here are the decals from my decals box that were used for this project:

Atlantic Pacific RR black decals: originally made by Rail Graphics.

Empire Belt black decals: made by our late friend Engineer Ed.

COTS Panels & Excess Height decals: Highball Graphics.

White Stripe decals: (Color #4) Microscale 87-88 NYC Diesels.

Freight Car Data decals: Microscale MC-5023 Misc FMC Data.

Door Data decals: Microscale 87-286 Boxcar Door Markings White.

ACI Plate decals: Microscale MC-4280.

The boxcars have been released by the Paint Shop and sent to the Car Shop for additional weight and reassembly. 1:1 Sir Neal is big proponent of the NMRA weight standards and introduced me to the benefits of this.   

Each cars coupler height is checked with the Kadee Coupler Gauge.

The new Hi Cube Boxcars are released from the Shop!!!

1/87th scale Sir Neal and the EBRR guys are at the Terminal Yard shop for the release of the cars into revenue service.

1/87th scale Sir Neal inspects the new APRR #4194 and #4197. Hope he likes it!!!

Conductor John likes the look of the newest EBRR freight car!

The Hi Cubes are ready to earn revenue! Alco Joe, working the Bedford Turn (Train BT-27) has coupled up his Baldwin S12s and will be taking these empties for their first loads. (Baldwin Joe?) 

Three Hi Cubes roll into Bedford. 

The Hi Cubes are spotted at the Hostess Plant to be loaded with baked goods for ShopRite in Rock Ridge NJ. No better place than this for their first load as 1:1 Sir Neal was the inspiration for this industry. If you look carefully 1:87 scale Sir Neal is supervising from the overpass! Don't scratch the paint! No harsh coupling! Stop waving and set the brakes Murray!

Seeing Double Vision! The second set of Hi Cubes that will remain on the NYCTL are brought out to be spotted at Hostess. This is a good way to test both sets to make sure they are ready for interchange.

The three car set for the APRR heads back to Terminal Yard passing some of the first cars the Patti-O Paint Shop painted for the APRR. These new Hi Cubes will be boxed up and sent to the APRR. 

The NYCTL set will be loaded at Hostess. Look for them in a future PCCM / virtual op!

I think the project turned out very well and the cars both reflect the Increased Per Diem cars of the 1970s and more modern cars on the rails today. The paint and lettering look good. The extra weight and metal wheels have them rolling very well and wobble free. With the APRR furnished Kadee couplers these cars are definitely ready for revenue service.

Thanks for reading!!! 

See Ya Soon!!!  

Origins of Penn Central Train LI-2

 Greetings All,

Today we're going to take a look at the origins of Penn Central Train LI-2. 

In 1968 the newly formed Penn Central began diverting traffic from its ex PRR Greenville - Bay Ridge car floats to the River Line. In 1969 when the New Haven became part of the Penn Central all New Haven floating ceased and its traffic was routed to the faster, more reliable and less costly River Line.

In 1970 the New Haven route to the Long Island Railroad (LIRR) removed the LIRR traffic from the Greenville car floats. To accommodate this traffic the Penn Central built the "NAVE" (Newark Avenue) connection between the River Line and the ex PRR P&H Branch in Jersey City

With LIRR traffic now going to Selkirk PC Train LI-2 was born and would use the NH connection to the LIRR. The train would go east from Selkirk on the NH Beacon Branch into Connecticut and then come back going southwest into New York at Port Chester before heading south into the Bronx and over the Hell Gate Bridge to Fresh Pond Junction where the train was turned over to the LIRR.

In 1971 the connection at Beacon with the NYC Hudson Line and the New Haven Beacon Branch was upgraded to allow trains to operate between the NH Maybrook Line and the NYC Hudson Line to New York City. The LI-2 is reported to have been rerouted from Selkirk to the Hudson Line sometime after this. The 1974 timetable shows the LI-2 using the Beacon Branch Route.

Operations before the Penn Central Takeover:

Prior to January 1969 the New Haven Railroad had two east west gateways, one at Maybrook Yard and the other at the Bay Ridge Brooklyn Car float. 

The NH was part of the eight RR "Alphabet Route" with Maybrook being the Northeast connection of this east west freight service that competed with the PRR-NYC-ERIE and B&O.

The second east west gateway was the Bay Ridge 65th Street Yard where the PRR floated cars to and from Greenville NJ to Bay Ridge Brooklyn. 

The New Haven route thru Brooklyn, the Bay Bridge Branch, was owned by the LIRR, a PRR subsidiary until 1965 and the Queens portion of the route and the Hell Gate Bridge into the Bronx was owned by the New York Connecting Railroad, a paper RR jointly owned by the PRR and NH. The entire line was electrified with overhead catenary to power the NH electric freight trains.  Unfortunately the overhead catenary on the Bay Ridge Branch came down after the PC takeover.

During the New Haven era the NH interchanged cars with the Long Island RR at Fremont Street Tower in the Glendale neighborhood of Queens NY where the N.Y.C.R. met the L.I.R.R. FN Tower controlled the switches an signals.

A 1950 NH Timetable indicates that the New Haven dispatched westbound train M-7 "The Maine Cannonball" daily except Sat and Sun from Portland, Maine to Bay Ridge NY picking up LIRR cars  from around the system and delivering them to the LIRR at Fremont.

A second westward NH train, NG-1 departed Cedar Hill daily for Bay Ridge with cars for the LIRR at Fremont.

The timetable does not show any eastbound connection with the LIRR which I believe was due to the LIRR having it's own car float connections.  

N.Y.C.T.L. Model Railroad Operations: 

In PCCM 83 the large amount of virtual ops freight traffic for the LIRR coming from Ralph's KPD and Sir Neal's APRR gave me the opportunity to research Penn Central freight schedules and to once again run a fictional version of Penn Central Train LI-2.

Prior fictional versions of the LI-2 had been run in PCCM 63 in August 2019 and before that in PCCM 48 in June 2018 with both pretending to use the traditional Hudson Line routing for Empire City but with neither being a solid block for the LIRR.

The third time's the charm as this time I did the research into the train. While my LI-2 wasn't close to the prototypical operation of either the NH or PC it did add some enjoyable modeling and operational opportunities like reversing the train at Terminal Yard.

Delivering the entire train to the LIRR at North Side Yard was a fun twist to my normal operations here.

It may not make it to the virtual ops but even without catenary I like the look of this E33 combo rolling thru Empire City.   

Here's another look at my PCCM 83 version of the LI-2. It was enjoyable to run and as virtual ops traffic permits I plan to run that version of the LI-2 again with a solid block of freight cars for the LIRR. The only question then will be should I pretend it's coming off the Beacon Branch like in the video or the Hudson Line into Empire City. 

 

Resources:

Penn Central Railroad Color History by Peter E. Lynch

PC Post volume 22, number 1

Additional online reading and photographs:

Alphabet Route 

New York Connecting RR fan trip 2000

New York Connecting Railroad

Bay Ridge Branch

Fremont Tower

New Haven Freight 1950 Freight Schedule

Penn Central 1974 Freight Schedule

Thanks for reading!!!

See ya soon!!!

Penn Central Car Movements #83 / N.Y.C.T.L. Part 7 / The LI-2 and LIRR close it out

  Greetings All,

Welcome back to Penn Central Car Movements #83!!!

The Inbound cycle of our three layout virtual op with my N.Y.C.T.L. interchanging freight cars with PC Ralph's Kings Port Division and Sir Neal's Atlantic Pacific RR concludes today.

The action starts with a little early morning excitement at North Side Yard. A pair of would be thieves are caught in the act of trying to break into P&E boxcar #3638.

P&E boxcar #3638 is loaded with REVCO kitchen gadgets that is awaiting delivery to Ralph's Grocery Warehouse. The ECPD police captain was heard to mutter that " these crooks are either idiots going to jail for trying to steal turnip twaddlers or there is a hot market for them we didn't know about!" Either way the crime doesn't pay today!

We open the railroad action at Bedford Park Yard with Robert R pulling a pair of hot auto parts cars from the yard for the Ford Plant.

Empty AP 86'ers and an EBRR 50"er get pulled from the Ford siding

The empties are placed in Bedford Park Yard.

AP 60' boxcar #615827 and EBRR 86' boxcar #67358 loaded with auto parts from IDEAL Auto Parts in Rock Ridge NJ are shoved into the Ford siding for unloading as the assembly line continues to hum.

Robert R ties down back in the yard. The empty AP and EBRR cars will head back to Rock Ridge Yard in a future PCCM.

Our focus now will be Penn Central Train LI-2 that ran from Selkirk NY down the Beacon Branch into CT and then back into NY going over the Hell Gate Bridge to Queens NY. 

With much modeling license I'm running the LI-2 with a solid block of cars for the LIRR like the actual PC LI-2 but will turn the train over to the LIRR at Empire City.

The LI-2 has come off the New York Connecting Railroad and into Empire City.

The LI-2 heads towards Empire City Station and makes the climb out of the lower level of Empire City.

Three H16-44s bring the LI-2 into Terminal Yard.

Kar Knocker gives the train a once over as it enters the yard. 

The yard job pulls off the working caboose.

The F-M diesels couple back on. 

The LI-2 heads towards North Side Yard.

The LI-2 arrives at North Side Yard as an LIRR crew stands by to receive the train.

The engines are uncoupled.

The caboose and engines head back to Terminal Yard caboose lite.

The train has been turned over to the LIRR and Jimmy Alco has coupled his caboose onto the consist. Jimmy reminisces with the EBRR guys back to the days of NH E-33s delivering the train to the LIRR at Fremont Street tower in Glendale Queens.

The LIRR engines are coupled on.

After a terminal air test Jimmy Alco brings the train out of the yard.

The LIRR heads thru Bedford

Next stop Fresh Pond!!! 

Put it in the books!!! That concludes the NYCTL's portion of P.C.C.M. #83. Be sure to catch the rest of the action on PC Ralph's Kings Port Division and Sir Neal's Atlantic Pacific RR.

A future blog entry is planned to further examine both the PC Train LI-2 and the New Haven era Long Island Railroad interchange at Fremont Tower in Queens NY. I've  uncovered some good stuff so far that I think you'll find interesting.

Thanks for reading and watching!!!

See ya soon!!!

  

Penn Central Car Movements #83/ N.Y.C.T.L. Part 6 / Switching at Bedford Park and Empire City

 Greetings All,

Welcome back to Penn Central Car Movements #83!!!

The Inbound cycle of our three layout virtual op with my N.Y.C.T.L. interchanging freight cars with PC Ralph's Kings Port Division and Sir Neal's Atlantic Pacific RR continues today.

We start the day at the Bedford Park Ford Plant with Robert R pulling out this trio of empty auto parts boxcars that will go back to IDEAL Auto Parts in a future virtual op.

Robert R has rolled into Terminal Yard and coupled up to three loaded auto parts boxcars from IDEAL Auto Parts in Rock Ridge NJ.

Big Mike once again working the yard job pulls off the caboose and empties.

Here is the BP-12 - BP-41 sequence showing a fast turnaround at Terminal Yard.

After a runaround move in Bedford Park Robert R shoves the auto parts cars into the Ford Siding.

Next we catch Robert R heading back to Terminal Yard for another pair of shutdown cars for the Ford Plant. Ford expects these rolling warehouses to be ready for spotting when called for.

Robert R heads thru Bedford to Terminal Yard and returns thru Bedford with the hot cars for Ford and an empty PC boxcar for American Hardware Supply.

Robert R is back in Bedford Park. Empty PC boxcar #160502 is spotted at American Hardware Supply. Once the engine is cut from the PC boxcar it will perform another runaround move.

After the runaround move the hot cars for the Ford Plant are shoved into the yard and ready for quick delivery when called for. 

Next we turn our attention to the Empire Belt RR getting ready to run it's daily Morning Industrial Job train that serves customers within the Empire City limits. PC Ralph will handle this with two U23Cs and deliver cars from yesterday's EC-1 from Terminal Yard.

PC Ralph brings the MIJ onto the secondary track and we see P&E boxcar #3638 loaded with kitchen gadgets from REVCO has been constructively placed in the yard for Ralph's Grocery Warehouse. 

The MIJ is working the eastside industrial complex pulling out various loads and empties.

Now spotted at Ralph's Grocery Warehouse and filling the siding are:

Swift reefer #4244 loaded with frozen meat products from Swift in Lawrence Mass.

PC boxcar #360063 loaded with packaged meals from Cavendish Fine Foods in Mayfield NY

PC boxcar #229046 loaded with cake mix from Blue Ribbon Flour in Kings Port NY.

P&E boxcar #3638 loaded with kitchen gadgets from REVCO is constructively placed at North Side Yard will be delivered as soon as there is a clear spot on the siding.

Next move is at Gervais Pipe spotting this pair of Evans coil coaches with steel coils from Kings Port Steel in... Kings Port NY! 

The MIJ is now pulling a loaded boxcar from Neal's Lumber and Hardware as the big man himself, senior engineer Sir Neal lends a hand.

Being spotted at Neal's is PC boxcar #77047 loaded with bagged landscape rock from Hedberg Aggregates in Marion NY and a NYC Early Bird boxcar loaded with bagged cement from Boom's Ready Mix in West Mill NY.

Catch PC Ralph bringing the MIJ west.

PC Ralph brings the MIJ across the Empire City viaduct to access the west side industries.

Two SRR bulkhead flats of lumber from Half Moon Lumber in South West Mill get spotted at City Pallet.

A pair of empty EBRR 40' boxcars get spotted at Walsh Steel Wool Products for their next PCCM loads.

The switch work done PC Ralph heads back to North Side Yard over the High Line.

We'll cut it here for today with the MIJ rolling back into North Side Yard.

We'll pick it up tomorrow back at Bedford Park Yard and deliver the last of the PCCM auto parts cars to the Ford Plant. We'll then close it out with train LI-2 bringing a solid block of freight cars from Selkirk for the LIRR onto the layout to be interchanged with the LIRR in Empire City.

Be sure to catch the action on PC Ralph's Kings Port Division and Sir Neal's Atlantic Pacific RR.

Thanks for reading and watching!!!

See ya tomorrow!!!