PCCM 112 After Action Report

 Greetings All,

PCCM 112 After Action Report

Penn Central Car Movements #112 has come and gone and it's time to take a look at this record setting virtual op and the PCCMs as a whole.

Outbound By the Numbers

In the outbound portion of PCCM 112 the NYCTL moved ninety nine (99) PCCM freight cars from on layout industries and off layout LIRR shippers to Terminal Yard for movement to their next on layout PCCM loads and to Selkirk. This is a virtual ops record!!!

Six trains were needed to get the PCCM traffic to Selkirk for movement to Ralph's Kings Port Division and Sir Neal's Atlantic Pacific Railroad. To accommodate the amount of PCCM freight traffic and keep the yards fluid PCCM trains were sent out in a sequence starting on day one and ending on day three.

Train Sequence

Train: APR-25 Auto Parts Return + TOFC. Fourteen cars.

Train: TKW-01 Mixed Freight for KPW and KPD. Eighteen cars.

Train: B&O Extra Empty Coal Hoppers. Twenty Cars.

Train: Extra 3175 Mixed Freight for the APRR. Twenty Cars.

Train: SK-5 Mixed Freight for the KPD. Ten Cars.

Train: SK-7 Mixed Freight for the APRR. 8 Cars.

Total Cars forwarded off layout to APRR and KPD: 90

Total Cars held for movement to industries for PCCM loads: 09

Inbound By The Numbers

Forty seven PCCM freight cars were dispatched to the NYCTL from the APRR (22) and the KPD (25) via Selkirk where the APRR and KPD freight traffic gets humped and combined as necessary for movement to Terminal Yard. Penn Central Trains TY-2, SP-10, and LI-1 were used to convey the mixed APRR-KPD freight traffic from Selkirk to Terminal Yard.

Interchange Partners Play a Big Role

As the PCCM progressed the amount of freight traffic has grown substantially and continues to grow as of today with the addition of the AP500 freight car. To handle this I created the freelance Empire Belt RR in 2017 and have turned to both online and offline interchanges. Key on-layout interchange partners EBRR and B&O handle a lot of PCCM traffic as does the off layout LIRR Fresh Pond Yard which interchanges freight traffic at the EBRR's North Side Yard.

The B&O H16-44s have found a new life working out of their 16th Street Yard. Below they are delivering a long cut of PCCM cars to Terminal Yard.

LIRR Train MA-4 gets ready to depart North Side Yard for Fresh Pond.

Ten Years of Coordinated Virtual Operations

The PCCMs have been been run for over a decade now. It all started in February 2016 with three Bachmann TPFX 5510 boxcars that were purchased at a train show for the possibility of "interchanging" freight cars with Ralph and Sir Neal. From there PC Ralph supplied the Penn Central Car Movement Cards that were used when we began to run the virtual ops.

TPFX 5510 as seen in PCCM 22D posted November 18, 2016

The Penn Central Transportation Company Car Movement Cards that were supplied by Ralph and from which the PCCM name for the virtual ops originated.

The PCCMs in Print

Last year Ralph, Neal and I worked on and submitted an article to the Operations Special Interest Group's Official Journal called The Dispatcher's Office. This article "A Decade of Coordinated Model Railroad Operations Between Three Layouts One Thousand Miles Apart" appeared in the July, 2025 issue.

Preparing for the Next Train Movements

At the conclusion of PCCM 112 with most freight car traffic no longer on the mainlines a work train was dispatched to clean the tracks in Bedford and the upper level of the of the Empire City peninsula whether they actually needed it or not.

Using a pair of powered GP30s with a non powered GP35 the consist pulled a group of mostly PRR MOW cars that included a non powered MOW box cab diesel track cleaning car from MDC along with two PRR MOW boxcars and a PRR orange caboose that I turned into track cleaning cars.

This is a pretty cool way to keep the tracks clean and I enjoyed railfanning the MOW train as it worked the mainlines.

The headend of the MOW train is passing Haydon Heights and North Side Yard.

Still in the works

Adding the New Haven RR

For some time I've wanted to include the New Haven RRs Cedar Hill Yard to Oak Point Yard in the Bronx as another off layout interchange. Following a prototype NH /PC Train known as ''the drop" the NH/PC would leave Cedar Hill and work its way south to the large Oak Point Yard and then Harlem River Yard, both in the Bronx. I'm imagining this train crosses the Long Island Sound and uses the lower level of the layout to make one more stop at Terminal Yard.

Four NH H16-44s provide the power to bring a NH train from Harlem River Yard up the slide at Bedford towards Terminal Yard.

For several reasons adding the New Haven as a regular ops partner and an active PCCM participant has stalled out. I hope to address this going forward by adding some specific freight traffic that originates or terminates on New Haven rails that can be funneled to the NH thru Terminal Yard. 

Final Thoughts & Comments

As of this writing a three layout PCCM 113 with the NYCTL, APRR and KPD is in the works. Look for this virtual op in early to mid October 2025 and check back here to see what else is happening with the NYCTL.

Thanks for Reading and Watching!!!

See you soon!!!