Antique Store Finds

Greetings All,

A road trip taken by my wife and I just before Thanksgiving to Commerce, Georgia paid big dividends for the the N.Y.C.T.L. Our destination was Lindy's Trains at the Red Hound Antique Mall. I had previously bought trains from him at another location but he moved from there to this place which is a lot farther from my layout. Maybe that's not such a bad thing!😃

Here's the train goodies that I left with for $30.00

A Bachmann Plus Diesel Sanding Rack, a very old Athearn powered GP30, an Athearn BB flatcar with a container load,

A Bachmann Plus Diesel Fueling Rack, a TYCO bulkhead flatcar and a Life Like caboose.

When I checked out the BB flat car I realized the contained was held in place by these two styrene tubes.

After cutting the tubes flush with the deck I inserted small wood dowels into the holes.

Next I painted the deck and added the four Athearn metal stakes, Kadee #27 couplers and Walthers metal wheels. The Life Like SP gondola has been converted to body mounted Kadee#5s and also received Walthers metal wheels.  

A large Chooch (?) cable load in placed on the UP flat. The strip wood keeps it tight to the metal stakes so it doesn't move but can be easily removed to run empty or with another load.

The TYCO bulkhead flatcar was stripped and repainted as EBRR 794182 as seen below. 

TYCO cataloged this a pulpwood car that came with a pulpwood load. I've added body mounted Kadee #5s, Intermountain metal wheels and replaced the missing brake wheel.

On the N.Y.C.T.L. this car is perfect for these wrapped machinery loads from online shipper Reliable Machine Company.

The Empire Belt RR will now also be able to better serve online shipper Gervais Pipe & Fitting 

Last but not least the old Athearn ATSF GP30 had its motor and some gears removed to make it free rolling. It was stripped and painted as PC 2189

The new 2189 (2nd unit) joins my fleet of PC GP30s which consists of three units with the early red P and one with the all white herald. The other three units are powered.

As for the Fueling Rack and Sanding Rack I'll cover that in more detail in a separate blog entry titled Terminal Yard Engine Facility Additions which will be posted in the very near future. 

Thanks for reading!!

See ya soon!!

P.C.C.M. 53 / Auto Racks / Auto Parts Op Part 2

Greetings All,

Welcome back to the time traveling P.C.C.M. 53!!!

We'll open with Penn Central Train BP-12 heading from the Ford Plant back to Terminal Yard with loaded auto racks with new cars for east and west coast Ford dealers.

A trio of empty 86' boxcars that will be heading back to Ideal Auto Parts in Rock Ridge NJ and PC caboose 23045 completes BP-12

BP-12 heads thru the tunnel towards Terminal Yard.

BP-12 arriving at Terminal Yard.

Meanwhile at Bedford Park Yard the B.P. yard job is shoving PC 40' Hi Cube 242272 loaded with bulk hardware from American Hardware Supply into the Ford Plant steel track to pull out the two empty breadbox trough coil coaches. 

The B.P. yard job is now coupling up to the empty tank cars on the Ford tank car track.

Two empty clamshell hoppers for Kings Port Steel, a loaded PC Hi Cube for Peerless Appliance in Mayfield NY and a pair of empty tanks cars are ready for pick up on the interchange track.

1/87th scale GE Joe will bring this group of cars to Bedford Park as Extra 2857. These rolling warehouses of auto parts are part of a 'just in time delivery' manufacturing process that puts a big strain and expense on the railroad. It's not uncommon for a single 'hot car' to be hustled from yard to auto plant.

Evans Breadbox Trough coil cars loaded with steel coils from Kings Port Steel, a tank car from Celanese Chemicals and a pair of PC Hi Cubes rumble thru Bedford towards Bedford Park. 

Extra 2857 shoves into the Bedford Park interchange track where loaded clamshell hoppers are coupled up to empty ones.

The interchange complete, Extra 2857 has retrieved it's caboose and is preparing to head back to Terminal Yard.

Extra 2857 arrives at Terminal Yard and 1/87th scale GE Joe will cut the three GEs from the freight cars here.

The Terminal Yard yard job gets to work building tonights  outbound trains.

Over at Bedford Park Yard the B.P. yard job hustles to deliver the newly arrived cars for the Ford Plant. The first car to be delivered is the Celanese Chemicals tank car to the tank car track at the left.

The two cars loaded with steel coils are spotted on the steel track.

One PC Hi Cube from ACME Auto Parts in Mayfield NY and one PC Hi Cube from Gates Rubber Company in South Denver are shoved into Bedford Park Yard and are constructively placed. The PC Hi Cubes join a trio of 60' cars on standby to be delivered to Ford when called for. 

Back at Terminal Yard it's a who's who of 1/87th scale trainmen!!! Looks like the guys are making some extra money for the holidays by working the PC extra board. 1/87th scale senior engineer Sir Neal has been called for train ML-9A with conductor John. 1/87th scale PC Ralph and his trust conductor will follow with the PC FP7-F7B-GP38 consist and train NG-3.

1/87th scale Sir Neal has the throttle wide open as ML-9A heads past Bedford Station towards the High Line. Note U25C #6500 is equipped with an experimental flux capacitor that makes time travel possible😉. Next Stop Selkirk!!

Next out of Terminal Yard 1/87th scale PC Ralph leads NG-3 thru the tunnel and down the hill behind Hudson Coal. A tricky bit of railroading to be sure but no problem for PC Ralph. Next stop Selkirk!

That wraps up the N.Y.C.T.L.'s portion of P.C.C.M. 53 and the Auto Racks / Auto Parts Time Traveler op. Hope you enjoyed it.

Be sure to follow up with the rest of the guys!

Los Feliz & North Western Railroad

Ralston Creek Railroad

Kings Port Division

Atlantic Pacific Railroad

Thanks for reading!!!

P.C.C.M. 53 / Auto Rack / Auto Parts Op Part 1

Greetings All,

Today the N.Y.C.T.L. is participating in a five layout time traveler P.C.C.M. 53 /Auto Parts / Auto Racks Op which is a first for us. This op is the brainchild of 1:1 Sir Neal of the A.P.R.R. who suggested we go multi era and showcase some of our rolling stock that supports the auto industry. 

Let's Get started!

Penn Central Train ML-12A rolls across the Empire City's High Line as it makes its way to towards Terminal Yard

Passing Bedford Tower with a block of 60' auto parts cars from ACME Auto Parts in Mayfield NY for the Bedford Park Ford Plant. Looks like tower operator 1/87th scale John B is trying out a new recliner!

Also consigned to the Ford Plant from ACME Auto Parts are a NYC 40' Pacemaker boxcar loaded with mufflers and a PC 40' Hi Cube boxcar loaded with more auto parts followed by two Evans Breadbox Trough Coil Coaches loaded with steel coils from Kings Port Steel. That rounds out block 1 from the Kings Port Division. 

Block 2 has a Penn Central Hi Cube from Gates Rubber Company in South Denver CO and a Celanese Tank Car from Celanese Chemicals in Denver that originated on the Ralston Creek Railroad and are consigned to the Bedford Park Ford Plant

Block 3 of ML-12A is a trio of empty tri level auto racks from the Atlantic Pacific Railroad's Rock Ridge Yard followed by PC Caboose 18423 bringing up the markers.

ML-12A heads thru the tunnel towards Terminal Yard.

Coming thru the tunnel into Terminal Yard

ML-12A's power has been cut off and the yard job gets to work.

Train BP-41, the Bedford Park Turn that serves the Ford Plant is just about ready to depart as we catch 1/87th scale Big Mike giving the engineer a sarcastic "I thought you were Alco Joe'' comment. Yeah, well today I'm GE Joe! answers the engineer.

BP-41 rolls past Heileman Brewery towards Bedford Park.

BP-41 starts pulling the empty 86' Auto Parts boxcars from the Ford Plant

The loaded 60'ers and one 40'er from ACME are spotted and BP-41 is pulling the loaded auto racks.

We'll close it out here for today with 1/87th scale GE Joe bringing the outbound cars back towards Terminal Yard as Train BP-12.

Tomorrow we'll catch up with the Bedford Park yard crew working the Ford Plant and get the outbound cars moving towards their respective consignees which will close out my portion of the op. 

Be sure to check in on the other participants layouts as the weekend / week progresses. The guy's will be posting starting today and over the next few days.

Atlantic Pacific Railroad

Kings Port Division

Ralston Creek Railroad

Los Feliz & North Western Railroad

See ya tomorrow!

Thanks for reading!

Some more RR Right of Way Improvements

Greetings All,

My participation in the virtual ops or Penn Central Car Movements has been extremely rewarding for me with the friendships that have developed and I have benefitted handsomely from these. The other reward from the P.C.C.M.s is the virtual ops catalyst that continues to positively impact the N.Y.C.T.L.

The virtual ops catalyst can best be described as a motivational tool that inspires all types of model railroading projects for the betterment of the layout, motive power and rolling stock. Let's take a look at some of the latest RR Right of Way improvements spurred on by the virtual ops catalyst and a generous gift. 

This photo from P.C.C.M. 51A had me thinking that this scene was a bit too manicured.

Here's the same scene a couple of weeks later with some ballast added.

The west side curve was also in need of some work. I had put down a lot of Lichen and foliage between the tracks that I slowly started to remove as seen below.

With most of the foliage removed and ballast added it looks more like a RR right of way.

EB cabooses being moved to a storage track prior to our five layout Intermodal Op. This looks much better to me.

Another area that needed a touch up was the Hohman Ave Tower. Note the shadows under the building.

I moved the tower slightly and added more gravel to the base of the building. 

This area on the lower level under the High Line received some ballast work to give it a more railroad look. It could probably use some debris now that I look at it thru the camera lens.

A couple of weeks ago fellow modeler, blogger and our Virtual Ops west coast representative John Bruce sent me a Project Box that contained among other things a pair of tunnel portals. Here's the first one in place at the tunnel thru wall between Terminal Yard and Hudson Coal and the rest of the NYCTL. 

This is the other side of the wall on the Hudson Coal side. I've pulled up some of the ground cover as the project is now underway 

Here's the other tunnel portal with wings sent by John B. I tried it with both wings facing out but it didn't look that great so I set it up like this.

I've cut the wing to the left and am building up the area around the wings. In the background I've added green floral foam.

Get out the grease!! I ran the double stacks from the Intermodal ops back and forth several times to make sure they cleared.

Here's the area built up with the glue still wet. That Woodland Scenics Still operation will receive a little more publicity now.

Amtrak Superliners head thru the tunnel.  

The tunnel portals add a lot of scenic interest to both sides of the layout and I'm very happy with the way the area turned out.

 Thanks John!!!! 
Thanks for reading!!