Penn Central Car Movements #79/ Coal Train Ops / NYCTL Part 1

 Greetings All,

Welcome to Penn Central Car Movements #79!!!

P.C.C.M. #79 will be a one weekend three layout virtual op focusing mainly on coal train operations on PC Ralph's Kings Port Division,             Sir Neal's Atlantic Pacific RR and my N.Y.C.T.L.

On the NYCTL Hudson Coal is on a 24 hour schedule to meet their regular and seasonal contractual obligations. The demand for coal is very high this year and the NYCTL Trainmen will be working diligently to move the black diamonds. 

Our first train of the day is Extra 6533, an empty hopper train, coming out of the Atlantic Pacific RR's Rock Ridge Yard.

 
Extra 6533 spotted at West Mill running thru the Kings Port Division on the River Line earlier today. 

 

After a crew change at Selkirk Extra 6533 on the final leg of it's journey rumbles thru Bedford towards Terminal Yard

Extra 6533 arrives in Rock Ridge Yard and brings the empties across the weigh in motion scale.

The 6533 has cut off from the train and heads into the engine terminal. This weekend the 6533 is assigned to PC Power Pool B (Mineral and Ore Service).

U28C #6533, a 1966 GE product and number fourteen in a fifteen unit PRR order, arrives at the fuel rack. The PRR's six axle diesels made up the PC 6000 series at the time of the merger.

Our second train of the day is Extra 8046, an empty hopper train out of the Kings Port Division's West Mill Yard. This train will run to Selkirk and have the power and caboose changed before heading to Terminal Yard.

After the power swap with a new crew at Selkirk Extra 1728 with the train of empty coal hoppers from West Mill heads thru Bedford towards Terminal Yard.  

Extra 1728 rolls into Terminal Yard and across the weigh in motion scales. The 1728 and 2822 are also in Power Pool B this weekend  just like these two similar units caught in Buffalo in 1975.

After being cut from the train the 1728 and 2822 head to the fuel rack. The 2822 is one of two ex NYC U28Bs on the PC roster. The PC had five such units, two from the NYC and three from the P&LE that were U25B look alikes

The yard job gets to work pulling the cabooses from the inbound empty hopper trains as the Kar Knocker prepares to blue flag and inspect the train.

The cabooses are shoved into the caboose track for replenishment of supplies and inspection.

The usual yard power, PC U23Cs, have been reclaimed (temporarily) by Selkirk Yard and the NYC H16-44s are back from Chicago working the Terminal Yard yard job for this virtual op. The Kar Knocker has finished his inspections and the FM units pull the Rock Ridge train to the yard. 

 

Empty coal hoppers from Rock Ridge Yard get coupled up to a caboose for their trip to Hudson Coal. That's a crummy crummy!!! 

Also included in this "Mine Run" from Rock Ridge Yard are four empty ballast hoppers and four empty PC PS-2 hoppers that will head to T&R Gravel for ballast and locomotive sand.

The yard job gets to work on the empty hoppers from West Mill. The F-M era was very short on the Penn Central and the yard crews are happy to operate them before they become extinct.

Empty coal hoppers from West Mill get coupled up to a "ready" PC N5H caboose for their trip to Hudson Coal. The thirteen PC N5H cabooses were acquired from the Southern Railway in 1971.

The West Mill empties get shoved into track #4 to await departure while an outbound Coal Job behind three GP7s is ready to leave.

The first Coal Job of the op heads out of Terminal Yard for Hudson Coal. 

The Coal Job starts pulling the loaded hoppers out of Hudson Coal.

The Coal Job is back together and ready to take the loaded coal hoppers back to Terminal Yard.

The Coal Job returns to Terminal Yard and rolls over the weigh in motion scale.

A few hours later we catch the Coal Job GP7s coupled up to the empties from Rock Ridge Yard and the yard job F-Ms working the recently arrived loaded hoppers. 

Six loaded hoppers going to the Long Island RR are coupled onto the front of Train EC-1, the daily transfer run to the Empire Belt RR's North Side Yard where the PC, LIRR and EBRR interchange freight cars.

Another block of loaded coal hoppers get shoved to Pier 16 for delivery to the Empire Power Authority.

We'll close it here for today with the loaded coal hoppers placed in the Pier 16 Yard.

We'll pick it up tomorrow with the Empire Power Authority switcher exchanging empties for loads and continue our coal operations

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

Thanks for reading and watching!!!

See ya tomorrow!!!

Christmas Steam Special

Seasons Greetings and Happy Holidays to All!!!

The NYCTL trainmen took their annual Holiday trip to Empire City Station to enjoy the festivities and this years Christmas Steam Special.

The guys are partially blocking traffic as they check out this years Empire City Christmas Tree. 

It's always sunny in Empire City. When the lights are on!

A big draw this year are the steam engines that will be both on display and pulling specials filled with holiday patrons.  

An IHC 2-8-0 hauls a short train of NYC streamlined equipment.

A Bachmann SP 4-8-4 has made a guest appearance filling in for the NYC Niagara that had to be pulled from service.

The guys are on the platforms under the station enjoying the steam special and vintage passenger car parade. An IHC 2-6-0 with a Pullman observation car rolls in on track #3.

The "National View" enjoys the day in the spotlight.

The steam engine crews are putting together a five car steam special.

The 2-6-0 and 2-8-0 are coupled together to provide double headed power for the five car passenger set.

Two NYC streamliners and three heavy weight Pullmans pull out of the station loaded with holiday patrons.

A Holiday favorite of the kids in attendance is the caboose train making it's way to Empire City Station

As the day wore on new engines arrived and the steam display was impressive.

It's a smoky time in the city... 

Later that day this PRR K-4 Pacific rolled into town with a train of heavyweight PRR passenger cars.

Right after that this PRR 4-8-2 Mountain brought in another train of old time PRR passenger cars. 

The last train of the day was an SP 4-8-4 in daylight colors pulling an eight car set of similarly clad passenger cars.

The end of the day survivors smoke it up to the joy of the fans.

After the show the engines are tied down in the Terminal Yard engine facility.

The guys pose in front of an IHC NYC 2-8-0 #8000. 

The SP daylight locomotive and tender stand out in the see of black steam and diesel engines.

From my layout to yours we wish you all Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year!

Enjoy the Steam Special train movements with Linus and Lucy

Thanks for reading and watching!!!!

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and Happy New Year to all!

See ya soon!!

PC GP38 2010 Project

 Greetings All,

Here's a GP38 project that Penn Central fans might find interesting.

In August 1970 five GP38s (2010-2014) were ordered by the Pennsylvania Reading Shore Lines, a New Jersey RR owned by the Penn Central and Reading Company. They were delivered by EMD in November of 1970 but the PRSL never got them. What happened?

On or about November 14th, 1970 the five brand new Pennsylvania Reading Shore Lines (PRSL) EMD GP38s (2010-2014) were delivered in PRSL paint to Blue Island Yard for the trip east. 

Due to the bankruptcy of parent road Penn Central on June 21st, 1970 the PRSL was unable to get financing and EMD withdrew them.

Apparently the financial credit of the PC was better than the PRSL and the units were quickly sold to Penn Central. Within a week, by November 21, 1970, all five were in spartan PC dress. That's how the PC ended up with these five GP38s numbered 2010-2014. 

This project was started on September 27th, 2020 when I purchased this Atlas GP38 shell with the dynamic brake blister removed.

The power chassis will come from this Atlas Yellow Box model that I bought about fifteen years ago for repainting. However the prior owner did such a great job on it I don't have the heart to repaint it.

The Penn Central lettering and numbers have been stripped from the model and it has been painted with rattle can gloss black.

The 2010 retained the original yellow PRSL numbers and I've included them on the model. The number boards were removed for painting and the lights masked with painters tape.

The decal work is done and the 2010 will spend the weekend in the Solvaset phase of the project. I chose Penn Central 2010 as my target engine for this project because of the five ex PRSL engines I think the 2010 was the only one to receive the large PC herald.

PC GP38 #2010 has joined the fleet! According to research by Jim Six and other modelers the five ex PRSL / PC 2010 - 2014 units had dual controls, extended cabs and paper air filters. 

The number boards were a challenge as the 2-0-1-0 were all separate numbers. A Kadee #37 underset shank coupler brings the model to the correct coupling height.

The rear of the GP38 also received the 2010 in the number boards and a Kadee #37 underset shank coupler.

1/87th scale PC Ralph checks out the newest PC engine in the Terminal Yard engine facility. Ironically the ex PRSL units were maintenance based at Pavonia Yard and often seen in the PRSL's Camden NJ facilities.

 

1/87th scale Sir Neal has stopped by to check out the 2010. These five units spent most of their time in Southern NJ but look to have traveled thru the PC system as the 2010 and 2013 were photographed in Riverdale IL in 1975. Others have been photographed in PA. 

The 2010 partners up with PC 7675, another Atlas Yellow Box Unit. The 7675 was the first GP38 purchased by the Penn Central. This is the lash up I envisioned when I began this project.

The 2010 and 7675 lead a train out of Terminal Yard towards Selkirk. This simple paint project has been quite rewarding. Maybe because I saved the RDG shell for future use and put in use a good power chassis that sat idle for years. Or maybe it's the uniqueness of these ex PRSL units...

For my fellow Penn Central fans the PRSL was not the only PC subsidiary to lose new motive power that fateful week in November, 1970. But that's a story for another project and blog post.

Above information provided by Penn Central Power by Robert Yanosey, Penn Central Bi-Annual by Robert H. Reid, Classic Trains Summer 2016, Volume 17, Issue 2 and trainweb dot org.

Decals from Microscale set # 87-21 and K-4 Penn Central Diesels

Fellow modeler and virtual ops participant ATJOE1972 used a more accurate Athearn GP38 shell for his PC 2010 project in March 2018.

Thanks for reading!!!

See ya soon!!

Scrounged Highway Overpasses

 Greetings All,

Scrounge: To obtain free layout materials before they go into the dumpster and would require a Dumpster Dive.😊

A recent home improvement project offered the opportunity to scrounge some vinyl pieces that looked like decent sized HO scale roadways.

The scrounged vinyl protective packing for new windows from the home improvement project.

Here's the first overpass spanning the aisle between Empire City and Bedford dropped in place.

The overpass was spray painted with rattle can gray primer and four inch "Play Tape" was cut to fit and used for the roadway.

I prefer the two way traffic look here so my signs are correctly positioned. If I come across some yellow striping I'll add that to the center of the roadway over the dashed white stripes.

This sign was at the Brooklyn Queens border on the Belt Parkway.

The overpass or bridge is an easy drop in affair and is over 52" off the floor. It's an easy duck under but I'll take it down when operating this side of the layout. After so many years without it I'm afraid I'll forget it's there and crash into it! 

The second overpass has been installed spanning the Pier 16 Yard area of the layout. Entering the room the Pier 16 area is to the left and the overpass is a nice focal point.

I tried my hand at a little forced perspective and called upon my days working in the Bronx where the Manhattan approach to the George Washington Bridge went under the "Apartments" and was usually backed up all the way into the Bronx.

Rattle can gray primer, Play Tape, a printed sign and a highway gantry from a either a Hotwheels or Matchbox set complete the overpass.  

Atlas bridge piers are used to support the overpass. I added some foam core strips to raise the height of the overpass to allow for Auto Rack and Double Stack Container clearance.

I like the way the trains look coming under the overpass as they enter and exit the Pier 16 yard and Pier 16 Grain Silos. 

Benny, Chooch, Easy and TC from the Kings Port Railfan Society enjoy the view from their VW bug as they head for home.

The Pier 16 yard area is now more defined as the overpass acts as a scene divider.

This was a nice easy project and I'm happy with the way these overpasses turned out.  

Thanks for reading!!

See ya soon!!