Penn Central Car Movements #81 / N.Y.C.T.L. Part 2 / The Outbound Cycle Continues

 Greetings All,

Welcome back to Penn Central Car Movements #81!!!

Follow along as the P.C.C.M's continue in their fifth year and the NYCTL continues to experience the caprice of the Rail Traffic Management Form. 

This virtual op is once again a three layout affair with my N.Y.C.T.L. interchanging freight cars with PC Ralph's Kings Port Division and Sir Neal's Atlantic Pacific RR. 

We open today on the west side of Empire City with PC Ralph notching up his GP30s to bring the Morning Industrial Job train featured yesterday back to Terminal Yard.

The Morning Industrial Job gets underway.

The MIJ eases into a crowded North Side Yard.

A few hours later PC Ralph tacks on the caboose as he builds EBRR Train EB-2, a daily transfer from North Side Yard to the Penn Central's Terminal Yard.

 

Sir Neal has coupled his GP9s onto the head end of the EB-2 and after an air test will depart for Terminal Yard.

Train EB-2 passing Bedford Station.

Sir Neal is well into Terminal Yard as he moves slowly forward with the 35 car EB-2.

PC Ralph's GP30s are still on the yard lead shoving the caboose.

The EBRR power is coupled together. "Let's get out of here! Big Mike is gonna have a fit when he sees what we brung him!

The EBRR guys flee like felons in the night running to North Side Yard caboose lite. 

Back at Terminal Yard Alco Joe is glad to be called for todays Coal Job as he strolls towards the vintage RS1s that will power his train.

The Coal Job has cleared the Hudson Coal turnout and shoves back  into Hudson Coal.

A six car cut of coal hoppers is being pulled for RMO Electric that provides light and power for the metropolis that is Rock Ridge NJ.

The next six car block is going to Tri Mount Cement in South West Mill that is making its virtual ops debut in PCCM 81. 

Alco Joe has the Coal Job stretched out on the Bedford Secondary.

He'll have to cool his heels and wait until the RDC leaves Bedford Station and clears the main before making his run around move.

Alco Joe has been cleared to take the main and shoves the empties towards Hudson Coal.

The empties are in place. For those scoring at home that non PCCM PC boxcar is from Neal's Lumber & Hardware loaded with cut timbers for shoring up the mine shafts and is part of my actual ops.

The Coal Job is ready to go on the Bedford Secondary as an outbound train from Terminal Yard passes on the mainline.

Alco Joe brings the Coal Job into Terminal Yard and across the weigh in motion scale.

There's still one more local train to run today. BT-27, the Bedford Turn, is rolling out of Terminal Yard with three GP7s for power.

The Turn will work the Schaefer Brewery and Neubaum's today.

A Hoschton Railway boxcar is pulled from the Schaefer Brewery loaded with beer for Reynolds Beverage in West Mill NY.

The GP7s do a run around move to get to the other side of the train. No delay here, the NYCTL dispatcher takes his beer movements seriously. Very seriously!

The Bedford Turn heads back to Terminal Yard.

We'll close it out here for today with the Turn back in the yard.

Tomorrow we'll turn the op over the the Terminal Yard trainmen and get our outbound trains dispatched. Should be fun. 

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!!!

Penn Central Car Movements #81 / N.Y.C.T.L. Part 1/ The Outbound Cycle Begins

Greetings All,

Welcome to Penn Central Car Movements #81!!!

This virtual op will once again be a three layout affair with my N.Y.C.T.L. interchanging freight cars with PC Ralph's Kings Port Division and Sir Neal's Atlantic Pacific RR. 

A wise wordsmith from the north known as PC Ralph commented in the past about the "caprice" of our Rail Traffic Management Form (RTMF) that directs the flow of our freight cars similar to a waybill as being very unpredictable as it cycles the cars around the layouts.

We developed the RTMF almost five years ago as a way to keep the PCCM car movements fluid. Some freight cars are in an unload reload cycle, some in a return empty cycle and some have intra layout car movements built in to add variety. This outbound portion on the NYCTL will show the caprice of the RTMF in all it's glory! 

We open up in the early morning in Bedford Park Yard with engineer Robert R pulling a pair of empty NYC double door boxcars from All City Storage for their next PCCM loads.

Now at the Bedford Park Ford Plant three empty 60' boxcars get pulled for return to ACME Auto Parts in Mayfield NY. 

Robert R is ready to take the Bedford Park Transfer, Train BP-12, to Terminal Yard and gets orders from the Bedford Towerman.  

Train BP-12 heads for Terminal Yard.

The BP-12 arrives at Terminal Yard. Robert R will head back to Bedford Park off camera with some non PCCM cars as Train BP41 and we'll catch up with him next weekend during the inbound series.

Let's turn our attention to Jimmy Alco and the LIRR Transfer run coming over the High Line into Empire City. 

The LIRR train arrives at North Side Yard to interchange freight cars with the Empire Belt Railroad.

Jimmy Alco checks in with the Empire Belt guys who offer their traditional lunch recommendation. Jimmy passes on that today as Mrs. Alco is making her classic smoked salmon for dinner. Like I don't get enough smoke running these Alcos everyday said Jimmy. 

Non PCCM cars for Long Island industries are coupled onto the LIRR caboose.

Jimmy Alco heads for home.

Sir Neal, PC Ralph and the boys work out a plan of action to service the Empire City industries that rely on them and for the crowded North Side Yard that began the op with a good amount of PCCM cars already in the yard awaiting movement.

The EBRR GP30s have returned to service and PC Ralph is at the throttle working the Morning Industrial Job shoving east on the Empire City secondary track.

First stop is Ralph's Grocery Warehouse to pick up a trio of empties for their next PCCM loads. 

Gondolas from the Kings Port & Western RR, Michigan Central and Empire Belt are spotted at Gervais Pipe for their next PCCM loads. 

A string of non PCCM covered hoppers get pulled from Empire City Cargill.

An empty Cargill covered hopper is spotted for its next PCCM load. 

Next move is to pull empty NYC double door boxcar #47062 from Neal's Lumber and Hardware for its next PCCM load. 

 

Now working Empire Produce and pulling two reefers loaded with...Produce! (shout it out if you know it!) BAR 7574 is going to C&P Restaurant Supply and the NPM reefer is going to Shop Rite. Both are in Rock Ridge NJ and served by the A.P.R.R.

The Morning Industrial Job is back together and heads west.

Crossing the Empire City Viaduct PC Ralph surveys the very busy, very congested West Side and knows there will be much switch work here today!

P&E boxcar #3638 is pulled from Drywell Inks with a load of bulk ink in 55 gallon drums for the Catskill Mountain Press.

Empty PC boxcar #104478 that came in on the LIRR transfer gets spotted at City Pallet for it's next PCCM load.  

This NYC Early Bird boxcar pulled earlier from Ralph's Grocery Warehouse is spotted at Walsh Steel Wool for its next PCCM load.

 

We'll end it here for today with AP boxcars 60382 and 60394 that started the op empty in North Side Yard spotted at Moore & Co for their next PCCM loads. Empty PC boxcar 77047 is constructively placed on the west side storage track for its next PCCM load from Moore & Co. The caprice of the RTMF is on full display today!  

We'll pick this up tomorrow with PC Ralph taking the Morning Industrial Job back to North Side Yard.

Tomorrow we'll check in with the EBRR, the Coal Job and the Bedford Turn. 

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!!!

Southern Pacific Double Stack 125 Service Project

 Greetings All,

A more modern freight car project to report this week. A five unit set of Southern Pacific Double Stack 125 Service  well cars have been painted, lettered and put into service.

I had purchased two five unit sets of Athearn BB Gunderson Maxi III well cars many moons ago that pretty much sat dormant waiting for paint and decals. Last year I finally got the ball rolling 

In May 2020 I successfully painted a five unit set of Gunderson Maxi III well cars for my good friend Sir Neal's Atlantic Pacific Railroad.

This left me with one five unit set of undecorated Maxi III cars that I painted red about 20 years ago and never went further with them.

I came across this Microscale 87-745 decal set for the Southern Pacific Double Stack 125 Service set of Maxi III cars in December. I checked some online photos, liked what I saw and made the purchase.

The cars needed repainting and here they are drying after a trip to the Patti O Paint Shop which opened up briefly when the temperature hit the mid 70s. The color is rattle can Rustoleum Gloss Colonial Red.

It's time to start cutting the decals following the decal guide for each unit. This was time consuming magnifying glass work.

Not too bad!!!

 

Half way there!!!

The five unit set is now ready for service. This is the set as viewed from the coupler equipped A unit.

The B unit is on the other end of the five unit set and has a coupler on one end. 

 

The C unit is behind the B unit. 

Next comes the D unit which is the middle unit of the five unit set.

Then the E unit which is between the D and A units.

The coupler equipped A unit. The five unit set is considered a single car and is built in the A-E-D-C-B configuration. 

The newly painted SP Maxi III set is loaded and at the head end of this four car or twelve unit set of Maxi III units. 

This makes up my entire double stack fleet and right now is about the maximum I can run on the layout without issues. The cars are very light and top heavy so I plan on adding weight to the bottom containers.

The stack train rolls thru the layout

This was gratifying project that I'm glad to have finally undertaken and completed. I was skeptical of the decals due to their age and thankfully that turned out to be a non issue. 

While the project is not in my wheelhouse of layout operations I've always liked this type of freight car and will enjoy running it.

You know some of us New York Central fans like to believe these Container on Flat Car (COFC) stack trains were the culmination of the NYC Flexi Van trains that hauled containers on specially built spine cars. 😉

Thanks for reading and watching!!!

See ya soon!!!

Simulating Waterfront RR Train Movements w/o a Waterfront

 Greetings All,

I was very fortunate to receive as a Christmas gift from my good friend PC Ralph the Morning Sun Book Waterfront Railroads of New York Harbor volume 2. This book goes hand in hand with volume 1 which was also a gift from PC Ralph.

In volume 2 the Long Island RR chapter has a nice photo and caption showing and detailing the arrival of new subway cars for the NYC Transit Authority which came across the Hudson River by car float to the LIRR Long Island City pier.

I'm always looking to increase the rail traffic to and from the Pier 16 area of my layout (which PC Ralph knows, hence the book gifts) and thought I'd modify this subway car delivery to fit my layout. 

Below a pair of NYC Switchers bring a set of new subway cars into Pier 16 yard via the 12th Ave running track connecting the NYCTL with the non modeled NY Harbor piers. 

The LIRR used a gondola with a special compromise coupler for coupling onto the subway cars.

The new subway cars are pulled towards Terminal Yard. 

The book caption has the cars as being part of a 300 car order with the special gondola remaining with the LIRR until the order was completed. In theory I can run this train move another 74 times!

The train arrives in Terminal Yard

The train will be sent to the Empire City Transit Authority later today when the rush hour is over. 

Several hours later the train is dispatched to Empire City.

This was only one of several other train movements from the Waterfront Railroads of NY Harbor books that I'll be looking to add to my model railroad operations and rail fanning. I'll post about them in future blog entries. 

Remember the great model railroading phrase "Waterfront! We don't need no stinking waterfront!" 😉

Using the subway cars in a freight train movement was a lot of fun to run and railfan and an excellent way to get my subway fleet involved in some freight train operations.

February 08, 2021 Update: The Penn Central ran a similar train in May of 1972 as seen in this photo.

Thank you Ralph!!!

 

Thanks for reading and watching!!!

See you soon!!!

Want to see the action again?

Here is the full sequence of subway train movements: