A trip to the real Empire City

Greetings Blog Followers,

Here are some pictures of my recent trip to the real Empire City in the Empire State

The Kings Highway Station

Local Coney Island bound Q train calls at Kings Highway

Express Coney Island bound B train stops at Kings Highway

 South bound B train leaving Kings Highway

The world famous Empire State Building

Trees Grow in Empire City

Greetings Blog Followers,

My New York Central Layout recently received about a dozen new trees made from the Sedum plant. The dried flowers were picked off the plant this past winter and allowed to dry. I sprayed the foliage with an insecticide and they sat untouched for a few months to further dry out. I then coated the tops with diluted white glue and dipped them into a bowl of green scenic material. The trees were then sprayed with a clear flat spray paint as well as some hair spray. Holes were drilled into the layout and the trees planted.

A close up of the new Sedum trees

 

NYC Pacemaker Freight Truck sits alongside a PRR Tructrain tractor trailer

Al's Victory service sees some police activity and some new trees in the background

Newly planted trees add some nice touches to the industrial area.

The trees look nice, add some realism and do not take up much space.

The trees are in. Time for some additional ground scenery.

Custom Painted 50' Boxcars still going strong

Greetings Blog Followers,

It's been a few weeks since I've posted. Spring time has been a bit hectic this year and my model railroading time has been severely limited. That said I have been able to sneak down and run a few trains from time to time. Still looking good and going strong are my custom painted 50' Bachmann boxcars. Once relegated to the bottom of a box due to an unrealistic paint scheme these cars have been resurrected and now enjoy frequent layout time. The cars have also been upgraded with metal wheels, additional weight and body mounted couplers. 

 

COFC / TOFC / Auto Racks

Greetings Blog Followers,

Rail fans were commenting on an interesting train that passed through Empire City this past week. A group of TOFC flat cars with mostly 20' containers on chassis' followed by some empty auto racks. Don't see containers riding as trailers everyday but they sure made a good looking train.

 Two NYC SW8s hauling a group of TOFC flatcars with 20' containers mounted on chassis'

The train has passed over Empire city Station

The SW8s on point

A close up. Two Walther's 73' TOFC flatcars with Athearn Containers and Chassis' The remainder of the TOFC flats are 85' Athearn models

Empty Auto racks bring up the rear 

 

A trio of GP35s passes on the inner track. 

 Custom painted Athearn Penn Central and New York Central GP35s with a Bachmann Plus GP35 haul a freight train through Empire City.

BNSF Qualifying Run

Greetings Blog Followers,
Big doings this week at Empire City Station. Train Lifers gathered en mass to see one of their own running his final qualifying engineer run. He passed with flying colors and is now a fully certified BNSF engineer. Congratulations!

Proto 2000 E8 coupler swing arm upgrade

Greetings Blog Followers,

This past week I had occasion to upgrade the coupler swing arm on another of my Proto 2000 E8A units. While these units are truly work horses and run great the coupler swing arms have too much vertical play. This excess play leads to unwanted disconnections during operations. The fix is pretty simple, yet effective.

New York Central Proto 2000 E8A coupled to Kadee height gauge

Close up of E8A coupled to height gauge

Close up of E8A coupled to height gauge with a bit of tension  applied. Notice how the coupler rises up. This is the issue we are looking to overcome

Another close up of the E8A coupled to the height gauge with a little tension applied. This simulates the E8A coupled to a string of passenger / freight cars

The rear coupler swing arm assembly

Rear coupler swing arm assembly. Notice droop of coupler and the press pin that is holding the coupler swing arm to the body 

Front coupler swing arm assembly

Coupler swing arm and press pin

 Coupler swing arm assembly now attached to frame with 2-56 screw and nut. Nut has been tightened to eliminate vertical play but still allow lateral play.

Close up of coupler swing arm held in place with 2-56 screw and nut. The Kadee #5 coupler in the coupler box has also been upgraded to a 2-56 screw. For ease of installation on the rear of the unit the electrical board was unscrewed and slid out of the way. The rear truck was dropped down by removing the gear cover (background). There is enough slack in the wires to easily accomplish this. On the front there is enough clearance that removing the truck is not necessary.

 

Stare Down !!!

Greetings Blog Followers,
This past week saw some hostile activity on the train layout. Seems the motive power groups were not happy to see their catalog replacements in revenue service. Engineers were reporting some stare downs between the units while passing each other.

New York Central GP20s face off against their younger cousins, the uniquely styled GP30s, on the high line

The GP30s are holding their own as they lug a coal train through Empire City under the watchful and unfriendly eyes of the GP20s

NYC GP30 2728 on point ready to pass NYC GP20 6109

NYC GP20 6109 

 

 To add further mayhem to the day a trio of GP35s have appeared in Empire City. The lead units are wearing the new Penn Central scheme while the trailing unit is in New York Central livery. 

The New York Central GP30s get a taste of the GP20s hard feelings and the next catalog offerings, the GP35s enter Empire City. To make matters even worse two GP35s are sporting Penn Central markings!