Gervais Pipe And Fitting

Greetings All,

This week I finally got layout industry Gervais Pipe and Fitting photo worthy. After at least a year languishing in analysis paralysis mode G.P.& F. is now a photographically sought after destination. Named after fellow modeler, train buddy and New Haven RR fan Bobby G from TrainLife.com this industry has been in the works for quite awhile. So as I promised Bobby here it is...

Gervais Pipe and Fitting with Ralph's Grocery Warehouse further down the siding in March 2016.

Fast forward to May 2016

 Signage on the siding lets operators know exactly what industry this is.

Fencing has been installed and the pipe yard has received some attention

With just the fencing installed the scene has been upgraded quite nicely 

That's 1/87th scale Booby G in his new heavy duty fork lift

Bobby's moving a pipe load thru the yard

The yard is looking better with the addition of some pipe loads, a tractor trailer and heavy duty fork lift.

 New signs easily identify this building

Looks like 1/87th scale Bobby G has used the sidewalk to park his Olds 4-4-2   

A little more detail to the yard and some fauna and flora have Gervais Pipe and Fitting coming alive.

The pipe yard is quite busy with multiple forklifts working

plus the addition of crates of "fittings"

Note the heavy duty fork lift loading the flatcar

Pipe loads for the three flatcars have been  placed and the yard crew is busy getting their products loaded.

 A New haven H16-44 shoves a cut of covered hoppers towards Cargill.

No coincidence that 1:1 Bobby G is a New Haven fan and a NH boxcar and engine are featured

 The siding with Ralph's Grocery Warehouse and Gervais Pipe and Fitting is now ready for their respective camera close ups.

Siding Upgrade

Greetings All,

As more and more of the layout gets photographed and filmed during my ops sessions and the virtual ops sessions with Ralph V  I really needed to get some of the scenes into shape to support the action. Case in point is the siding that serves Gervais Pipe and Fitting and Ralph's Grocery Warehouse and Distribution Center. The track is in. Structures are in but the scenes are pretty blah and end up on the cutting room floor.

From The Penn Central Car Movement Series #7 the 40' PC and NYC boxcars are consigned to Ralph's Grocery Warehouse and the 2 gondolas are going to Gervais Pipe.

In P.C.C.M. 7 series we saw the NH H16-44s and the cars being shoved. What we did not see was either Ralph's Grocery Warehouse or Gervais Pipe. 

Why? Because the scenes were not ready for prime time so to speak

Here is Ralph's Grocery Warehouse during the P.C.C.M. #7 photo shoot. 

Pretty boring and not much to look at.

It did not make the final cut.

R.G.W.&.D.C. when first introduced in December 2015

Note the two black poles at the end of the siding to stop the cars from rolling onto the main.

1/87th Scale Sir Neal welcomes 1/87th Scale PC Ralph to the neighborhood. 1/87th Scale Sir Neal assures 1/87th Scale PC Ralph that the scene will improve. "He's slow but he'll get it done sooner or later".

Here is Ralph's Warehouse with a new covered loading dock complete with plenty of crates and a few figures including 1/87th Scale PC Ralph in his signature PC green shirt.

Those of you that follow Ralph's Kings Port Division Blog http://kingsportdivision.blogspot.com/ can hear him saying "How about a bush, some shrubs, a few weeds maybe even a tree or two".

The first thing added was the Atlas track bumper painted with brown rattle can primer. 

Next a load of fence and posts is picked up at Neal's Lumber and Hardware. That's 1/87th scale Sir Neal Himself watching the flat car roll out of his yard.

The flat car with fence and posts is spotted at Ralph's Grocery Warehouse under the watchful eye of 1/87th Scale Sir Neal and PC Ralph. Note the engineer has left his cab to confirm the spotting location. 

Wait....Could it be? 

 It is! 1/87th Scale Engineer Ed is back at the throttle while 1-1 Engineer Ed recuperates from illness.

A fence, a few trees, some fauna and flora and the scene is taking shape. Much better!

Homemade trees from the plant "Sedum" positioned out of the way at the end of the siding so they do not interfere with the uncoupling of freight cars. 

I also added some ballast and blended earth to the tracks and rail bed.

Two 40'ers and a 50'er are spotted and ready to be worked.

A few signs are in order but overall I think it came out quite nice.

Next up is Gervais Pipe and Fitting. The fence poles are in and I hope to have that done in the next week.

Be patient Bobby G. I'll get it done.

 Stay tuned!

Thanks for reading!

Penn Central Car Movements 7C, 7D and 7E

Greetings All,

The virtual ops ball has landed in the New York Central Train Layout court after being passed from the Kings Port Division.  http://kingsportdivision.blogspot.com/2016/04/latest-virtual-ops.html
In order to catalog the movements generated by PC Train KV-5 (Kings Port NY to Selkirk NY) and move cars on my own layout to accommodate the newly arriving rail traffic I'll classify the Penn Central Car Movements as 7C , 7D  and 7E. The Kings Port & Western and Kings Port Division car movements are known as 7A and 7B respectively. So here we go on another virtual ops session. Hang on!
 

Penn Central Car Movement 7C

To:      Williams Yard

From:  Terminal Yard

Reported arrival of scheduled freight train;

Train: VN-4 (Selkirk NY to Empire City NY)

Engines: SD35 #6024, SD9 #6922

Caboose: 23045

Total Cars: 25

Loaded / Empty: 16 / 9 

Note: 8 cars from PC Train KV-5

Penn Central Train VN-4 (Selkirk NY to Empire City NY) rolls through Empire City on it's way to Terminal Yard behind EMD SD35 #6024 and EMD SD9 #6922. Both are Atlas yellow box units that I painted for the PC last year. 

Empty E.L. gondolas destined for Gervais Pipe and Fitting lead the block of cars from PC train KV-5

PC 106502 started out on the Kings Port Division in train KV-5
This is an empty car consigned to Heileman Brewery  

NYC Early Bird car and PC 40' box are destined for Ralph's Grocery Warehouse and Distribution Center 

A KP&W gondola with steel coils for Ford, two empty hoppers for Hudson Coal and one empty hopper for T&R Gravel. Those are the best steel coils I've ever seen!

NYC 50' boxcar 80779 loaded with prepared boxes from Canton Box and consigned to Hostess / Wonder Bread rounds out the block of cars from KV-5
This boxcar represents the first rail shipment of Canton Box and it's first shipment on it's new contract with Hostess / Wonder Bread.

Penn Central Car Movement 7D

The cars from VN-4 have been sorted at Terminal Yard and the hoppers for Hudson Coal and T&R Gravel are on the move to their intended destinations. Fairbanks Morse H24-66 Trainmaster #8704 has been assigned to Unit Ore Train ZM-1 (Empire City NY to Alcoa in Massena NY) . The 8704 would be renumbered into the PC as 6704. All Trainmasters were retired by the end of 1970. 8704 will be pulling the loads from T&R Gravel and spotting empties here and at Hudson Coal before leaving town. 

The powerful FM unit has pulled the empties from T&R Gravel. Every bit of this behemoth's 94,000 pounds of tractive effort will be needed to shove the loaded ore cars back up the grade. 

The NYC hopper from KV-5 is spotted under the T&R Gravel Tipple

Empty hoppers from KV-5 get shoved into Hudson Coal

A panoramic shot of the ore train rolling above the REA facility on the left and the NYC Water Street Freight Terminal on the right

The Trainmaster gets ready to cross the Commodore Vanderbilt Memorial Bridge
on it's way to Massena NY

Penn Central Car Movement 7E

To:      Williams Yard

From:  Terminal Yard

Disposition of cars forwarded to Terminal Yard via PC Train KV-5 from Williams Yard.

                       North Side Yard power for this week are PC FM H16-44s #1604 and

                       1605 that came over in the 1969 forced inclusion of the NH into the 

PC. Both units would be renumbered to 5164 and 5165

PC #10478 and NYC Early Bird car gets shoved towards Ralph's

Grocery Warehouse and Distribution Center

 PC and NYC cars ready for unloading at Ralph's G.W & D.C.

But first the guys take a break looking to quench their thirst with a 

Woodstock Hills Natural Soda. Skunked again! The much sought

after soda is not yet available. Maybe they should have checked the loading of that

NYC Early Bird boxcar! 

Over at Hostess / Wonder Bread NYC boxcar with packaging materials

from Canton box has been spotted. Power for the Industry City Turn is 

PC RS1 9921. The unit still in PRR paint was formerly numbered 5621. 

 Empty PC 106502 is spotted at Heileman Brewery
Once loaded with Heilemans Old Style Ale it will be off to
Reynolds Beverage Distributors in Kings Port NY

KP&W gondola #2140 is spotted at Ford

Penn Central Car Movement Cards from Williams Yard

 

All cars forwarded to Terminal Yard from Williams Yard have arrived at their intended consignees.  

Empty cars forwarded for loading will be documented in next PC Car Movement

Terminal Yard Out...

Here is a video link to VN-4 and ZM-1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2313OcPw3y8&feature=youtu.be

Thanks for reading and watching!

Switching the North Side

Greetings All,

I've just received notification from the Kings Port Division that Penn Central Train KV-5 has left Williams Yard on the Kings Port Division  and is on it's way to Selkirk with a block of cars destined for my Terminal Yard and industries on my model railroad. This is part of the virtual ops described by Ralph V in his latest blog entry: http://kingsportdivision.blogspot.com/2016/04/virtual-ops.html

To: Terminal Yard
From: Williams Yard  
Dispatch of Train KV-5 (Williams Yard to Selkirk) with Block 1 for transfer to Terminal Yard.
Engines:  GP38-2s #8038/8045
Number of cars:  19
Number of cars in Block 1:  8

The above notification also included pictures of the cars being picked up at their respective shippers and train KV-5. My job now is to prepare my layout for my part in the virtual ops. The first thing I do is make sure I have sufficient capacity to receive the inbound cars and get them to their ultimate destinations. This can be as simple as just picking up a bunch of cars and putting them away. But that's too easy and not as fun as putting together my own mini ops session and running the railroad. So while I wait for KV-5 Block 1 to arrive from Selkirk I've enjoyed my own mini ops session, photographed it, made a few videos and then added some music as well. A lot more fun than just putting the cars in the box!

And the best part is another Ops Session is right around the corner thanks to the Virtual Ops.

Here's a look at the prep work for the North Side 

PC 9942 spots a Thrall All Door Boxcar at Neal's Lumber and Hardware.
9942 is a P-1000 unit that I painted for the PC
That KP&W gondola and pole load are new arrivals from the Kings Port & Western RR.

PC FP7A #4348 and C424 #2415 lead ML-9 through Empire City on this day.

Both units are Atlas yellow box that I painted for the PC.

PC SD40 6282 leads two other SD units with a manifest freight through Empire City and PC ML-9 rolls towards Detroit on track 2.
Motive power is Athearn BB that I painted for the PC

With the mainline clear PC 9942 pulls a cut of modern (1970's) reefers from 

Ralph's Grocery Warehouse and Distribution Center.

A damaged Front End Loader that was involved in a derailment from Extra 3007 has returned to Empire City Caterpillar. Railroad, Caterpillar and Insurance Company representatives were notified and responded.

 And at what was possibly the worst possible moment a trio of colorful detoured Chessie System EMDs lead a train of covered hoppers through Empire City just when the PC people were trying to keep Caterpillar shipping with their bankrupt railroad. Scene inspired by Chessie System office car specials at Michigan Central Station in the Green Frog video Penn Central volume 6

1/87th scale Sir Neal Himself has come out his office to see the detoured train and proudly notes an A.P.R.R. covered hopper rolling by while an Imperial Walker lurks in the alley.
I forgot I put that there.

The Chessie conductor enjoys the views and gets an earful from 1/87th scale Sir Neal to take care of his car.

The photogenic Chessie System lash up crosses the Empire City viaduct on their way out of town.

SD40-2 and GP35  are BB units, F7A is a Bachmann unit. All are factory painted..

Here are two videos of the action. One with a music soundtrack;

And one with just the train sounds. Action is the same on both

Thanks for reading and watching!