Penn Central E8A #4072 and related E unit projects.

Greetings All,

The N.Y.C.T.L. is finally glad to announce that Penn Central E8A #4072 has joined the fleet. This was one of those projects that suffered from delays from the outset. Here's the story of this locomotive and two other Penn Central E units that received upgrades as a result of this project.

Several years ago I purchased used Proto-2000 E7A and E8A units from a fellow modeler. The modeler included a P-2000 E6A power chassis minus the shell in the deal. The E7A and E8A quickly became Penn Central 4210 and 4317 respectively.

Here is PC E7A #4210 in 2013

 and E8A 4317 also in 2013

All was well in my Penn Central E unit world until I found out that the Penn Central E units(and F units) did not have mars lights (look closely at the front of 4210 and 4317 and you can see the door headlight openings). For the PC purist PC E8A 4300, ex PRR 5700 did have a mars light at one time but during PC the 4300 had the mars light opening covered with a wood insert. Anyway, for the three plus years they have been on the roster the mars lights on 4210 and 4317 didn't bother me to the point of correcting them.

Here's PC E8A #4317 on the layout February 2015

Later that week PC E7A #4210 was at Empire City Station 

Then came this project. Last year I came across a Rivarossi shell that would fit the P-2000 E6A power chassis. I stripped and repainted the unit a rattle can gray. Originally destined to be a New York Central unit I didn't like the way the gray looked with other NYC E units in the stable. So the gray shell sat in the 'purgatory box' for several months while management mulled over what to do with it. One of the key issues keeping the project stalled was that I now knew that the NYC and PC units did not have mars lights like the newly painted gray Rivarossi shell did. Should I correct it.? The Rivarossi front door does not come off unless cut off so that would mean sanding and filling. Should I bother? I had the other PC E units with mars lights and a NYC E8A #4020 that I painted in the cigar band scheme with a mars light.(oh, the shame!)

This simple project was starting to cause project bleed in a big way. If I spend the time to correct this shell then have to do the others right. Ugh!

Eventually I researched the PC E units for a gray unit with a PC patch and found 4072.
http://www.railpictures.net/photo/80701/
http://www.railpictures.net/photo/80680/

So I finally bit the bullet and was able to get the 4072 project completed. I then tackled the two other PC E units. Fortunately for me the P-2000 nose doors come off easily so it as only an matter of filling the door headlight opening, repainting black and adding a PC decal over the covered opening. Disconnecting the mars light wiring, tucking the mars light out of the way and rerouting the headlamp was pretty simple. The NYC 4020 has not yet made it to the work bench. The NYC herald and cigar band stripes make this a bit more involved than the PC units. But for now I'm happy with the results on all three PC units. Let's take a look at some photos of the project;

Purchased used Rivarossi shell for $1.00 in July 2015

Stripped and ready for repainting December 2015

October 2016. Painted with door headlight blocked off. 

Coupled to PC E7A 4210 on the High Line
Cigar band striped painted with rattle can white.

Slowly becoming PC 4072. PC herald covers door headlight opening quite nicely.

NEW YORK CENTRAL lettering has been painted over (not really)
Air grills are rattle can aluminum.

Decals applied and shell has been sprayed with Testor's Dullcote.

Nose of model after decals settled down and dullcote has been applied.

Now that 4072 has been weathered to match the prototype I turned my attention to the PC E7A on left and the PC E8A (not shown) that still had mars lights. Fortunately the nose doors on the Proto 2000 E7A and E8A shells pop off making the cosmetic part of the job pretty simple.

Power chassis for E7A 4210 with blue wire that controls mars light disconnected

Mars light has been removed, tucked behind cab and held in place with electrical tape. Headlight has been removed from door head lamp opening to upper nose opening. 

Close up of circuit board. 'R' is where blue wire connects. Disconnected wire is held out of harms way between layers of electrical tape. 

#4072 leading 4317 thru Bedford NY

Looking somewhat prototypical!!!

E7A sans mars light looking much more like a PC unit!

A close up of  #4210 and #4317 looking good after surgery.
Look Ma, No mars lights!!!

Here's a short video of the three E's in action

Thanks for reading!

Some Easy Layout Upgrades

Greetings All,

I recently added what I think are easy layout upgrades to the N.Y.C.T.L. Everything seen below was extremely inexpensive and easily added. My kind of projects!

My goal was to lighten the layout color wise. The roads and parking areas being black poster board which was fine but I wanted to better define some areas using a lighter natural color and brighten the overall look of the layout while enhancing some scenes. Another goal was to keep the mess and layout disruption to a minimum. So over the course of a few days using some common materials that I had laying around I worked on the following areas;

A BEFORE look at this layout corner 

AFTER

This industry received a new 'cement' parking lot, a fence and a bit more shrubbery. 32' trailers look right at home as the get loaded. The 'cement' contrasts nicely with the paved road. And best of all the 'cement' is a piece of card stock from a gift box. Expansion joints are made using a pencil and piece of strip wood to keep the lines uniform and straight.

A new railing was installed to keep the 1/87th scale pedestrians and vehicles from falling over onto the tracks in case of an accident. Spray painted strip wood attached with Aileens Tacky Glue.    

Some new trees were added at Prestage Gear and Red Wing Milling. Trees are made from the 'Sedum' plant using an old Life Like box of grass and green spray paint. 

Red Wing Milling also received a new 'cement' lot for it's truck traffic. This card stock is a bit darker than the one in the top photo but I like the look of it especially with the expansion joints penciled on.

A couple of 'sedum' trees for Main street at Cargill. This whole area has finally started to come together.

A 'sedum' tree and some Woodland Scenics tree kits accent the backyards of these buildings.

A fence was added on the West Side at Moore & Company. The fence is made from some small hobby poles / dowels that came in a bag from Michael's and leftover fiberglass window screen.

A close up of the fence shows some intended wear and tear and the shrubbery pushing out and through it at the bottom. 

Another card stock 'cement' parking area with some wood cubes, a figure and a Pabst Blue Ribbon truck

I really like the color variation between the street and parking area 

Another 'cement' parking area behind the theater. Again a bit more subdued color to the scene. 

Empire City Caterpillar with a new 'cement' parking lot and smaller loading ramp

Superior Furniture with one of two newly added 'cement' lots

The Hohman Ave side of Superior Furniture with a new 'cement' parking area to accommodate the heavy trucks going in and out of this location

So there it is. Some visual upgrades that were easy on the wallet.

Thanks for Reading!!!

P.C.C.M. 19B

Greetings All,

Continued coverage of Installment 19 of the Penn Central Car Movement series between the New York Central Train Layout and the Kings Port Division. http://kingsportdivision.blogspot.com/

1/87th scale PC Ralph is working as a brakeman on an overtime extra out of Terminal Yard. PC Ralph is riding the new shoving platform (NYC 506787) at Hudson Coal. The Extra will switch out the loads for the empties in the background. Two of the loads, the PC cars in the front, will be going to Kings Port Steel.

1/87th scale conductor John R and PC Ralph talk over their next moves as the final string of loads rolls out

Next stop is Berk Enterprises where the crew will pick up EL 40' boxcar 73510 which is consigned to Woodstock Hills All Natural Soda in Kings Port NY. 1/87th scale brakeman PC Ralph tells the conductor that we should couple the EL car ahead of the PC hoppers to save time later  

1/87th scale brakeman PC Ralph is in the clear as the head end of the Extra will back onto the siding to couple up to the EL car

PC Ralph uses the shoving platform they liberated from Terminal Yard to ride out of the siding after shoving several cars back into place. 

The Extra rolls thru the West Side reverse curve. Note the the EL boxcar is coupled to the two PC hoppers. All three are going to Kings Port. Good Idea 1/87th scale PC Ralph!

Hohman Ave tower operator 1/87th scale Larry D. gives a wave to the train crew.

1/87th scale Engineer Ed reclaims the switching platform from the Extra which we
now learn was in the able hands of 1/87th scale Sir Neal

The switching plan is put into place. The earlier idea by 1/87th scale PC Ralph
will greatly speed up the moves necessary to build train BF-1 which is due out shortly. 

The switching is done. The extra crew and yard crew are ready to go off duty.

The crews gather at a local watering hole for some well deserved cold adult beverages.
Both crews acknowledge 1/87th scale PC Ralph's time saving work on the extra and
his currency will be no good tonight but his glass will always be full. 

Trainmen and tower men meet up to enjoy some camaraderie, trade insults and tell tales of their great switching work today.

Meanwhile Train BF-1 (Empire City to East St Louis) has just departed Terminal Yard with a 19 car block for West Mill on the Kings Port Division 

BF-1 rolls across the High Line en-route to it's first stop at Selkirk

Block #1 going to East St Louis

Block #2 going to West Mill in train VWM-8 after being switched out at Selkirk

BF-1 Stretching to Bedford Station

A short video of P.C.C.M. 19 on the N.Y.C.T.L.