Penn Central Car Movement #43B

Greetings All,

Welcome back to the Penn Central Car Movement 43 series! The gathering of freight cars to send out to Ralph's K.P.D. layout and John B's L.F.N.W. layout continues with our focus on Empire City industries and the Long Island Railroad transferring freight cars with the Empire Belt RR at North Side Yard. 

We'll start the action at the Empire Belt's North Side Yard with 1/87th scale Senior Engineer Sir Neal and conductor John R. going over their switching moves.

1/87th scale Sir Neal shoves this cut of cars towards the east side of Empire City no doubt recalling the cheesy UP "We can handle it " commercials. The UP 'we can handle it" slogan began appearing in 1972. You can almost hear 1/87th scale Sir Neal shouting the Empire Belt can handle it! The A.P.R.R. can handle it!

The Empire Belt crew has plenty of work today on the east side.  Cargill, Gervais Pipe & Fitting and Ralph's Grocery Warehouse all need to be switched. Cargill hopper TLDX 7241 is loaded with barely for Cavendish Fine Foods & Spirits in Mayfield NY. Penn Central gondola 288673 loaded with pipe for the Hudson Valley Ag Coop will be heading to Williams Yard in Kings Port NY.

Some quick car shuffling by 1/87th scale Sir Neal and conductor John R. has these two cars going to the Kings Port Division coupled together. These 1/87th scale guys are good!

The crew pulls these empties from Ralph's Grocery Warehouse. Rock Island 35062 will be heading off to American Hardware in Bedford Park on an intra layout move.

With the east side work completed the crew is now on the west side switching out Superior Furniture. Empty 50' BM RBL's 109 &110 will be headed back to Corning Glass Works in Corning NY. Corning NY got it's name from Erastus Corning, who was the first president of the New York Central among his many other accomplishments.   

Next stop is Moore & Company where the crew will pick up the old warhorse NYC Pacemaker car loaded with burlap bags for Agway in Bloomberg NY and PC 40' boxcar 77047 loaded with burlap bags for Hedberg Aggregates in Marion NY. 

1/87th scale Sir Neal has shoved back on the siding to pick up NYC 50' boxcar 80775 loaded with drums of ink for Canton Box in West Mill NY. The bar patron behind the boxcar pays no attention as he takes care of his own business.

Rut-roh. An Empire City Police Officer is at the grade crossing letting 1/87th scale conductor John R know he'll be be keeping time of how long the grade crossing will be blocked. Viewers can see that the E.B.R.R. crew has cut their train while working the west side to keep the amount of time they block the crossing to a minimum. 1/87th scale Sir Neal is waiting for the hand signal to shove back and couple up the bulkhead flat. 

As usual the crew is on top of their game and the grade crossing is now open well under the allotted time. As for this sudden grade crossing interest by the E.C.P.D. only one thing comes to mind. Rookies....

With that drama out of the way the crew is back at North Side Yard putting together outbound trains for Terminal Yard and the L.I.R.R. transfer that is due in shortly. The PC depressed center flat 766053 will be heading empty to Selkirk where it will be stored until it's next assignment. TP&W 40' boxcar 627 was loaded with steel wool fibers at Walsh's Steel Wool Products in our last P.C.C.M. and is now ready to head out of town to Boom's ready mix in Kings Port NY. 

And like clockwork here comes the L.I.R.R. transfer run behind an Alco RS-1 in the 1964 World's Fair scheme. The L.I.R.R. was later bought by the Metropolitan Commuter Transportation Authority from the Pennyslvania RR in 1966 for $65 million dollars. The train is inspected by Bedford Tower operator 1/87th scale John B as it heads for Empire City and North Side Yard.

With deer season now over Long Island processors have loaded Great Northern 40' boxcar 3630 with animal hides. What?! That will ruin the car. Not so fast the hides are shrink wrapped. An interesting story that we'll get to the bottom of once the car reaches the Port of Oakland on John B's layout. Behind GN 3630 are Penn Central gondolas 576104 and 576123 loaded with scrap from Gershow Recycling for Kings Port Steel in...Kings Port NY.

The L.I.R.R. arrives today via the west side reverse track. This move is done when North Side Yard is at full capacity which is the case today. 

L.I.R.R. caboose C-91 protects the shove back on the industrial lead. The L.I.R.R. crew will switch over to the track on the right and then switch out their inbound and outbound cars at North Side Yard.

The work at North Side Yard completed the L.I.R.R. train heads out of town over the Empire City viaduct.

The nattily attired L.I.R.R. RS-1 makes it's way thru Bedford NY past a string of loaded coal hoppers. For more on the 1964-65 Worlds fair and the L.I.R.R. participation click here

Caboose C-91 brings up the markers at Bedford Station. Not far behind will be 1/87th scale Sir Neal with the Empire Belt transfer run to Terminal Yard.

The E.B.R.R. is on the High Line. Not taking any chances with the GN car of hides it's placed well away from the engine and caboose.

Empty P&E 40' boxcar came in on the tail end of the L.I.R.R. transfer run. Here it heads to Terminal Yard and it will be eventually sent out to Berk Enterprises in Bedford NY as an intra layout move. PC depressed center flat 766053 will be centrally stored at Selkirk until needed.

PC 77047, NYC Pacemaker, NYC 80775 and TLDX 7241 are all loaded and earning much needed revenue.

A loaded PC gondola adds to the coffers being trailed by two empty RBL's in pool service out of Corning Glass.

1/87th scale Sir Neal gets the green light from Bedford Tower operator John B. as he proceeds towards Terminal Yard.

A short time later E.B.R.R. 7278 leads the consist under the Terminal Yard control tower and down the yard throat towards the arrival tracks.

Tomorrow we'll wrap it up with the Terminal Yard switch crew and the dispatch of Train LI-1 that will take our virtual ops cars to Selkirk where they'll be interchanged into trains for Ralph's K.P.D. layout and John B's L.F.N.W. layout. 

Thanks for reading!!

Penn Central Car Movement #43A

Greetings All,

Penn Central Car Movement series 43 begins today on the N.Y.C.T.L. I'm really looking looking forward to this P.C.C.M. as it comes right on the heels of the the Penn Central's 50th Anniversary. The 43 series will feature three layouts this round, mine, Ralph's K.P.D. and John B's L.F.N.W.

We'll start the action at Bedford Park with 1/87th scale PC Ralph breaking in 1/87th scale AT JOE on the Bedford Park operations. 
Their initial assignment will be pulling loaded boxcars from American Hardware Supply and then working the Ford Plant. We'll follow that up with 1/87th scale Engineer Ed working the Bedford Local. 

To: West Mill, Zenith Yard
From: Terminal Yard

Dispatch of Trains BP-12 and Bedford Local

Terminal Yard out...

Alco RS-1 #9921 still in PRR paint but renumbered into the Penn Central builds up the air pressure while 1/87th scale PC Ralph and AT JOE go over their switching plan. P&LE 35892 is loaded with bulk hardware for Peerless Appliance and GM&O 21129 is loaded with bulk hardware for ACME Auto Parts. Both consignees are located in Mayfield NY on Ralph's layout.

1/87th scale PC Ralph has pulled out two loaded auto racks and is now coupling up to an empty CB&Q 86' auto parts boxcar while AT JOE waits to attach the air hoses..

Two empty 86' boxcars are shoved back and coupled to the loaded 40' boxcars. 1/87th scale AT JOE has the air hoses connected and they'll be off for Terminal Yard as Penn Central Train BP-12

BP-12 hauls the Penn Central's most profitable rail traffic towards Terminal Yard.  RS-1 9921 was built in June 1950 as PRR 5621. The 9921 primarily worked out of Buffalo until being transferred to the N.Y.C.T.L. for use at Bedford Park.

BP-12 arrives at Terminal Yard

1/87th scale PC Ralph guides BP-12 thru track #8. This train's quick turnaround will have it hauling the steel coil loaded gondolas on track 7 right back to the Bedford Park Ford Plant as train BP-41.

1/87th scale PC Ralph and AT JOE take a minute to discuss their next moves while they wait for Train BP-41 to build air pressure. Note the high priority Multi-Level train being put together at the rear of the photo

It might be a local but make no mistake about it BP-41 is a high priority train. Hot cars. Rush cars. Shutdown cars. All are part of the daily operations of the Bedford Park train crews. With coiled steel and loaded 60' auto parts cars BP-41 quickly makes it's way thru Bedford back towards the Ford Plant to keep the car production assembly line humming along..  

Next out of Terminal Yard will be the Bedford Local with 1/87th scale Engineer Ed at the throttle. The Penn Central had 38 of the 1,600 hp FM H16-44s on their roster. The NYC contributed 13 and all remained in NYC paint. All Penn Central H16-44s were retired by the end of 1970.  

The Bedford Local rolls past University Milling and towards Berk Enterprises. All six cars shown on the siding need to be pulled. PC 50' boxcar #360063 is loaded with printed adhesive backed labels for Van Winkle Canning in Bloomberg NY and BM 105 is loaded with printed packaging for Blue Ribbon Flour in Kings Port NY. 

Before the crew can deal with that  they must first work the  Heileman Brewery siding. L.F.N.W. 50' boxcar 160 is loaded with cases of beer and will be heading to the West Coast to be spotted at the team track in West Egg, CA on John B's layout. IC 40' boxcar 30130 also loaded with beer will be delivered to Reynolds Beverage in Kings Port NY on Ralph's layout.

The Local has pulled the loaded PC and BM boxcars from Berk Enterprises and couples them up to the cars from Heileman Brewery. The guys still have some work to do here spotting cars at Hostess, Berk and University Milling.

The switching done 1/87th scale Engineer Ed heads for the High Line and the Empire City west side reverse curve. Below he gets the high ball and roll by inspection from Bedford Tower operator 1/87th scale John B.

Hohman Ave Tower operator 1/87th scale Larry D. has lined the tracks for the reverse curve and is out to greet the crew. 

1/87th scale Double E heads back thru Bedford towards Terminal Yard with the four virtual ops cars blocked together. Nice work EE!

The Bedford local arrives back at Terminal Yard and is now off the sheet.

Tomorrow we'll continue with action from Empire City and catch the L.I.R.R. transfer run.

Thanks for reading!

Penn Central 50th Birthday!

Greetings All,

Happy 50th Birthday Penn Central!

Today is the day! February 1st, 2018 marks the 50th anniversary of the New York Central and Pennsylvania Railroads merging into the Pennsylvania New York Central Transportation Company (2/1/68 - 5/8/68) which would become known to all as the Penn Central. 872 days later the Penn Central would declare bankruptcy. The PC would soldier on under Section 77 of the Bankruptcy Act until April 1st, 1976 when the Consolidated Railroad Company relieved Penn Central of it's railroad operations.

What happened and why has been well documented since the bankruptcy date of June 21st, 1970 and I don't want to get into that here today. Today we celebrate the birth of the Penn Central and offer some 1/87th scale tribute to the railroad I grew up with. Let's take a look at some other interesting Penn Central facts;

The Penn Central was a railroad colossus make no mistake about that with more than 100,000 employees and 20,000 route miles in 14 states and 2 provinces. With an opening day roster of 4,079 locomotives every day the Penn Central ran 300 through road freights, unit trains and more than 500 local freights. PC yards had several hundred daily switching crews. Add in the 1,000 passenger trains that were operated each weekday and you get the picture.

50 years ago today on February 1, 1968 Penn Central introduced it's all white new intertwined PC logo and PENN CENTRAL  lettering on former PRR SD40 #6072 which was painted black to lukewarm reviews. In an effort to add some color they would add the red P to 119 diesel units and some freight cars and later an orange C to 17 GP40s before their opening year was over.  

For me the PC was all of the above and little bit more. Fascinating to read about and see in action on many different videos the more I see and read the more interested I become. That said it's no wonder that the Penn Central is becoming a dominant force on my New York Central basement train empire. 

The Penn Central sign hanging in the Terminal Yard train room courtesy of 1:1 Sir Neal who is a well known Penn Central fan.

The NYC and PRR combined to contribute 114 F3As, 363 F7A's and 75 F7Bs to the newly formed Penn Central. Home painted NYC F7As lead this six unit consist.

Factory painted PRR units with home painted PC F7As. The PC continued to operate large number of F units right up until the Conrail takeover. 

The PRR supplied the Penn Central with 40 GE U Boats. U33Cs 6540-6559 were the first new units delivered in the PC scheme arriving mid February 1968. PC would add four more U33Cs in August 1968. #6540 was the first new PC unit and the first U33C built by GE. #6557 was the only U-Boat with the red 'P'. Below is a consist of PC U-Boats in the engine yard.  I painted two of the four shown including the 6557.

The big U Boats have backed into track 2 and coupled up to their train. This is an impressive consist! Looking a little Selkirkian? Many of the PC U-Boats were maintained at Selkirk. 

Called the iconic PC locomotive the Penn Central amassed an armada of GP38s and GP38-2s. Below a quartet of home painted GP38s idle in Terminal Yard. Did you know 9 GP38-2s were set up to run long hood forward? The 7675 was the first GP38 on the PC roster. The Atlas engine was a gift from 1:1 Sir Larry that I repainted.

A quartet of GP35s burble away next to their younger cousins. Two are home painted PC, one a home painted NYC and one a factory painted PRR. NYC contributed 31 and the PRR 119 units. An interesting note here is that the GP35 is the last four axle road engine purchased by the PRR. The GP35s also had the most units with the red P with 21. 

A pair of home painted PC GP30s. Reacting to negative comments after unveiling their first Penn Central engine with the white PC on  all black engine #6072 in 1968 Altoona began releasing shopped diesels with the red 'P' logo. The GP35 had the most with 21 followed by the GP30 with 19 and the GP9 with 16.

With the red 'P' program discontinued and the all white PC logo in effect the PC received 17 new GP40s in October 1968 wearing orange 'C's. Home painted 3170 and 3175 are parked below. The reason for the orange 'C' remains a mystery.

Prior to the merger the NYC purchased a fleet of 105 GP40's all with dynamic brakes. Factory painted 3007 is an ex NYC unit of the same number. Home painted PC U30B #2875 is another ex NYC engine. The NYC was the only one of the three predecessors to purchase this model from GE and the GP40. PC would add another 170 GP40s by the end of 1968. 

The PC inherited a large number of 1st generation ALCO road switchers from the NYC-PRR. They could be found switching in yards and working secondary lines. Two such home painted units await assignment below.

The PRR was the sole contributor of six axle power to the PC and the 6000 series belonged to them. Home painted SD45 #6190 and SD40 #6282 replicate a favored Penn Central 4,600 hp lash up. The SD45 was a gift from 1:1 John Bruce. 

The PRR had turned to the 2500 hp SD35 in June 1964 to test claims that the C-C units were better for the PRR's mountainous terrain. They never bought another four axle road engine. This is a home painted Atlas Yellow Box unit.

The PC operated about 20% of the nations passenger trains and were the dominant contributor to Amtrak. Home painted E7A #4210 has the honors of representing PC passenger power on the layout for the PC birthday.

Four PC 10-6 sleepers in three different paint schemes head towards Empire City Station. On May 1st, 1971 the Penn Central's initiation fee into Amtrak was $52.6 million payable over a three year period. Reimbursement fees paid to PC for running the Amtrak trains over their rails were thought to more than offset the cost. 

The Deepwater Green cars are factory painted and the Tuscan car is home painted. Amtrak took over 140 passenger trains that cost the PC $50 million a year in losses. Amtrak simply dropped 30 other trains from the PC schedule.

Adding the Penn Central to my New York Central Train Layout has been very rewarding. Lots of cool paint projects and modeling opportunities have presented themselves. Here is a view of the newly built Terminal Yard engine facility with mostly home painted NYC and PC engines.  At last count the number of home painted Penn Central engines was 31.

Some Empire Belt U boats are on track 7. The freelance E.B.R.R. was put into effect in 2017 and follows the painting practices of parent roads NYC and PC

A sea of mostly home painted engines idle away awaiting their next call to action. A patched out NYC E8A sits next to Alco C424 #2415. The 2415 was the one and only C424 on the PC roster.

Penn Central, New York Central and Empire Belt units at rest. 

As much as I liked painting PC engines I also added a bunch of home painted PC freight cars to my fleet. Most came from my purgatory box and have received a second life. Some early home painted AHM Penn Central 40' boxcars are pictured below.

All freight cars below are home painted including the PRR caboose that was painted by fellow modeler John Bruce.

A few more home painted units with the Penn Central as a main player.

With 30 large car plants online from the three major automobile manufacturers the transportation of new autos and their parts was the PC's most most valuable traffic. 

Last but not least it should be noted that several modelers including myself pay tribute to the Penn Central on a regular basis with our Penn Central Car Movement series aka the virtual ops. In the beginning founding member 1:1 PC Ralph came up with these prototypical Penn Central Movement Cards and we were off and running. As the P.C.C.M.'s got bigger in scope and participation we adjusted the paperwork to keep track of the interchanged freight cars.

As of the writing we have enjoyed 42 P.C.C.M.s and are working on #43. Some scenes from recent P.C.C.M.'s include this train with cars for John B's L.F.N.W. layout..

Freight cars for Ralph's K.P.D. layout leaving Terminal Yard while cars for 1:1 Sir Neal's AP.R.R. and Engineer Ed's H.R.C. await departure on the left. 

One of my favorite engine lash ups combining my freelanced Empire Belt U Boats with prototypical Penn Central U Boats. Below they're running thru Bedford NY with a virtual ops freight train coming from Selkirk  and heading to Terminal Yard.

Happy 50th Birthday Penn Central!