RA Tower and other Scenery Enhancements

Greetings All,

Over the past few weeks I've been working on enhancing some of the layout scenery paying particular attention to some of the ballasted areas. My ballast is sifted from a bag of Paver Base that I bought for less than $4.00 at a home improvement store. When I put it down I just tamped it in place with a foam brush and left it as is. Recently I've taken to glueing it in place with diluted Elmer's Glue after soaking the material with Isopropyl alcohol.

First to get a scenery upgrade was is the area at RA Tower.  Here is RA Tower as introduced back on April 19, 2019. 

I've added a tool shed and storage container along with some red barrels and crates. This area was a bit tricky as it sits in shadow so going with the brighter colors worked well for me.

Track sections, ties and rusty barrels sit trackside in this area which gets much better light. The glued down paver base ballast makes it darker adding a little more of a prototype feel.

I've added a forklift and glued down the scenic details in the forefront. 

A work train makes an appearance and drops off some more sections of track.

I think this little area of RR ROW supplies compliments the scene and adds some nice diversity to the NYCTL train line up. 

A pair of NYC GP7s lead a freight train past RA Tower and thru the newly upgraded curve.

You can see the dark to light scenery challenges under the High Line in this photo. While examining that I noticed that RA Tower was leaning a bit to the left.

The newly straightened RA Tower is open for business.

I next turned my attention to the upper level and glued in the ballast from the Bedford curve onto the Vanderbilt Bridge and then the mainline all the way to Hohman Ave tower just outside North Side Yard. 

The High Line.

West Side curve.

Here is a before shot from January 2019;

This is the west side curve with it's darker ballast and some additional junk added to the scene.

The Terminal Yard extension ballast was also glued down resulting in a darker more busy railroad look.
Before: In an April 2019 PCCM;

After:

The curves at the bottom of the photo are as far as the scenery goes. I hope to add a pair of industries and scenery beyond here this summer. That's the plan anyway.

That wraps up today's entry. Be sure to check back as the NYCTL will be opening the books to hire a 1/87th scale Conductor Trainee. 

The new hiree will report for work after being cleared by the NYCTL medical doctor, Dr. Vinny Boombatz, and passing his 1/87th scale physical.

Thanks for reading!!!

See ya soon!!!

An Empire City Weekend

Greetings All,

What's this!!! The Kings Port Railfan Society's VW Bug has been pulled over and two guys are fleeing the scene! What!!

It all started at RA Tower when the K.P.R.S. guys tried to get a shot of NY-4 coming into Empire City. But ol' chooch left the keys in the car and it was promptly stolen.

While Chooch, Easy, TC and Benny were running after their car they missed this great shot of NY-4 powered by six Alcos and one Baldwin rumbling past RA Tower.

After stopping to call 911 and report the VW stolen it is soon spotted by the ECPD and pulled over. The bads guys flee on foot not wanting to pit the VW Bug against a Police Interceptor. 

The car thieves are later spotted hiding in the abandoned building near North Side Yard but they flee towards the west side.

A short time later the bad guys are spotted hiding in the bed of the Drywell Inks pick up truck bed and the chase is on!

The car thieves run across the tracks and it looks like they've made good their escape once again.

Not so fast!!! It's the end of the line for these two! 

The Empire City PD has towed the K.P.R.S. VW back to the station house for safekeeping. 

The NYCTL trainmen have gotten the word that the K.P.R.S guys are having a tough time in the big city so they head over to the police station and invite them to the biggest event in Empire City this weekend.

  

It's 1/87th scale PC Ralph's birthday bash!!! The guys are throwing PC Ralph a big party to celebrate his milestone birthday. 1/87th scale Sir Neal and Big Mike are manning the grills, John B is giving the green light to the beer and ice, 1/87th scale Kar Knocker is entertaining the guests while Wet Willie heads to the scene. 1/87th scale Alco Joe can feel a disturbance in the force as he hears the distinctive rumble of Alcos is the distance

And there they are on the upper level!

Happy Birthday PC Ralph!!!

Thanks for reading!!

See ya soon!!

P.C.C.M. 61 / NYCTL Part 6

Greetings All,

Welcome back to the PCCM 61 series! We'll wrap up the NYCTL's portion today starting in Empire City at the Empire Belt RR's North Side Yard.

1/87th scale PC Ralph has readied Empire Belt Train EB-2 for departure to the Penn Central's Terminal Yard.

EB-2 is underway and coming around the west side.

EB-2 passing Bedford Station

1/87th scale PC Ralph brings EB-2 into Terminal Yard under the watchful eye of this well fed well dressed individual.

Once again this guy is taking a big interest in PC boxcar #360158 headed out to Battaglia Brothers warehouse in the next PCCM. 

EB-2s engines have been cut from the train and 1/87th scale PC Ralph brings them into the engine terminal.

The Yard Job pulls the caboose from EB-2.

The EBRR caboose is shoved into the caboose servicing track.

Empty Morton Salt covered hopper and loaded AP RBLs and PC boxcar are ready to go for their next off layout PCCM destinations. BM 105 will be making an intralayout move in the next PCCM.

The last local train of the day, the Coal Job is called.

The Coal Job pulls out of track #5

and shoves back into track #6 to pick up late arriving AP hopper #9416 and a focal orange caboose.

The Coal Job passes Hudson Coal.

First stop is T&R Gravel to drop off two empty PC PS-2 hoppers that will be loaded with sand for the APRR engine terminal.

Now at the familiar environs of Hudson Coal the Coal Job is exchanging empties for loads.

The empties are spotted and it's time to go.

The H16-44s couple up to the loaded coal hoppers.

The Coal Job arrives back at terminal yard rolling thru the weigh in motion scale on track#8

And that concludes the NYCTL's portion of PCCM 61.

Check out the Coal Jobs PCCM 61 run here

Be sure to checkout the PCCM action on 

PC Ralph's Kings Port Division 

Sir Neal's Atlantic Pacific RR 

Brian's Ralston Creek RR.

Thanks for reading and watching!!
See Ya Soon!!

P.C.C.M. 61 / NYCTL Part 5

Greetings All,

P.C.C.M. 61 continues today with NYCTL Part 5

We'll pick it up at the Penn Central's Terminal Yard with 1/87th scale Alco Joe getting ready to board the Alco power on Train EC-1 for the Empire Belt RRs North Side Yard.

EC-1 rolls thru Bedford towards Empire City

EC-1 arrives at North Side Yard and gets an inspection from the Empire Belt trainmen.

1/87th scale Alco Joe exchanges pleasantries with 1/87th scale senior engineer Sir Neal and PC Ralph before departing caboose lite back to Terminal Yard

With EC-1's engines and caboose now out of the way 1/87th scale Sir Neal readies North Side Yard for the pending arrival of the LIRR's daily transfer train. 

1/87th scale Alco Joe meets the LIRR at Bedford as they head toward their respective destinations.

 The LIRR rolls into North Side Yard

1/87th scale senior engineer Sir Neal gets to work pulling out the cars for the LIRR. 

1/87th scale senior engineer Sir Neal has tacked an old 40' EBRR empty boxcar onto the LIRR bound freight cars as a buffer behind the pipe load to protect the LIRR train crew. 1/87th scale Sir Neal is now shoving the consist back to couple it up to the LIRR caboose.

The LIRR RS-2 couples up to PC #104478 loaded with cement flux from Gern Industries in West Mill NY for Lombo Concrete in Huntington NY.

The LIRR Transfer leaves town with the PC boxcar and P&LE gondola #40331 loaded with extra long telephone poles between two flatcar spacers from Bell Pole in Bloomberg NY for  N.Y.S. D.O.T. Region #10. 

With the two transfer runs in the yard with their cars sorted it's time for the Morning Industrial Job to get rolling.

1/87th scale Sir Neal does the honors this morning shoving the MIJ east out of North Side Yard. 

The first stop is Neal's Lumber & Hardware where the MIJ pulls out the empty Ralph Island boxcar to make room for GN #3630 loaded with finished wood products from Rockmount Supply in Denver CO. 

Also being spotted at Neal's Lumber & Hardware is this NYC Early Bird boxcar loaded with bagged Cement from Boom's Ready Mix in Kings Port NY.

1/87th scale Sir Neal has shoved the MIJ back into the east side industrial spur.

Being pulled from Ralph's Grocery Warehouse are empty PC and IC boxcars and AP RBL #60382 loaded with food stuffs for C&P Restaurant Supply in Rock Ridge NJ. 

Now being spotted at Ralph's Grocery Warehouse is PC boxcar #360063 loaded with cake mixes from Blue Ribbon Flour in Kings Port NY and EBRR RBL #358160 loaded with baked goods from Freihofer's Bakery in Rock Ridge NJ.

The MIJ drops a much needed empty EBRR gondola #509823 at Gervais Pipe & Fitting for it's next PCCM load.

The MIJ crew does a little car shuffling as the empty PC and IC boxcars are needed for future PCCM shipments from a pair of west side industries.

The MIJ rolls under the signal bridge towards the west side.

1/87th scale Sir Neal is shoving a cut of cars towards Superior Furniture.

At Superior Furniture 1/87th scale conductor John is met by a mysterious figure who is very interested in the pulling of PC boxcar #360158 loaded with furniture for the Battaglia Brothers Warehouse in Kings Port NY.

With the PC boxcar pulled this empty CB&Q boxcar from the RCR is shoved into Superior Furniture for its next PCCM load.

The MIJ is now clearing the Moore & Co  / Neubaum's Coffee / Drywell Inks siding.

Empty IC boxcar #30130 is spotted at Neubaum's Coffee & Tea Importers for it's next PCCM load. 

Empty PC boxcar #77047 is spotted at Moore & Company for it's next PCCM load.

The switching work done the MIJ heads back to North Side Yard.

1/87th scale Sir Neal brings the MIJ into North Side Yard.

We'll cut it here for today with 1/87th scale PC Ralph taking over  and getting Train EB-2 ready to depart for Terminal Yard.

We'll close it out tomorrow with Train EB-2 and the Coal Job completing their runs. 

Be sure to checkout the PCCM action on 

PC Ralph's Kings Port Division 

Sir Neal's Atlantic Pacific RR 

Brian's Ralston Creek RR.

Thanks for reading and watching!!
See ya Tomorrow!!