Welcome to another Penn Central Car Movement - P.C.C.M. #114! This is a special car movement which came about from conversations with a former member of the TrainLife forum back in the day. Steve was some of the original members of this group, along with Graham, Barry, and a host of others. I had duly named them the 'Knights Of The Turntable' which I call them to this day...! Sir John has named this move 'Operation Blue Comet' to honor Steve and all that he does in Wisconsin to keep the hobby going, especially Lionel Trains, alive in his area...
This PCCM is another 3 car layout move, all of which will take place in one weekend! The leader of this move is none other than Sir John and his New York Central Train Layout and his co-founder of our PCCM's, PC Ralph and his Kings Port Division Railroad as well as my Atlantic Pacific Railroad. So let's get these trains moving!!
We start out at the yard office of Rock Ridge Yard. 1:87 Yardmaster NJ John has arrived. Looks like one of the guys tripped and can't get up. NJ John figures he's just trying to get out of working today. Now worries, NJ John will take care of him...!
NJ John has SW1500 #101 ready to go with 1:87 Engineer Dan at the ready...
The MP15 units #'s 106 & 107 with 1:87 Engineer Kai is ready to go...
1:87 Engineer Norman is up by the Rock Ridge warehouse. he'll head north over to American Hardware to pick up a couple of box cars destined for All-City Storage on the NYCTL...
Next up is Kai and he'll head over to Mike's Lumber and pick up some AP RBL Box cars that has some trimmed lumber for All-City Storage on the NYCTL...
Kai stops at CP South and checks in with 1:87 Tower Operator Rich T...
Rich awaits the signal from the Little Jamaica tower operator...
...And heads out to Mike's Lumber with non-PCCM freight cars...
A short time later, Kai is pulling the 2 RBL cars from Mike's Lumber...
...And drops them on the Little Jamaica secondary track...
Then proceeds to drop the non-PCCM freight cars...
The cars are dropped. Now Kai will pick up the RBL's and bring them back to the yard. It's a tight window as the inbound Penn Central locomotives are on their way to pick up the freight heading to the NYCTL...
1:87 Little Jamaica Tower Operator Bob clears Kai to head out...
A short time later, Kai is back at the Rock Ridge Yard limits...
Kai reaches out to Rich making sure he's going to catch the outbound build...
Rich routes him into the yard via CP Rock and meets up with the yard crew...
Norman is at the ready to pull some cars for the outbound train. Yesterday the yard crew picked up the HRC box car from Lionel Trains in Hillside, NJ destined for Neubaum's in Bedford, NY on the NYCTL. This car has Lionel controllers to run those classic O gauge Lionel Trains...!
Now arriving on Rock Ridge inbound track 1 are a trio of GP40 Penn Central engines. These guys will take the freight to Weehawken, where it will be added to another train for Penn Central's Selkirk Yard. Some cars will head to other destinations and the rest will head on to Terminal Yard on the NYCTL...
The PC crew awaits at CP Rock as the yard crew cuts the caboose...
And inches up the East Ladder as Norman drops the outbound cars on the West Ladder...
There's a number of both non-PCCM and PCCM cars on this train destined for various locations...
The PC engine crew hooks up to the outbound freight cars...
At CP South, Rich gives the crew some train orders for their outbound run. The crew will have to wait a little as there's a lot of traffic outside of Rock Ridge Yard...
We now move over to a new complex outside of Rock Ridge Yard. Welcome to Reynolds Intermodal Terminal!! We're proud to get this complex into our virtual ops and look forward to having this complex in future PCCM's! This complex is located just west of the West Harold Interlocking south side and will have a dedicated engine, tracks and staging tracks governed by West Harold...
Penn Central SW1500 #9543 will be the workhorse for this complex. It's a TOFC terminal with 4 tracks, a pair of MiJack Cranes and Kalmar crane for loading and unloading containers and trucks on and off flat cars. We'll see an occasional AP 5 car well car set moving about the PC system heading to various locations...
The first assignment are a number of TOFC flat cars heading to Albany Station. A pair of USPS flat cars, an NYC flat car and and REA flat car will move from Albany Station to the NYCTL. The rest of the TOFC cars will be picked up at Albany Station for movement to other destinations...
Penn Central 9543 on it's inaugural moves at Reynolds Intermodal Terminal...
Awaiting the TOFC train is PC U28C #6533 which will take the train to Weehawken where it will be forwarded to Albany Station...
Penn Central Extra 6533 departs West Harold Secondary for Weehawken and beyond...
Meanwhile, Penn Central Extra 3182 has the approach signal to depart Rock Ridge Yard...
Penn Central Extra 3182 departs Rock Ridge Yard...
Penn Central 3182 passing thru West Harold Interlocking....
A short time later, Penn Central Extra 3240 from Weehawken arrives at Rock Ridge Yard Limits...
...And slowly proceeds into Rock Ridge Yard...
Rich tells him what track he'll arrive on...
Penn Central Extra 3240 arrives at Rock Ridge Yard West Ladder...
Norman wastes no time in breaking down the train. This train had both PCCM and non-PCCM freight cars on it...
A pair of KP&W both cars from the KPD will head over to Mike's Lumber where the loads will be ripped into various sizes and then head out on another PCCM...
PC GP40's 3240 & 3201 get ready to depart Rock Ridge for Weehawken....
The crew awaits the signal. A short time later they depart...
PC 3240 is on the move. Next stop, Weehawken!!
This concludes the first part of both outbound and inbound trains on the APRR. Check back tomorrow as the AP crew will work on getting those KP&W box cars over to Mike's Lumber as well as some other moves...
Thanks for reading!!
