Introducing New York - New Jersey Express TOFC Service on the Atlantic Pacific Railroad!!

Greetings everyone and welcome to a very special blog post. 

If you've been following my blog as well as Sir John's New York Central Train Layout, Sir 1:1 John and I were looking for additional train movements that we could add to our current NY-NJ Ops sessions. 

I had the opportunity to get hold of 8 UPS 24' container chassis and 10 UPS 40' trailers. We came up with the idea of making a dedicated TOFC train from Terminal Yard to Rock Ridge and back. Some heavy brainstorming and the name 'New York New Jersey Express' was born! Decals were promptly ordered and when they arrived, packaged them up along with the trailers and shipped them to the Patti-O Paint Shop.

Sir John had everything he needed to bring these vehicles up to the EBRR and APRR standards as well as certifying them for both over the road and intermodal service. 

A preview of the finished trailers and containers in Terminal Yard, as these, along with a couple more containers chassis will head out from Terminal Yard to the Reynolds Intermodal Terminal located outside of Rock Ridge. This train is a 'HOT' train meaning it will depart and arrive in 24 hours or less, depending on rail traffic...

Check out the departure of the New York New Jersey Express Train NYNJ-1  

NYNJ-1 Heading to Rock Ridge

A day later, Penn Central NYNJ-1 arrives at West Harold Interlocking. Tower Operator Bob gives the PC crew instructions on how they will be routed into the Intermodal Terminal...

Penn Central NYNJ-1 heading to Reynolds Intermodal Terminal...

A short time later, PC Train NYNJ-1 arrives on the Intermodal lead by West Harold. The Reynolds Intermodal Terminal is a 4 track stub-ended yard that handles containers as well as trailers....

The Penn Central crew arrives at the West Harold Interlocking Secondary track and checks in with Tower Operator Bob for instructions. The yard crew will send out the switcher to pull the caboose so the crew can shove back into the yard...

PC SW1500 #9543 pulls the caboose...

...and backs on to yard track 3...

Track 2 gets the four 24' container chassis...

And track 1 gets the 6 40' trailers. 1:1 Sir John graciously gave me one of his Empire Belt trailers to round out the TOFC train making it 6 of those 40' trailers. Thank you 1:1 Sir John!!

Another view of the intermodal terminal. Two Mi-Jack Cranes and a Kalmar Crane in the rear...

The moves are completed. The caboose is added back on to the engine...

Penn Central U25B #2568 caboose lite departs the yard for Weehawken Yard for servicing and fuel...

Penn Central 2568 caboose lite leaves Rock Ridge. Next stop - Weehawken Yard!

It's a wrap! New York-New Jersey Express has made its inaugural debut and will be featured in more of our virtual ops! 

Tomorrow these cars will have been emptied (or loaded) and sent back to Terminal Yard. 

Here's the link to the entire blog post for these trailers...

Sir John's Latest Blog Post

Thanks for reading!!

NY-NJ Ops #3 Part 7 - Final Deliveries And More...

Welcome back to the conclusion of NY-NJ Ops #3 on my Atlantic Pacific Railroad. Sir John and his New York Central Train Layout has sent a number of freight cars to Rock Ridge Yard, some of which will depart to other locations in the US...

We begin today at Rock Ridge Yard with Yardmaster NJ John gathering his crew to get freight delivered in and around Rock Ridge...

Jim C. is in the cab today on AP SW1000 #102. He grabs one of the conductors and is ready to go!

First job is to move the empty reefers at ShopRite and drop of a pair of EB Box cars from Quaker with cereal products...

Meanwhile Kai is in AP SW1500 #101 and moves the LV car out of the way...

There's a couple of other freight cars in the yard that need to be moved so the cars from the NYCTL can get delivered...

The Morton Salt car from Ronzoni will head over to the Morton Salt plant to be filled...

Kai dropped the cars on the West Ladder for Jim to grab...

ShopRite has a long platform plus loading doors. There's only one way to deliver and Jim knows this siding very well. A piece of cake for Jim!

Jim drops the cars at ShopRite...

Jim drops the Morton car on the West Ladder. Kai will pick up the car and take it to Morton Salt,,,

Jim will pull the NYC covered hopper for Freihofer's Bakeries loaded with flour from Red Wing Milling...

Jim starts building the train for Three Amigos and Shapeless Steel...

Some non NY-NJ Ops cars that came in need to be delivered to Shapeless Steel as well...

AP GP38-2 #302 will run to Three Amigos and Shapeless Steel. Mark will handle the job and hopefully he won't outlaw again!!

Yardmaster NJ John tells Mark to make this job happen...TODAY!! 

Mark heads out as train RT-5...

Conductor Jim W. gives Mark the all clear and gets ready to head out... 

Mark checks in with Tower Operator Rich for final instructions...

Mark is on hold as there's traffic ahead...

Looks like some heavy duty traffic holding up Mark...

A short time later Mark arrives at Three Amigos Warehouse and starts to work...

H drops the inbound on West Harold secondary track 1...

And runs around his train to pull the outbound cars...

Those get dropped and he'll then shove the cars from the yard on to track 1...

Mark makes the inbound move...

Mark is ready to go and heads out to Shapeless Steel...

A short time later, Mark and Jim W. arrive at Shapeless Steel. They'll grab 4 coil cars loaded with scrap and take them back to the yard. They'll drop 4 AP gondolas with pipe that came from Gervais Pipe on the NYCTL...

Mark has all 4 cars and will head back to the yard...

Mark and Jim W. head back to the yard...

A short time later Mark and Jim W. are back in the yard, and ON TIME!! Way to go Mark!!

Yardmaster NJ John looks happy to Mark back in the yard...

Kai and Jim C. will pull the cars Mark dropped and sort them out...

Mark and Jim W. tie down on East Ladder track 2...

Norman grabs the pair of MP15 engines to work Freihofer's Bakeries. Drop a couple of cars and pull 3 empty cars, two of which are empty hoppers...

Jim pulls the cars...

Norman heads out as AP Train RE-3...

Norman holds on outbound track 2...

...And a minute later has the signal to depart...

Norman arrives at the Little Jamaica secondary track and Tower Operator Bob gives his the orders to make his moves...

Three cars out...two cars in!!

Norman wastes no time and heads back to the yard...

And gets routed back into the yard...

Rich tells him the yard crew is ready....

And heads up the East Ladder...

Cars are dropped on East Ladder track 8...

Meanwhile, EL GP35 #2570 and B&O GP40 #3691 arrive to pick up the outbound gondolas that will head to Bethlehem Steel...

Rich routes him so they arrive at the north end of the yard by CP Rock...

NJ John knows the EL crew and lets them know he's ready for them...

Kai pulls the gondolas from Gershow recycling in Empire City as well as the gondolas that came from Shapeless Steel...

They add the 8 cars to the EL caboose...

The EL crew runs down the East Ladder to hook up to the train...

The EL crew gets order from Rich and tells them they're designated as EL Extra 2570...

They reach the end of the yard limit and wait for Tower Operator Bob to give them the signal...

The signal is up and they're on the way. Next stop Allentown!

Here we go...!!

Kai and Jim tie down in the yard. All the freight has been delivered and all outbound freight heading out West is gone! A great job by NJ John and his yard crew!

It's a wrap! This concludes NY-NJ Ops #3 on my railroad. Catch the last of the inbound on Sir John's New York Central Train Layout!!

Thanks for reading!!