More Work On The Florida Layout

Greetings followers of the Atlantic Pacific Railroad and my blog.

I've been down in Florida for a number of days, spending time with the wife, relaxing, and of course working on the layout. 

I've completed about 95% of the track on the lower level. The remaining areas are the two industries, and the track leading to the track where an engine will go to be repaired and a rip track for freight cars. The tracks for the passenger trains are now in place. On the upper level, I've added the cork roadbed for the passenger line with the exception of the run around track next to the end of the station track. 

I had tested some of the tracks, as posted on an earlier blog here attaching alligator clips to the tracks. Since I'm getting ready to leave in a few days to go back north for a week, I decided that I need to plan the wiring for the railroad. The lower level will be divided as follows. The helix tracks will be under it's own district. The freight yard including the area where I will have the turntable, will be another district. The turntable itself will be on an auto reverser. The rest of the lower level will be a separate district. Each district will have its own circuit breaker. Once I get the upper level tracks in place, I'll decide how to break that up. Like DC, I use insulated rail joiners to separate the districts. 

This layout, like the NJ layout will be run by an NCE DCC Powerhouse Pro Radio 5 AMP system. This is a system where your cab controls don't have to be connected to the layout, or cab buss, as it's called. 

Using the wireless feature, I can walk freely around the room. Also, when others operate the layout with me, they don't have to worry about cords dangling or walking around them. 

Today I added 6 drops to the yard. I'm using 20GA solid wire. I could have used 22GA, but I had plenty of this. All of the wires get soldered to the rails. The rest of them will be added once I put in the turntable, and decide where my program track will be located. I may put it next to the turntable. 

Once I get the drops in place, below this area is a terminal strip where all of the wires will be attached. From there, a 14GA stranded wire will go from the systems main terminal strip to each terminal strip on both levels. In between the base and terminal strip will be a circuit breaker. 

The NCE EB1 Circuit breaker will protect each section of the layout. If a short occurs, only the section it protects will stop working, not the rest of the layout. I will be setting these for a 5 AMP trip. The engines without sound don't draw much, and sound engines do draw more. Right now I have one engine with sound down here. 

I added more drops to the rest of the lower level. Those will be soldered in the next day or so. Once in place, I'll test the layout with the engine and box car. I'll be able to test all of the lower level tracks.

I would have started the soldering process tonight, but my index finger ran into the wire stripper. The wire stripper won, so I called it a night. 

Thanks for reading and following the build!

New Motive Power on the A.P.R.R.

Greetings followers of the Atlantic Pacific Railroad and my blog. 

The A.P.R.R. has been growing over the years as many of you have seen while following the blog or in person. 

Last week the A.P.R.R. received a delivery of a very special engine. Sir 1:1 John, President and COE (Chief of Everything) at the N.Y.C.T.L. sent over an Empire Belt Geep for use on the A.P.R.R. on an indefinite lease agreement. 

This is Empire Belt GP38-2 Road number 8163. It follows as an EX - PC #8163 and Sir John felt it appropriate to be numbered accordingly. It came DCC equipped and was instantly tested on the programming track I have on the layout. 

A quick video of the Empire Belt #8163 at Baskerville Jct. just outside of Rock Ridge Yard. 

The engine will be put into regular service in March, working in tandem with a sister PC GP38-2 engine. 

I thank you very much Sir John for this magnanimous gesture on your part. It's a great looking and running engine and I am proud to have it on the railroad!

P.C.C.M. 58 On The A.P.R.R. - Freight Deliveries around Rock Ridge

Greetings followers of the Atlantic Pacific Railroad and the Penn Central Car Movements.

We resume the action in Rock Ridge Yard as local freight action is about to begin.

First out is RC-1, the C&P Restaurant Turn. AP #105 heads out with the 8 freight cars from Terminal Yard.

The engine cuts off from the loads on the West Harold secondary, does a run around and proceeds to pull out the empties and replace them with the loads from 

Empties are pulled from C&P Tracks 1&2

Once pulled, the loads can be delivered into the building..

Freight delivered, the train, now RC-2 heads back to the yard. Empties will be sent out to other industries as needed. 

Next up is the delivery of coal from Hudson Coal to R.M.O. Electric and its power plant. However, we see 1/87th Ralph and 1/87th ATJOE standing around the switcher. Problem? Looks like AP #900 is dead in the water. A call is made to Rock Ridge Yardmaster telling them the coal load will need to be brought over with their motive power. 

AP SW1500 #100 is called into action. They need to deliver 6 cars, and while they're at it, drop off the Hostess car to neighboring Cargill. 

AP train RR-1 heads out on this last minute call. Good thing a crew was available. 

What's left to do? Pull the dead engine out and bring it over to the yard. When the move is made to take the PS-2 hoppers loaded with sand for the engine terminal, that switcher will be part of the run. 

Last run for the day is the delivery of the 2 86' box cars from the Ford plant over to Ideal Auto Parts. They'll fill those two box cars with auto parts such as radios, antennas, alternators and more small parts to make to Ford vehicles hum like no other vehicle out there, and be proud of it!!

It's a wrap at Rock Ridge Yard and the A.P.R.R.!

Check out the rest of the action at:

Sir John's N.Y.C.T.L.

PC Ralph's KPD

Brian's R.C. Railroad

Thanks for reading!

P.C.C.M. 58 On The A.P.R.R.

Greetings followers of the Atlantic Pacific Railroad and my blog.

The Penn Central Car Movement Series are back in action on three railroads! The action started on Sir John's N.Y.C.T.L. with a continuation on PC Ralph's KP&W Railroad 

Train SLX-1 was dispatched to Rock Ridge from Terminal Yard via Selkirk. This train made a stop in Selkirk to pick up some freight from the KP&W. 

The train was dispatched from Selkirk to Rock Ridge and will not stop in Weehawken due to the urgency of some of the freight on the train. A change in motive power and crew was done swiftly in Selkirk. Train WV-1 will head from Selkirk and then on thru Weehawken with continued service to Rock Ridge. Once cleared thru Weehawken, it will take the call signs as Extra WV-1 since it has a priority load. 

Here we see the train on it's way to Rock Ridge, clearing West Harold Interlocking...

Something is wrong. The tower operator was carefully watching the train thru the interlocking and doesn't see car B&M 105 on the train. A call to Selkirk followed via radio:

AP: West Harold Tower to Selkirk Departure, over!
Selkirk Departure: Go ahead West Harold, over!
AP: Yeah, we noticed B&M 105 on the manifest, but not on the roll by, over!
Selkirk Departure: West Harold, we got a late word the train went into emergency outside of Fort Montgomery, NY. Turns out B&M 105 had a bad wheel and was taken off the train. PC is sending a crew to repair the car and will have it picked up the next days train WV-1, over!
AP: Now you tell us? This car has perishables on it! Let's hope they send it down right away, over!
Selkirk Departure. West Harold, we just found out a short time ago. Sorry. Over! 
AP: Please notify us when it's headed our way, over!
Selkirk Departure: Will do. Selkirk Departure Out!
AP: 10-4. West Harold Out!

Now that the mystery is resolved, we see Extra WV-1 coming into Rock Ridge Yard.

The motive power on this train was quite impressive. PC SD35 #6039 followed by PC GP40 #3007, and PC GP40's #3715 & #3180 with the Orange 'C' ! Talk about power! 

The engines are cut and will head to the Richmond Hill Engine Terminal for servicing.

The AP crew takes over. AP #200 starts to break down the train. First cuts are made. 

The six reefers plus the EL and AP car are taken off the train and set off on the adjacent track. These eight cars will go directly over to C&P Restaurant Supply. 

The PC hoppers loaded with sand will be picked up with another crew once they bring over the empties. It's a short track at Richmond Hill, so they can only handle 2 cars at a time. 

AP #105 is called into action to get this reefer train on its way. There's a lot of freight getting moved in and out of the yard. Once assembled, Rock Ridge Tower Operators will send it out as RC-1 the Rock ridge to C&P turn. 

Meanwhile, AP#200 is moving the 86' box cars destined for Ideal Auto Parts. These empties will head over as soon as Ideal loads up the current cars on the siding. 

AP#200 has been busy. He found a caboose at the ready, attached it to the end of RC-1 and radioed the tower to get that train out of here! 

Meanwhile, the coal cars for R.M.O. Electric are getting ready to be put on a siding in the yard. the power plant needs to send over the empties in order to get the loads delivered.  

Hostess covered hopper is spotted on a siding and will head over to Cargill shortly. 

AP#200 has completed the moves and heads over to track 2, where engines are stored for further use. Normally AP#100 does most of the yard chores. However, they're going thru a routine inspection, ordered by 1/87th Sir John. When 1/87th Sir John sends down an order, they move on it!!

That's all for now. Next up will be the delivery of freight around Rock Ridge. 

Thanks for reading! 

Weekend Update - Running Trains on the NJ Layout

Greetings followers of the Atlantic Pacific Railroad and my blog. 

A call was put out to two of my trusty operators, NJ John and Norman the official APRR photographer, who know my railroad about as well as I do. The layout hasn't been run since I went away in January, and needed to be run for an upcoming virtual operating session. 

Both guys arrived and we proceeded to run some trains. NJ John came up with a great operating scenario for the Tropicana Juice train. In the past, the train was brought up from its origin (staging) and headed to the juice facility to be switched out. The train would sit on the industrial track while the switcher would build the train with empties. The engine would be cut from the train and moved ahead while the switcher would get the train ready. Then the outbound train would depart and the inbound train would be spotted in the industry. Not any more. Now a set of engines will head out from the engine terminal to Tropicana. The switcher will build the train and hand off the train to the engineer who will take it away to its next destination (staging). Once the train gets to staging, that person will have to move the existing juice train out in order for the inbound to be brought in. The other train will now head up to Tropicana, and the switcher will put the cars into the industry and the engines will head to the engine terminal to be serviced. This is more prototypical and gives the operator more to do. 

Next train that was in staging was a combination grain and corn syrup tank car train. Based on John's theory, I had Norman break up that train and make the grain cars its own train and the corn syrup tank cars its own train as well. Now I have 2 trains to serve one industry and we could do the same with engines being sent to retrieve the empties and clear out the industry to receive loads. 

Last train I moved was the loaded coal cars. They were sitting in the freight yard. Now they are in staging and for the next operating session or virtual operating session, they will be brought up for another crew to drill. 

All of this was done with 3 people. Time spent making these moves? I would say maybe 90 minutes. All of this involved 2 industries! The same can be done with most other industries on the railroad with the exception of the intermodal and auto rack trains. They are true dedicated trains and run as needed. These two trains do not run into the yard, so the engines on them will stay with each train.

After all this work we needed to have some fun. Norman had gone a little overboard and bought 4 Bachmann GG-1 engines, all with sound when Train World in NY have a huge sale. It really was a good deal and they still have some of them very cheap as of this writing. Here's what he bought...

These engines run very well, especially in consist... Now the only picture I have seen is the one in the 2019 Penn Central Calendar for March with 3 GG-1's lashed up. John said he has seen 4 on a weekend move back in the day when they ran to the NJ shore. 

We decided to consist them up and see how they run. You be the judge...

We had them running at half speed on the railroad (step 14 in DCC 28 step mode) going thru #8 switches with no issues whatsoever. It's a testament to the trains and, of course, to my track work which NJ John has stated many times, is bullet proof! 

Fun Day on a Sunday!

Thanks for reading!