P.C.C.M. 60 Part 3 - Delivering The Freight To Customers

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

Here's the third and final part of my movements. Two cars have come from Ralph's Kings Port & Western and two cars from John R. N.Y.C.T.L. 

I've done something a little different for this last set of moves. There are 2 videos covering both moves and then the last video with the final run. These videos have live commentary, an unsteady hand since I'm using the throttle with one hand and filming with the other. 

The first video - Two KP&W freight cars are going to American Hardware for now as they were originally destined for Three Amigos Warehouse. Sir 1/87th Neal has diverted the load for now due to a track issue by Three Amigos. They'll sit there until the crew can get it resolved. It can't stay in the yard as no one wanted it to sit in the yard loaded. The expense of unloading and loading it will be on the A.P.R.R. and not the KP&W.

Next up, a delivery of empty Auto Parts Cars from the Ford Plant in Empire City to Ideal Auto Parts. These two freight cars have been back and forth quicker than we could keep up with them!!

The last move is having the engine deliver the cars to Ideal Auto Parts and then head back light to Rock Ridge Yard.

That's a wrap on the A.P.R.R. Don't forget to check out the other P.C.CM. 60 moves on these blogs:

John R. and the N.Y.C.T.L. and Ralph's KP&W

Watch for more posts from Brian's Ralston Creek Railroad & John B's LF & NW Railroad

Thanks for reading!

P.C.C.M. 60 Part 2 - Freight Heading To Rock Ridge

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

We pick up with action with train RW-2 from Rock Ridge to Weehwaken now heading to Selkirk as VW-2 and Train VW-1 Selkirk to Weehawken now leaving Weehawken heading to Rock Ridge as Train WR-1

Train WR-1 has cleared West Harold Interlocking and will head directly to Rock Ridge Yard.

Most trains enter the yard thru the South end of the yard, clearing CP South and will head up the east ladder where the train will stop, engines cut, and the yard crew will take over. 

The engine heads out for some servicing to the Richmond Hill Engine Terminal. Sir 1/87th Sir John has initiated some new maintenance orders for all engines coming into Rock Ridge from other railroads.The servicing ensures that the A.P.R.R. will not be liable for additional repairs claimed by other railroads! An easy way for them to make money!

AP MP15 #105 is called into service to break down the train. 

The cars were blocked, thanks in part to the crew at the Selkirk Yard. This makes it a little easier to set off the cars for their eventual destinations in and around Rock Ridge.

Now that all of the inbound freight cars have been classified in the yard, the crew will wrap up and call it a day. 

Next up - freight from the N.Y.C.T.L. and the K.P. & W. will be delivered in and around Rock Ridge.

Make sure you check out the other P.C.C.M. #60 Train movements at:

N.Y.C.T.L. and the K.P. & W. Railroads

The LF & NW  and the Ralston Creek Railroad will be back with us for other P.C.C.M. adventures.

Thanks for following all of our blogs!

P.C.C.M. 60 Part 1 - Freight Cars On The Move!

Greetings follower of the Atlantic Pacific Railroad and the Penn Central Car Movements! 

This is a three layout move, kicked off by John R. and his superb N.Y.C.T.L.; followed by Ralph and his awesome K.P. & W.; followed by John B and his great LF & NW! 

We start out with AP MP15 #105 working the industrial lead by C&P Restuarant Supply. Leaving Rock Ridge with some inbounds, the crew will pick up the following cars as follows:

APRR 58279 to Terminal Whse from C&P Rest. Supply
EBRR 5726 to Terminal Whse from C&P Rest. Supply
EBRR 5728 to Terminal Whse from C&P Rest. Supply
EBRR 5730 to Terminal Whse from C&P Rest. Supply
EL 5034 to Empire Produce from C&P Rest. Supply

At the throttle for today's move is 1/87th Engineer Ralph and his brakeman. They'll run over to C&P with 5 box cars that were dropped off overnight at Rock Ridge. Train RC-1, the C&P turn is ready to go!

A quick stop to go over the move and have the Rock Ridge Tower Operator advise the tower at Little Jamaica as they'll be doing a run around on the main with inbounds. 

The cars are dropped on the secondary, they cut off and run around to approach the industry from the east. 

1/87th Engineer Ralph pulls the loads from C&P, then couples up to the inbounds. 

Inbounds are dropped and now the crew will head back to Rock Ridge. They'll set the cars in the yard as the train starts to be built. Destination for the cars will be Selkirk via Weehawken where the train will be sorted and sent to it's final destinations. 

 A quick check in at the Rock Ridge office. 1/87th NJ John is in charge of the yard. The office was once APRR #50 caboose which has outlived its usefulness. 1/87 Sir John suggested to repurpose it as an office. Saves the boss some money as all they need to do is add the furniture, some communication tools and a head! 

AP RS-1 #201 is next up with 1/87th ATJOE at the heading out to pick up cars as follows:

B&M 105 to Ralph's Grocery from Freihoefers

EB 503827 to Ford Motors on the NYCTL from Ideal Auto Parts

EB 608279 to Ford Motors on the NYCTL from Ideal Auto Parts

APRR 60382 to Ralph’s Grocery from Marcal

APRR 60394 to Ralph’s Grocery from Marcal

KP&W 644450 to Peerless Appliances on the KP&W from Three Amigos

KP&W 644455 to Peerless Appliances on the KP&W from Three Amigos 

The last stop on this run is Three Amigos Warehouse. 1/87 Norman is at the West Harold Tower and steps out to give 1/87th ATJOE his orders. Also a little tip to go easy at the warehouse as 1/87th TAW boss Steve K. is watching everything going on in the area. He's looking to find ways to short pay the railroad, leaving him more money for himself! 

And there he is!!

They get the clearance to drop the cars off on the west ladder. 

A quick break and the xrew is told there's two more moves to make before they get off the job. There's 4 covered hoppers that need to be picked up. They are: 

PC Cov. Hop. 884312 to EC Cargill from APRR Cargill

PC Cov. Hop. 885226 to EC Cargill from APRR Cargill

PC Cov. Hop. 885265 to EC Cargill from APRR Cargill

ACFX Hostess 56670 to Hostess in Empire City from APRR Cargill

Since they stopped in the yard for a break, 1/87th NJ John sent them out as RR-1. A quick move and they're back at the yard. 

USLX 13068 Tropicana was moved to Rock Ridge from Tropicana as they had a dedicated train arriving early, so they cleared the tracks. Here's where the car is headed:

USLX 13068 Tropicana to Ralph’s Grocery from Tropicana

The last car that needed to be added to this move was over at Morton Salt. Since this industry is located within the yard, AP RS-1 #200 Spirit Of Jay pulled the load, dropped it off on the east ladder and then had #201 pick it up and add it to the rear of the train. 

With the freight cars ready to go, motive power to Weehawken was needed, as well as a caboose!

APRR #2360 U28B & APRR #304 GP38-2 are called into service. 1/87th John B. is called in as they need to get this train out of here!

While the motive power is added, a caboose is grabbed to add to the train before heading out. 

1/87th NJ John is at the signal, giving last minute instructions to the crew. 

They've got the green and will head out as RW-2 Rock Ridge to Weehawken! 

Here's the departure:

Next up - Train RW-2 arrives at Weehawken with a crew change and more!

New Additions To The Railroad

Greetings followers of the Atlantic Pacific Railroad and my blog!

The A.P.R.R. Purchasing Department has been on an expansion mode. Many of you know that management acquired the trackage rights to another railroad in Florida. This line was owned by the banks and the A.P.R.R. was able to secure the rights to the line, with some help from their legal department (you can figure out the rest). 

While the equipment hasn't been assigned, as of this writing they will remain on the property in New Jersey. 

Four engines were acquired and sent up to the Dedham, MA paint shops for repainting. 

Two Atlas GP38-2 engines were repainted into CSX YN3b scheme. I had them numbered according to the fallen flags website. 

Next up were two engines for the APRR. First engine was an Atlas RS-1 that I had. I wanted this numbered so it can run in tandem with #200 - Spirit Of Jay. 

Next engine was another GP38-2. I had it numbered #304 as when I had shipped out other engines to paint, I wasn't looking at the next road number to use, so I wound up skipping this number. 

He did a great job on them, and they run well.

Since my railroad is freelanced, I wanted to have some cabooses in CSX. Now the last time they had cabooses goes back quite a long time and most were painted in Y 'G' paint scheme, which is more of a gray color with yellow ends. I have a couple of them that Athearn did on the bay window cabooses. A request was made to be painted in YN3 and I sent him two Athearn Wide Vision cabooses that I had in my stock of goodies and sent them north. Here's what came back...

Okay, so there not prototype, but for me they're just fine and fit in quite well with the rest of my CSX YN3 locos.

Now my friend enjoys painting engines and freight cars for me to the point that he includes a little 'something' for the railroad. He went overboard this time....!

This caboose looks great and it will remain on the NJ layout. 

A great big thanks goes to my friend in MA for the excellent work he continues to do for me. It's greatly appreciated and everyone who sees his work at one of my operating sessions always comments on how great they look!

Thanks for reading!

New Jersey Layout Update

Greetings followers of the Atlantic Pacific Railroad and my blog.

We're back in New Jersey for the next 3 seasons, and I'm looking forward to running the layout for the next 7-8 months!

A short test over the weekend showed everything was status quo since I last ran it in March. I had my two senior operators with me and we ran trains all over the place. No special op session, more like 'Let's see who can run what and have some fun!"

Now that I'm back home, I brought up some new rolling stock for the railroad. First piece that I picked off Evilbay was a LV Athearn BB HO 50' Modern Outside Braced Boxcar. I noticed that PC Ralph had one. More of my VO sessions are with Sir John and the N.Y.C.T.L., so this car added another piece of rolling stock which can be sent to the K.P.&W.

Next up were a pair of Conrail Transfer Cabooses, also referred to as a shoving caboose, due to the extended platform on each end. Another score off Evilbay. These were made by the Bluford Shops. The closest link I can find is from the Conrail Historical Society Archives. 

Conrail N9 Cabooses

Next up is another addition to the VO sessions, courtesy of the Patti-O Paint Shop and 1:1 Sir John. 
The AP and NYCTL send parts from Ideal Auto Parts & Electronics on the AP to the Ford Plant on the NYCTL. I picked up 3 50' DD box cars in January at the Springfield Train show. 1 was an Athearn BB and the other 2 were a Proto 1000 in kit form. The writer has learned that going forward, the Patti-O Paint Shop will no longer work on the Proto 1000 kits. Let's say the letter was STRONGLY worded and the AP Purchasing Department has made a note for the future. Three of the same cars were painted in the same number as I now have one for the NJ layout as well as the FL layout. 

The last piece of piece of rolling stock that came north was an Empire Belt (EB) caboose. This was a special request by me as Sir John had painted an engine in his EB colors. New Engine

This matches the one on the N.Y.C.T.L. and now we can do some thru trains without changing motive power and crew! 

I want to thank 1:1 Sir John and the Patti-O Paint Shop for their outstanding work on these models. Look for them soon on a future P.C.C.M. virtual op session!