Arrival Of New Freight Cars Painted By the N.Y.C.T.L. Paint Shop

Greetings followers of the Atlantic Pacific Railroad and my blog!

The APRR Management once again reached out to the N.Y.C.T.L. Management for a request to have some freight cars painted by the Patti-O Paint Shop team. The paint team has been contracted in the past to do work for the APRR. Some of the notables are below:

Going thru my drawers of freight cars, I went looking to see what I had that I could have painted into both AP & EB as well as PC colors to enhance the fleet as well add to our virtual operating sessions. 

I sent 1:1 Sir John a number of freight cars to paint and as always, Sir John and the Patti-O Paint shop delivered!

Here is the start of the project on Sir John's N.Y.C.T.L. blog, which documents the start of the project, a display of the cars on the N.Y.C.T.L. and the departure to the APRR and Rock Ridge Yard. 

The train is headed to Rock Ridge Freight Yard. The APRR official photographer 1/87th Norman is out at West Harold Tower to document the arrival of the new freight cars. This is a big deal as the APRR has added some 40' box cars to the fleet. Some of the customers on both the APRR and NYCTL can't handle the 50' cars, so the APRR picked up some 40' cars on surplus and sent them to the Patti-O paint shop.

Here we see the new cars, pulled by PC 3007 on a direct run from Terminal Yard, thru Selkirk with the final destination Rock Ridge Yard.

As the train heads towards Rock Ridge, 1/87th Norman heads back to so he can capture the arrival of the train and to get the reaction of the last car of the train. 

A closer look at the cars on the Rock Ridge Secondary

APRR car 4035 is being used in pool service between the N.Y.C.T.L.Terminal Yard and the APRR Rock Ridge Yard. When empty, it is returned to Terminal Yard

AP 4182 is another car used by both railroads in pool service and when empty returns to Rock Ridge Yard. These special decals were created by our dear departed friend, the late Engineer Ed. 

A little nostalgia was added to the 40' paint scheme as I thought it would add a little retro to the box cars. This car, in my opinion not only stands out but has that 'classic' 40' freight car look!

Another 40' freight car the shop rolled out in the current Empire Belt paint scheme. 

There were a number of Proto 50' newsprint cars that I asked to be painted in PC paint scheme. As always they came out great!

This last car was another 50' newsprint car and was used on the APRR with a FRED or EOT device on the end of the train. The story behind this device, courtesy of wikipedia:

The end of train device (ETD), sometimes referred to as an EOT, flashing rear-end device (FRED) or sense and braking unit (SBU) is an electronic device mounted on the end of freight trains in lieu of a caboose. They are divided into three categories: "dumb" units, which only provide a visible indication of the rear of the train with a flashing red taillight; "average intelligence" units with a brake pipe pressure gauge; and "smart" units, which send back data to the crew in the locomotive via radio-based telemetry.They originated in North America, and are also used elsewhere in the world, where they may include complete End of Train Air System (ETAS) or Sense and Brake Unit (SBU) devices.
The first ETD use is attributed to Florida East Coast Railway in 1969, soon after which other Class I railroads began using ETD's as well. By the mid-1980s they were common equipment.[1] Early models were little more than a brake line connection / termination, a battery and flashing tail light. As their use became more widespread through the 1980s, ETD's were equipped with radio telemetry transmitters to send brake pressure data to a receiver in the locomotive. To reduce the cost of battery replacements, ambient light sensors were added so the flashing light on the ETD would illuminate only during dusk and after dark. Later models have a small turbine-powered electrical generator using air pressure from the brake line to power the ETD's radio and sensors.

Here's a shot of the EOT device from the train on the Rock Ridge Secondary. 

The APRR management team, along with it's senior crew get together to determine what they want to do with this device. 

The team includes 1/87th NJ John, 1/87th Norman, as well as representatives from the 1/87th Brotherhood of Trainman and a representative from the N.Y.C.T.L. We think the N.Y.C.T.L. person may be Wet Willie in disguise standing furthest away from the train. 

They watch with intensity as this device 'blinks' constantly. 

After some time together, then filing a report to 1/87th Sir John and 1/87th Sir Neal, a decision was made to have the device removed from the car and sent back to wherever it came from (probably Canada based on the prior owner of the car). The team quickly has the train moved to a track far from the viewing public as well as the rest of the APRR crew and have the device taken off. 

These newly painted cars will go into revenue service in upcoming P.C.C.M. car movements.

A special thanks goes out to 1:1 Sir John for his time, patience and expertise in painting these freight cars for use on both railroads. THANK YOU AGAIN SIR JOHN!!