End Of The Month Operating Session

Greetings followers of the Atlantic Pacific Railroad and my blog!

Last night ( Wednesday 8/28/19) I hosted our end of the month operating session. Since it was a holiday weekend, and the true end of the month was last week, we switched the session to the last Wednesday night of the month. I've hosted quite a few Wednesday night sessions and they do work out well and everyone has a good time. 

My last blog post showed the new addition to the dispatch area and the panel indicator lights for the Morris Plains Interlocking. All that was left to do was to wire in a second set of switch controls for both crossover tracks to the dispatch panel. That was completed earlier in the day. Now I have complete control of the lower level going up and down the helix.

Last night's session had 4 other guys show up. John, my right hand guy who knows my railroad as well as I do, Rich T. my lead yardmaster, and 3 other guys. Two of them have operated on the railroad and one was a guest who came along. It's nice when people ask if they can bring someone over. 

I gave his friend the tour, showing him all of the industries, panels and staging along with the freight yard. Once he got over the initial shock and overload, we started our session. 

I had Rich make up a local train for Jim and Kai (new guy) to take out once they brought up a mixed freight from staging. The local consisted of freight cars for Ideal Auto Parts, Marcal, Freihofers and Mike's Lumber. 

A total of 12 freight cars were picked up and 13 freight cars were dropped off. Below are the end results. 

Meanwhile, John was busy with 2 trains during the session. First train was the auto racks, and once he switched them out, he went at it with the intermodal train. Since both are dedicated trains and share the same secondary tracks, only one of these trains can be drilled at one time.

John was getting ready to bring his train on to the secondary tracks on the south side of West Harold Interlocking. 

The last industry to be drilled was the Cargill Grain facility. 9 cars were taken out and 12 were dropped. This move was handled by Mark, one of the other operators who has run the railroad. He lives a few blocks away and is building a very large layout in his basement centered around the mining and more in Morris County, NJ during the 1910 period, and has a narrow gauge railroad as well. It's coming along very well and I will be there Friday night to help him with some control panel planning. 

Here's Cargill switched out with the new inbound. 

Rich did some moves in the freight yard and has it ready for me to restage the yard or just continue to make more moves. Whatever I decide, it will always be fun!

We ran the session for close to 2 hours and then did a recap out in the lounge (dining room area) with some non-alcoholic drinks, cookies and fruit. Final wrap up was 10:30PM. The new guy had a nice time and I told him that he's welcome to come to another session when I host. 

Thanks for reading!

Enhancing The Railroad For Operating Sessions

Greetings follower of the Atlantic Pacific Railroad and my blog!

As many of my followers know, I host a number of operating sessions throughout the year. The last session I hosted, a scenario came up where we had some trains being held up on the lower level. This was due to an operator bringing a train up the helix at a very slow speed. Prototypical is an understatement. The train and the crew behind him were getting a little impatient, to say the least. The conductor knew the operator of the train ahead of him, and asked dispatch to be routed around the slow mover. 

On the lower level where the Morris Plains train station is located are 2 pair of single crossovers. This was installed not only for trains coming down the helix if we needed to stage a train on the north staging tracks, but for bypassing a train on the other helix track heading up top.

Back to the issue during the session. Since the crossovers were there, this was the time to cross the second train to the other track and send him up top, left hand running as this track is usually used for bring trains down to staging.

After the session was over, I had a conversation with one of the guys who has helped me design and run the railroad, John from NJ. We discussed how to keep the railroad moving during scenarios like this. It was decided that since signals could not be used on the lower level for operators to see, I opted to put panel indicator lights on the fascia just above Morris Plains. The operators can see the three color indicator lights telling them how they can proceed both up and down the helix. As long as they pay attention, trains should move well (not everyone pays attention). 

Here's the diagram for the fascia panel indicator lights. 

Next step was to drill the holes for the LED's. Since there are three indications, we needed 12 LED's for this area.

Now comes the fun part. I'm using 3mm 12V DC LED's for this project. In addition, another set of these is needed which will be used by the dispatch area. The dispatcher will control the movement of trains coming up or going down the helix tracks. 

Next step is to install the LED's on the fascia. These LED's are held in place with plastic LED holders. I used 26 GA stranded wire soldered to the LED's. Each one tested when soldered then tested again after the shrink tubing was added. 

Next comes the fun part - wiring these to terminal strips and then over to the dispatch area. Can anyone say this is fun? Believe it or not, I did enjoy this part. In order to have this work properly I used 8 of the 8 double row terminal strips; 4 for this area and 4 by the panel. The LED's were wired into the terminal strips. From the terminal strips I ran 4 sets of 22GA 4 conductor phone wire. Each run was a good 30 feet plus. In the photo below you can see in the background that my wires are labeled if I have an issue, it's easy to trace. 

Next step is to drill the holes in the dispatch panel and add the LED's. In addition, I added 4 rotary switches which control the signal aspects in both locations. These are 2 pole, 3 position rotary switches. I buy most of these parts from Allectronics.com in California. LED's come from LED-Switch.com. One other addition to the dispatch panel will be a duplicate set of push button switches to control the crossovers during an operating session, if the operator over by Morris Plains can't do it. These will be wired in down the road. 

Below is the how the dispatchers panel looks lit up. 

As you can see below, this panel indicator lights by Morris Plains mirror the dispatchers panel. 

If time allows, I may be able to wire in the additional 2 sets of pushbuttons in time for the next end of the month operating session, which is a night session on August 28th. It was changed to a Wednesday night for this month due to the fact that a couple of key people would not be around, it's Labor Day weekend, and, the diner is still closed for their annual vacation! I've done two Wednesday night sessions, and they are well attended and a great operating session. 

So what's the next upgrade to the railroad after wiring in the switch machines? I'll give you a hint. It has to do with operations and making the movement of trains move better. Another hint? Signals? What, more signals? 

Stay tuned......!!

P.C.C.M. #63 Part 5 - Delivering The Freight To The Consignees

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

We're going to wrap up my part of P.C.C.M. #63 as the freight is ready to be delivered!

First train dispatched today - AP RS-1 #201 will pick up the covered hoppers from Pier 16 on the N.Y.C.T.L. and drop them off at the Cargill facility outside of Rock Ridge Yard. While not on the Rock Ridge property, the tracks are under the control of both yardmaster and tower operator in Rock Ridge.

 Running back to the yard light, he waits for the signal and...

The signal is green and AP RS-1 #201 heads back light, his job is done...

Look who it is! AP GE 44 tonner #900 snuck into the yard from the north end to pick up the 6 loaded coal cars. Don't let his size fool you. This little guy has the power to push and pull those 6 cars and more, with the greatest of ease...

The coal job, RR-2, heads out the south end of Rock Ridge Yard. A quick cross over at CP South and they'll do the rock n' roll over to R.M.O Electric

Now comes the fun part. These tracks are tight, can only hold 2-3 coal cars depending on size and tonnage. 

The 44 tonner engine makes this work look like a piece of cake, or should I say a piece of coal! 

And...we're done!

Last job of the day is the local delivery of freight. There's an EB box car from the N.Y.C.T.L. that will be delivered to Mike's Lumber. A pair of KP&W box cars from Peerless Appliance will head over to Three Amigos Warehouse. Another pair of KP&W box cars from Woodstock Natural Soda will be delivered to C&P Restaurant Supply. Woodstock Natural Soda is a new supplier to C&P. They got rid of the company that was supplying soda to them when they tried to deliver Pepsi products to them instead of Coca Cola products. The fine people in and around Rock Ridge hate Pepsi Products. They'll try anything else new to have with their meals besides Coke products. Anything but Pepsi!!

LV freight car #8247 from Quality Fabrications along with another freight car that was dropped off in Selkirk will head over to Freihofers with baking trays in the LV car and cleaning chemicals on the other car.

Last part of the train is AP caboose #57. They'll pull out PC 5023 first, then take the AP caboose and shove back the old green eyes on to track 1. Once attached to the rest of the train, AP designation RL-3 will head out to deliver the freight!

Once he gets the clear signal from the Little Jamaica tower operator, they'll head out past the yard limits and on to the AP mainline tracks to start the delivery process...

AP Train RL-3 is moving! Check out the video!

A roll by Little Jamaica Tower...

They'll cut some of the cars on the main and then start the delivery process..

First cut is for Freihofers Bakeries...

Next cut is for Mike's Lumber. Seems the yard guys weren't paying attention as the EC box car needs to be shoved. 

No worries, as AP #105 will run around the train and shove the rest of the cars into Mike's Lumber, C&P Restaurant Supply and the final destination, Three Amigos Warehouse. 

Now on the rear of the train, the move will begin...

KP&W 644450 & 644455 are spotted on C&P Restaurant Supply track 1.

The drop is made, and they'll head back on to the main, and do a quick maneuver through the Little Jamaica Interlocking, cross 2 mainline tracks, then get handed off to the West Harold Tower operator. Three Amigos Warehouse tracks are under the control of West Harold, along with the two adjacent tracks for the tank cars. 

A quick stop to check in with the tower operator on duty, and they'll be given permission to head over to the warehouse tracks...

The cars are dropped off on TAW Track 2. Looks like they're getting a new neighbor as another building is being constructed. Wonder who will be the tennant?

Local train RL-3 is finished for the day. A quick chat with AP Supervisor 1/87th NJ John, and they'll head back home...

It's a wrap on the A.P.R.R. and P.C.C.M. #63! 

Make sure you follow the rest of the action on both layouts 

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

AND

PC Ralph's Kings Port & Western

The Penn Central looked good back in the day, but these railroads make them look better!