New Engine Additions To The Railroad

Greetings followers of the Atlantic Pacific Railroad and my blog!

I had three engines that were in original paint schemes that I bought many years ago and wanted them in paint schemes that I currently model. 

All three engines were painted by my friend Ted in Dedham, MA. He's done all of the AP engines and some CSX engines. 

The first two were a pair of Athearn Blue Box GP40 engines. I gave him the road numbers as well as the images of the Conrail engines I wanted.

Here's Conrail GP40 3269

And here's Conrail GP40 3214

In order for these engines to run on DCC as well as to run together in consist, they were given to NJ John, who hard wired the decoders into these engines. When Athearn made their 'Blue Box' line of engines, there was never anything that resembled DCC back then. He's great at installing decoders, especially for engines that need a little more work than most.

A little video on how they run for a few minutes...

They look great, and run well together, although they are loud and sound like they're grinding thru rocks. I'll let them run laps around the railroad to get them broken in. 

Next engine that came back from Ted was a Walthers Trainline Dash 8-40B. This engine I had him paint in my Atlantic Pacific Railroad Paint Scheme. I assigned it #2370. A DCC decoder was added by NJ John. This engine is quite heavy and when I put it in the track, ran very well out of the box. 

I decided to put this engine with AP U28B #2360 and consist them up. Here's a short video of how they run together.

They ran well together, although it looked like the U28B had a quicker start up. Once running at a reasonable speed, they ran fine together. I'll work to get them speed matched shortly. 

Thanks again to Ted and to NJ John for their work on the engines. The engines had been with John for a while. We were talking the other night and John said the next time he goes out to run an errand, he would swing by and drop them off. Well, the engines arrived here today as John backed up on to the driveway, opened up the back of his minivan, and I removed the engines as well as gave him a few others that needed a tune-up as well as a decoder replacement on one of the engines. Thank you again John!!

P.C.C.M. #73 Part 2 On The A.P.P.R. - Outbound!

Welcome back to P.C.C.M. #73 on the Atlantic Pacific Railroad!

P.C.C.M. #73 - a three railroad layout adventure taking you back in time to that great era we like to refer to as the Penn Central Era. Participating will be Sir John and his N.Y.C.T.L. and PC Ralph and his Kings Port Division. 

We're going to start today with building the train that will head out to Weehawken and then off to Selkirk where the train will be classified to their final destinations. 


AP GP38-2 #302 will be handling part of the assembly of the train heading to Weehawken. 

Within Rock Ridge Yard are two ladders. AP #302, with Engineer 1/87th NJ John at the throttle works his way thru the West Ladder. All of the outbound freight are located on 4 arrival / departure tracks labeled A thru D. 

First pull are the reefers from track 'B'. 

As you can see, there's a car that will need to be set off and blocked for the cars headed to the KP&W. PC 360063 is sandwiched between cars headed to the N.Y.C.T.L. 1/87th NJ John knows what to do and will set it on another track until needed.

Meanwhile EB Engine #8163 with 1/87th Norman at the throttle is stationed on the north end of the yard. Why is he there? Wait and see...

Back on the West Ladder, AP #302 is dropping cars which will be taken to the outbound track by CP South. There are 24 cars scheduled to go out, and efficiency is the name of the game! Moving them off the ladders to the outbound tracks make trains move around very quickly...

The reefers are pulled and are dropped on the west ladder track..

Next move is to drop off some gondola cars...

Box car pull..

KP&W block is ready!

The 4 cars for the KP&W are dropped off on the outbound track as they will be on the rear of the train...

AP  #302 will start to add more cars to the train...

The next pull are gondola cars and covered hoppers..

On Arrival / Departure Track 'C' were the 4 covered hoppers from the Richmond Hill Engine Terminal. They're going back to T&R Gravel on the N.Y.C.T.L. for more sand to replenish the sand storage in the engine terminal...

A few more cars are picked up..

A quick crossover to add these cars to the train...

We need a caboose! PC Wide Vision Caboose #26403 is at the ready on West Ladder track 1.

A quick run around and he'll shove the caboose on to the end of the train..

The train needs to be pulled up further to clear the crossover. Once they clear, he'll add the caboose..

Over at the Richmond Hill Engine Terminal, a pair of GP 60 engines #600/601 will head over to Rock Ridge Yard and hold at the yard limits until they get the call to pick up the train. 

AP #600/601 are in place. AP #302 needs to cut off and let the pair of Geeps take over..

Here we see the motive power swap out at the Rock Ridge Yard Limit. This move is made at CP East, a crossover to give a train access to either side of the yard. 

Now in place, the last part of the train, a Penn Central Caboose, is added to the rear. At Weehawken, they'll have an engine and crew change. The caboose is Selkirk based, so it's going home...

Ready to head out, AP Train RW-1 heads out to Weehawken..

AP Train RW-1 rolling thru West Harold Interlocking..!

AP Train RW-1 passing by the Holmes Tower just outside Weehawken. "Track 1" is heard on the radio and they slowly proceed into the yard.

Weehawken is very busy. Next to AP Train RW-1 is a Penn Central Train that will head over to the Meadows, NJ yard, drop off some additional freight for PC Train NE-1 with a final destination of Potomac Yard, VA

There needs to be an engine and crew change. A pair of PC GP38 engines will get swapped out and then PC Train VW-2 will head out to Selkirk...

PC 7783 and 7757 are on the move in this power swap..

The engines are moved and now they'll head out. 

Next stop, Selkirk!!

Thanks for reading P.C.C.M. #73 Part 2. Check back next weekend as the A.P.R.R. gets their inbound train from Selkirk.

Don't forget to Sir John and his N.Y.C.T.L. and PC Ralph and his Kings Port Division and follow all of the action!!

P.C.C.M. #73 Part 1 On The A.P.R.R.

Greetings followers of the Atlantic Pacific Railroad and welcome back to another Penn Central Car Movement (P.C.C.M.)! We're going to kick off P.C.C.M. #73 - a three railroad layout adventure taking you back in time to that great era we like to refer to as the Penn Central Era. Participating will be Sir John and his exquisite N.Y.C.T.L. and PC Ralph and his superb Kings Port Division. Both railroads feature the Penn Central as well as their own private railroads.

Today's assignment will be to pick up the outbound freight that will be headed to both railroads. We're going to have 4 engineers getting the freight ready, as there's quite a number of cars heading out. Here's the assignment of the day...

Empire Belt #8163, on a long term lease to the APRR will be handling some of the freight cars that need to be brought back to Rock Ridge. 1/87th NJ John is at the throttle and riding shotgun with him is brakeman 1/87th Norman, also the official APRR photographer. They'll work the job as RP-2..

First stop will be over at C&P Restaurant Supply. There are 3 APRR 57' Mechanical Reefers and 3 EB 57' Mechanical Reefers that will head over to Pilgrim State Hospital on Long Island. The Empire Belt Railroad will hand them off to the LIRR for delivery. Watch for these cars when they arrive on the Sir John's N.Y.C.T.L

Watch as we see EB #8163 pull the 6 reefers from C&P Restaurant Supply

Next pull out of C&P Restaurant Supply is AP 58279 with restaurant supplies to Ralph's Grocery Warehouse on the N.Y.C.T.L. and PC 360063 will head out with restaurant supplies to Cavendish Foods, located on PC Ralph's Kings Port & Western. 

Next stop on the West Harold / Little Jamaica Secondary is Mike's Lumber. Two car loads of plawood will head over to Neal's Lumber in Empire City on the N.Y.C.T.L.

A quick stop at CP Tower to speak to 1/87th Rich, who tells NJ John that he'll run south thru the yard and then shove the train on Arrival Track 'B'.

EB #8163 heading on to the West Ladder in Rock Ridge Freight Yard... 

EB #8163 starts the shove on to Arrival Track 'B'.

Watch as we see EB #8163 shove the 10 car train on to Arrival Track 'B'

Next up, a pair of KP&W empty coal hopper cars that need to head back to the KP&W to be sent out on the LV connection. 1/87th JP, an experienced railroad engineer will run the empty coal hoppers over to Rock Ridge Yard as Train RM-3. It's a short run, and once he drops the cars, he'll put 2 loaded coal hoppers on the unloading track. 

Here we see AP #900 head back to the power plant..

One last move on the property is to spot the two coal hopper cars. 

Meanwhile, back at the yard on the south end, RS-1 AP #200 'Spirit Of Jay', will pick up KP&W box car #15638 from American Hardware as AP Train RR-5. This car will head to Amalgamated Container with a car load of rivets and fasteners. 

The APRR crew has strict orders that all outbound freight should be blocked for the appropriate railroad destinations where possible. AP #200 adds the box car to the pair of hopper cars. When the cars head out, PC 360063 will be added to this block of cars..

AP #200 is back on the south end of the yard, ready for their next assignment...

AP Train RS-4 with a GP 38-2 AP #300 is dispatched to pick up a trio of empty gondola cars at Shapeless Steel. They'll head out to Gervais Pipe in Empire City for more pipes or slabs, which can be used by various factories in and around Rock Ridge...

A quick stop at CP South Tower Engineer 1/87th Steve and brakeman 1/87th Bill get instructions from 1/87th Rich. 

Now that the cars are picked up, they head out back to Rock Ridge Yard...

AP #300 shoving the empty gondolas on to Arrival Track 'C' 

Out of the way for now, AP #300 holds on West Ladder Track #1 for a short time...

Heading back out for one more run, EB #8163 heads over to Cargill to pick up 4 covered hoppers. Radio call out is AP Train RC-1.

Here we see EB #8163 pick up the 4 covered hoppers. All 4 will head over to Empire City. Three AP covered hoppers are destined Empire City Cargill. The fourth car, ACFX Hostess will head over to the Hostess plant in Empire City. Let's see - Twinkees, Cup Cakes, can we say....dessert??

A quick stop at CP South to get track assignment and they'll shove the cars on to Arrival Track 'A'. 

Before heading home for the day, AP caboose #58 needs to be put away. It was on end of AP #300, and the crew wasn't in position to drop it so EB #8163 will grab it and drop it off on West ladder track #1. 

We'll cut it here for today. Check back tomorrow as the crew will start to build the train that will head out from Rock Ridge to Weehawken and beyond. 

Remember to check out Sir John and his exquisite N.Y.C.T.L. and PC Ralph and his superb Kings Port Division for their outbound portion of P.C.C.M. #73!