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!