P.C.C.M. #78 Part 2 - The Grain Cars Are Back At Cargill

Welcome back to a very special Penn Central Car Movement - The Grain Train Special!

Yesterday we sent a train load of grain from the AP Cargill facility to Pier 16 Grain Silos for export via Selkirk and handed off the train to the crew of the N.Y.C.T.L.

Also, the K.P. & W. was sending a grain train to Pier 16 as the next freighter was getting ready to depart once the grain trains were off loaded and the ship departed the port...

Today, we see the train comes back to Rock Ridge and Cargill as Extra PC 7675 and Both 1/87th scale NJ John and Norman are seen bringing their train back home. We also see PC Extra 8148 from Cargill heading out with grain for the Nabisco plant in Philadelphia, PA via Jersey City, Morrisville, PA and then on to Nabisco. I hear there's a shortage of Nabisco Saltine Crackers - Unsalted Tops and they're in dire need to have them made **

PC Extra 7675 finally at Rock Ridge Freight Yard

The train arrives in Rock Ridge and both 1/87th scale NJ John and Norman discuss the great train ride they had this weekend. Now the engines are handed off to the Richmond Hill Engine Terminal crew and they'll take the engines to the terminal, servicing and parked on a siding until needed...

The crew waits for clearance from the Rock Ridge Tower Operator 1/87th scale Rich..

The signal is given, and Extra 7675 heads out light to the engine terminal..

Now it's time to return these cars. AP #105 with 1/87th scale Engineer Dan will move the cars back to Cargill...

Let's watch AP #105 as he heads out to Cargill

At Cargill, the cars are getting spotted back for loading and storage until the next call for more grain...

The cars delivered, AP #105 is back in the yard....

That concludes P.C.C.M. #78 on the A.P.R.R.

This was a quick and fun op session. I'm sure there will be more like this one.

Don't forget to check out the action on Sir John's N.Y.C.T.L. and PC Ralph's K.P. & W.

Thanks for reading!

** A special note - Right now, there's a shortage of Unsalted Top Saltine Crackers. ShopRite, Acme, Stop N Shop, as well as other supermarkets are out of them. You can get the ones that have salted tops or grain crackers, but not the ones with Unsalted Tops. Maybe one of my blog followers who are in the know will reach out to the manufacturers about this shortage. Go figure....!!

P.C.C.M. #78 Part 1 - A Call For Grain!!

Welcome to Penn Central Car Movement #78, A Call For Grain!!

There was a call from the N.Y.C.T.L.that Pier 16 Grain Silos were ready for their next grain delivery sooner than later, so the A.P.R.R., as well as the K.P. & W. needed those grain cars sent out immediately!!

The crew at Rock Ridge jumps into action. AP yard engine #105 fires up and gets ready to head over to Cargill. 10 cars are will be heading out to Terminal Yard via Selkirk for final delivery to the Pier 16 Grain Silos.

At the throttle is 1/87th scale Dan. along with 1/87th scale conductor Stuart who will run over to Cargill. No caboose is needed as their still in the yard limits of Rock Ridge...

A quick stop at CP South with some final orders...

A short time later, they arrive over at Cargill. 

The pull from Cargill begins...

Let's watch the crew get these loads from Cargill...

Meanwhile, a crew is getting ready to pick up a pair of Penn Central engines to take the train up to Selkirk and hand it off to another crew. The crew will remain in Selkirk overnight as this train is doing a quick turnaround. So who gets to stay in luxurious accommodations in Selkirk, NY, courtesy of the management of the Penn Central? Why none other than A.P.R.R.'s finest and most experienced engineers, 1/87th scale NJ John, and 1/87th scale Norman. Norman, who does double duty as the official A.P.R.R. photographer, had never been to Selkirk, and he jumped at the opportunity to do the overnight run...

The guys will be using leased PC 3175 and 7675 for the run. 

They'll need a caboose with plenty of room, so PC 26403 will be used..

EB 8163, which works the area by Richmond Hill Engine Terminal pulls the caboose for the guys...

A short time later, PC 3175 & 7675 arrive at the Rock Ridge Yard Limit. They're being held there as the AP yard crew will give them the cars to head out...

1/87th scale Dan pulls the caboose off the rear engine so he can bring over the outbound and attach it to the engines...

The caboose is added t to the train and will head out as PC Extra 3175..

1/87th scale Engineer NJ John is waiting for the signal to come up...

And he gets the signal for him to exit the Rock Ridge Yard Limits...

Next contact is with the 1/87th scale Tower Operator Bob at Little Jamaica. Her we see the train run thru Little Jamaica. Time is of the essence!

Next we see the train highball it thru West Harold as 1/87th scale Tower Operator Steve watch the train roll by...

Next stop - Selkirk!!

Thanks for reading the outbound portion of P.C.C.M. #78 on my railroad.

You can catch the out from Ralph's K.P. & W.  as well as the inbound portion on Sir John's N.Y.C.T.L. 

Check back Sunday for the inbound return of these grain cars!

Thanks for reading!

A Small Addition To The Railroad Operations

Greetings followers of the Atlantic Pacific Railroad and my blog!

For those of you who follow my adventure, I've made mention on how the railroad is evolving to run better during both virtual op sessions and live sessions.

One recent addition was to add a number of tracks to the east side of South Staging.

http://atlanticpacificrailroad.blogspot.com/2020/03/track-work-on-aprr.html

These tracks are used to put freight cars that are not part of my virtual op sessions, or as we refer to them as P.C.C.M. (Penn Central Car Movements), or when I have operating sessions I put the older type cars down there for storage. 

Over the past few months I've had some in-person op sessions with 2-3 guys, with safety precautions in place. When I added the engine terminal to the live op sessions, cabooses were on a single track in the yard, and engines came from the terminal. It was suggested to move the cabooses to tracks somewhere near the engine terminal. The closest place at that time was to use some of the tracks that were added in south staging. It works well, despite that I run modern trains for the most part. 

It was brought up by the guys that when working the live sessions, there can be a wait to grab a caboose since there can be trains leaving the staging yards or heading to them. While talking to Sir John of Georgia, one of my virtual op friends whom I've known for many years, told me that he has a caboose track in his engine terminal. A dedicated track. So I started to look at my engine terminal to see if this is at all possible. I came up with 2 possible locations. 

This past Wednesday night after the session was over, I ran it by the guys. First location was within the engine terminal where I currently store engines. Access to this track would require using the tail track. It can be done. However, if I have 2 engines on the consist, the tail track is not long enough to hold both engines and the caboose, so that location is out....

The next location seems to be the best location. Why not add a track alongside the track that leads to the tail track. I placed a turnout over the track to see if it would work. plus an additional turnout for two tracks so one could be a repair shop...

While the idea would work, adding a two story back shop would not work, as I would lose visibility to the entrance to south staging as well as the outbound of north staging. That is not an option, so I scaled it back to one track. I'll add some small offices and low buildings to show maintenance sheds to work on the cabooses...

So, during the late hours of the night, I started to add the turnout...

A small office at the turnout. I've had it for a while, so it may stay right there...

As you can see, some of the APRR cabooses are already at home. 

Last night I spoke to one of the guys who asked me how this works if you have an engine picking up a caboose short hood forward, then head out. How do you run up top, he asked. I gave him some options. One option is to run your engine to the turntable, turn your engine, then pick up the caboose and head out. Now you have to run the entire lower level to go up with the caboose behind the engine. The other option, is to drop the caboose by Morris Plains and do a quick run around and then head up left hand running with the caboose behind the engine. There's a set of crossovers at Morris Plains, and since the interlocking is protected with signals, it can be done. I don't think real railroads would run great distances with the caboose on the head end. Industrial moves on sidings or run around on a main line track for a short distance would not an issue. 

I've put out an RFP (Request For Proposal) to come up with a plan to electrify the turnout for the future. It's within arms reach (even for us height challenged guys, like me), so once I decide on the location for the turnout control, I'll add it!

Until next time...

End Of Train Devices

Greetings followers of the Atlantic Pacific Railroad and my blog!

Operations on the railroad continue to evolve. There’s a lot of action happening, on the virtual operations side as well as the live operations that I host with some of the guys.

When I participate in my virtual op sessions, or as we call them P.C.C.M. (Penn Central Car Movements), every train has a caboose on the end. Same thing for my live op sessions. 

At one point I had added to some freight cars an end of train device (EOT) that lights up. Ring Engineering makes them. It’s pretty cool to watch them flash on the end of the train. 

Here’s some information on these EOT devices, courtesy of Trains magazine, who did an article about them…

https://trn.trains.com/railroads/abcs-of-railroading/2006/05/end-of-train-devices

If I use this item, it would have to be on a dedicated train, which for the most part means I would need to leave the last car on the train at all times. That car could not be dropped off at a terminal or yard, unless the entire train was left there. I did have one on a freight car, but took it off as I had to get the 5F crane out to remove the car from the railroad.

I was browsing one of the magazines online and saw an ad for a company called MACRail Products  https://macrailproducts.com/products. They make a line of HO accessories for trains, including End Of Train (EOT) devices. They make them for both type of Kadee coupler heads. A pack of 3 is $20 and I ordered a pack in Yellow with Red indication. 

I added them to a couple trains. They look good and serve the purpose. 

One of the guys saw it on a photo and asked the question “What do you do with it when you take it off a train to switch it out? Where do you put it?” Great question. The easy answer is to put it on the layout where you are working, then add it to the train when you’re ready to head out. Looking on their site, the question that was asked had an answer – an EOT storage rack. 

I will order one of these as well as another set of EOT devices. These will work just fine during my live sessions. Not to worry, a caboose will work all locals and any other train I see fit including all of my virtual op sessions.

Thanks for reading!