P.C.C.M. #83 Part 5 On The A.P.R.R. - Freight Is Delivered!

Welcome back to the final part of the inbound portion of Penn Central Car Movement #83 on the Atlantic Pacific Railroad. Freight from Sir John's N.Y.C.T.L. and PC Ralph's K.P.D. railroads have been blocked and the outbound trains are ready to head out this morning.

Let's take a look at what will head out of Rock Ridge Yard today. 

AP Train RR-1 with MP15 #105 will drop 6 covered hoppers from Pier 16 Silos that originated from Terminal Yard will be spotted at Cargill. The Tropicana RBL car from Ralph's Grocery will head over to... Tropicana! 1:87 Scale Engineer Matt has the honors today...

Let's watch AP train RR-1 head out on to the Rock Ridge Secondary. First stop - Cargill!

Matt has arrived at Cargill. The six covered hoppers will get dropped on Cargill hopper track 2...

Let's watch the cars being dropped at Cargill..

Next stop is Tropicana with that empty RBL car....

Back at the yard, AP Train RS-3 with GP38-2 on track 11 will drop off 4 gondolas with steel loads. Three gondolas have pipe from Gervais Pipe In Empire City, and one gondola has steel coils from KP steel on the Kings Port Division. 1:87 Scale Engineer Dan is on board. M&E Extra #19 with a crew from the M&E as well as 1:87 Scale Engineer Steve will make sure the crew gets qualified...

AP train RS-3 stops at South Tower to pick up train orders from 1:87 scale tower operator Rich..

M&E Extra #19 picks up his orders from Rich as well....

The trains are ready to depart Rock Ridge Yard. 

Let's watch both trains depart Rock Ridge...

First stop for AP Train RS-3 is at Cargill. NYC 892010 from Red Wing Milling and the Orange HRC box car need to be spotted at Freihofer Bakeries. Before that happens, they need to pull 3 non-PCCM cars out and drop the two inbound...

Three cars out...

...Two cars in!

Next stop is Shapeless Steel. Since the gondolas are on the rear of the train, Dan has to run around the train and drop off the 4 gondolas. No cars are being taken out at this time..

Now on the rear of the train, Dan can drop the 4 with ease...

The cars are dropped and Dan heads back long hood forward with the caboose behind the engine. 

A quick stop to check in with 1:87 Tower Operator Rich to get clearance to proceed back on the main and to Rock Ridge Yard...

AP Train RS-3 heads back to Rock Ridge Yard...

AP Train RS-3 arrives back in the yard...

Checks in at the office..

...And ties down on track 2

So there's one more move that needed to be done. Matt will take KP&W box car #15638 from Port Owen Brick on the K.P.D. over to American Hardware, which is located within the Rock Ridge Yard Limits...

Here's the KP&W box car being spotted at American Hardware...

Matt is back at the office, shuts down, and the work is done!

That concludes the inbound portion of P.C.C.M. #83 on my railroad.

Make sure you check out my cars sent to both Sir John's N.Y.C.T.L. and PC Ralph's K.P.D. railroads.

Thanks for reading!

P.C.C.M. #83 Part 4 On The A.P.R.R. - Building The Trains In The Yard For Deliveries

Welcome back to the continuation of Penn Central Car Movement #83 On the A.P.R.R. Freight from Sir John's N.Y.C.T.L. and PC Ralph's K.P.D. railroads has been delivered to Rock Ridge Yard on AP Train WR-2 from Weehawken. Today the yard crew will build the trains for final delivery to the consignees. 

AP #106 is under the control of 1:87 Scale Engineer NJ John. Tower operator 1:87 scale Rich will make sure John has the yard accessible from both ladders to ensure the moves are made quickly.

The first job for NJ John will be to build the train that will head out to Shapeless Steel and Freihofers. Three gondolas from Gervais Pipe on the N.Y.C.T.L. and a gondola with coils from KP Steel on the K.P.D. will be part of that train...

An HRC Box Car from Canton Box on the K.P.D. will go to Freihofers with boxes custom made to hold those delicious Chocolate Chip Cookies nice and fresh. The NYC covered hopper from Red Wing Milling on the N.Y.C.T.L. with flour will go to Freihofers as well. 

AP 105 with 1:87 Scale Engineer Norman is in the cab to assist John in the moves...

The NYC covered hopper is pulled from track 6 and placed on the west ladder track, which 106 will add to the train..

AP 105 shoves AP #79 caboose, which was delivered from the Patti-O paint shops of the N.Y.C.T.L. on a long term lease to the A.P.R.R. a couple years ago, will get added to the train...

Let's watch AP 106 spot the cars on track 11 in preparation for the delivery to Freihofer and Shapeless Steel..

AP GP 38-2 #303 was brought to the yard by 1:87 Scale JP, whose filling in as hostler at the Richmond Hill Engine Terminal. Some of the guys decided to take vacation after a long weekend. Someone is going to be held responsible for that scheduling mishap...

JP backs on to the track, couples up, and shuts down...

We now turn our attention to the Rock Ridge Yard Limit, where a pair of Alco C424 engines await permission to head into Rock Ridge Yard. Where did they come from and why are they here? According to A.P.R.R. management, the AP has contracted out to the Morristown & Erie (M&E), to pickup, store and deliver any and all aggregates that are delivered to the A.P.R.R.. The M&E will store ballast and sand on their property until needed. The reason for the storage off the railroad property is due to all of the expansions and acquisitions the railroad has been doing over the past year. Track space is at a premium..

Here's a little history on these engines, courtesy of Wikipedia: 

The Century 424 was a four axle, 2,400 hp (1,790 kW) diesel-electric locomotive of the road switcher type. 190 were built between April 1963 and May 1967. Cataloged as a part of Alco's Century line of locomotives, the C424 was intended to replace the earlier RS-27 model and offered as a lower-priced alternative to the C425. Montreal Locomotive Works also built this locomotive as MLW Century 424.

They have the signal and proceed with caution. It's also noted that 1:87 Scale Steve is in the cab with the M&E crew to qualify them on the AP tracks and system. Steve used to be an engineer on the M&E and is very familiar with the engines (1:1 Steve used to work for the M&E decades ago, so it's only natural for him to be in the cab).

A quick stop to introduce themselves to tower operator Rich...

They proceed up the west ladder and take a spot on track 5. They'll tie down for the night, and head home. They'll return back tomorrow to take the ballast cars with them. Meanwhile, Steve will stay with the engine as NJ John will pull the caboose off engine #19, and add it to the ballast cars..

John has the caboose and starts the move...

...and shoves the ballast cars in front of the caboose..

Now that the cars are set, Steve adds the engines to the cars so the train will be ready for the crew tomorrow..

Steve's job is done. That foreign road power will soon be a regular on the A.P.R.R. whenever they get ballast or sand from T&R Gravel on the N.Y.C.T.L...

The last yard move is to block the cars for Cargill and drop off the Tropicana RBL Box Car at Tropicana! AP 105 pull the cars for the delivery on the Rock Ridge Secondary. No caboose is needed. Once the 7 cars are pulled off tracks 2, 4 and 6, he'll stage the train on the east ladder..

The train is tied down for the night on the east ladder. Norman's work is complete!

We'll cut it here and wrap it up tomorrow with the freight heading out of Rock Ridge Yard to all of the consignees.

Be sure to see how the freight from the A.P.R.R. is being delivered on both  Sir John's N.Y.C.T.L. and PC Ralph's K.P.D. railroads.

Thanks for reading!

P.C.C.M. #83 Part 3 On The A.P.R.R. - Inbound Freight Arrives!

Welcome back to the inbound portion of Penn Central Car Movement #83. This is a three layout move featuring Sir John's N.Y.C.T.L. and PC Ralph's Kings Port Division railroads.

We start off with AP 2350 awaiting a signal to proceed to Rock Ridge Yard. Sitting high in the saddle is 1:87 Scale Engineer Steve. His trusty sidekick Bob is in the caboose protecting the entire train. They picked up two sets of freight in Weehawken; one from Terminal Yard on the N.Y.C.T.L. and one from West Mill on the K.P.D. The train departed Weehawken so quickly, they left 1:87 Scale Norman somewhere near Weehawken Yard as he was going to photograph the area around the AP Yard tracks in Weehawken. While the yard is a PC yard, the AP does have trackage rights ,so the boys sitting high up in the offices in Morris County want to make sure they get what they pay for!

Here we see AP Train WR-2 waiting for the signal to head to the next block; Rock Ridge Yard Limit...

Now sitting at Rock Ridge Yard Limit track 1..

Steve awaits the signal to head into Rock Ridge Yard...

Steve pulls into the yard and gets orders to stay put as he needs to dead head to the engine terminal...

AP 2350 heads out of Rock Ridge to the Richmond Hill Engine Terminal for servicing...

Now that the engines are out of the way, the yard crew takes over. AP #106, an MP15 engine, is being handled by 1:87 scale Dan. 1:87 scale Stuart is riding with him...

First move is to spot 6 covered hoppers from Pier 16 on the N.Y.C.T.L. that will go to Cargill. They'll spot them on ladder tracks 4 & 6..

Now Dan pulls the rest of the train out of the way to clear the West Ladder so all tracks are accessible..

Another MP15 #107 with 1:87 scale Engineer Matt on board, will work in tandem with Dan to spot the cars quickly...

Matt is pulling the caboose, 3 cars from the K.P.D along with 4 ballast cars from T&R Gravel on the N.Y.CT.L. The ballast cars will be picked up by a crew the following day for storage on the railroad property until needed...

The ballast cars are spotted on track 3..

The 3 cars from the K.P.D. are on track 5...

Matt comes back for a trio of gondolas that will go to Shapeless Steel..

Let's watch Matt spot the cars in the yard..

Matt pulls on to track 1 as his moves are finished...

The Tropicana RBL box car will get spotted on track 8 along with a covered hopper for Freihofers...

The moves are done and the yard is packed!

We'll cut it here for today..

Tomorrow we'll have the crew build the trains for Cargill, Shapeless Steel and more!

Don't forget to check the inbound portion of P.C.C.M. #83 on  Sir John's N.Y.C.T.L. and PC Ralph's Kings Port Division railroads!

Thanks for reading!