P.C.C.M. #96 - Extra!

 

Welcome back to P.C.C.M. #96 Extra on the Atlantic Pacific Railroad.

As many of you may or may not know, Sir John and I go back at least 10 years, maybe a little more. While it's been a long time since we have had a face to face encounter, emails, phones, and of course, our blogs keep us in constant contact with each other. 

John had told me about his virtual op sessions with Ralph and invited me to join. My layout is mostly modern, but many of the cars can be used in the Penn Central Era. I've always been a fan of the PC, and of course some if its predecessors and now, the railroads that came out of their bankruptcies to the present, like CSX, to name some. 

I've always enjoyed the way John has expanded his virtual ops with us, adding industries plus trains that 'make appearances' on his layout, such as his Mail & Express trains, TOFC and auto carrier trains. I've made some trains make appearances as well, but they do serve an industry that I incorporate into my sessions. 

In viewing some recent PCCM sessions, John had a couple of these trains passing his trains that were part of our movements. That is something I wanted to do, so I set out on a mission. 

The following are making an inaugural appearance and will run as time and space prevail. I wanted to delay this announcement, but due to some personal things that will get in the way over the next 3-4 weeks, its best I announce them now. 

Here's the background story for the first train to be added. The PC ran many types of 'dedicated' trains like coal, TOFC, auto carriers and more. I looked on the PCTC Freight Schedule from 1974 (thank you for this file John!), and found that the PC ran an auto carrier train from Little Ferry, NJ to Detroit. They were called "ML" trains or Multi-level trains that carried cars. Here's what I am going to run on the railroad for my virtual op sessions. Train ML-9 will run empty from Little Ferry, NJ to Detroit as PC train ML-9 and return loaded with cars as train ML-12 on an as needed basis. The length of the train will vary...

Let's take a look at the current train that I purchased. The engines on the train are a pair of Athearn SD45 and are in consist since I use DCC. They are speed matched as well, so one is not pulling or pushing the other. Currently the train has 7 auto carrier cars on them. It will go to 10 in a week, and I'll add a third engine to it, if need be. All this train will do will pass thru some scenes as my current auto rack terminal is transformed to Rock Ridge East yard. However, we may be able to work it into this area. 

The cars are Walthers Mainline 89' Flat Car With Bi-Level Open Auto Rack. They were on sale at a few places, so I grabbed them. They run well, and since they have Walthers Proto couplers on them, and they're not going up and down the helix, I've left them on - for now....

Let's watch them in action on the railroad. The first video is PC train ML-9 on the main passing Baskerville Jct. station on its way to Detroit....

Another view of ML-9 on AP mainline track 2. 

The next addition is something John added to his layout. His RDC 'Beeliner' train is a nice touch and it just runs his railroad. I have some of these old Life-Like Proto 1000 RDC cars and I looked them up to see which railroad had them and when. I currently have a pair of RDC cars in the CP logo on them. So the story goes as follows (and I'm sticking to it!). Out in Vancouver, BC, Canada, is a mutual friend of John and myself, Sir Graham S. He is one of the original gang from the now defunct 'Trainlife forum', and not to be confused with the current Trainlife website, which sells model trains. Like Sir John, I've called Graham, 'Sir Graham'. Now to bring this into my virtual op series, 1:87 Scale Sir Neal reached out to 1:87 Scale Sir Graham and asked to lease a pair of RDC cars from his Canadian Pacific fleet for testing and to consider purchasing some to start passenger operations on the APRR. Here's what will make test runs on the APRR...

This is a Proto 1000 RDC-3 car...

And the RDC-1 car...

Here's the 2 car set arriving at Baskerville Jct. station...

The last train that I'm adding to my virtual op sessions is a TOFC train, very similar to what the guys run on their layouts. The PC ran a 'TV' train from "Meadows" yard in Kearney, NJ to Potomac, Maryland. On my layout, I'll be using PC Train TV-23 from Meadows to Potomac with trailers on all cars, and PC Train TV-24 will return to Meadows with empty flat cars. It will have 6 - F30D 50' TOFC Flat Car: TTX Early Red and 4 - 89' Channel Side Flatcar (1960s Brown, 40' Trailer Service). All of these cars were on sale, so I did grab them. 

While I wanted to post some photos of them, the trailers need some work that go on all of the flat cars, so we'll wait to see them on my next PCCM. 

My problem is where to store them when not in use. It's a job right now to move some PCCM cars off the layout to drawers and then add them for another virtual op session. What I do now is store the cars in small rolling carts lined with paper towels and cardboard dividers and all the drawers are labeled and the cars are listed on a spreadsheet. When John and Ralph send over the instructions for the next PCCM, I can find the cars within minutes. Now I need more rolling carts! Oh well, it's my hobby, I enjoy it, and I enjoy doing both virtual ops and of course, live op sessions with the APRR crew. 

Many thanks go out to both John and Ralph for the fun and comradre I have with them. Okay, no tears now, it wasn't that emotional...

Neal