NY-NJ Ops #4 Part 1 - APRR Yard Crew Operations Begin!

Welcome to another exciting NY-NJ Ops Virtual Train Moves! The Atlantic Pacific Railroad collaborates with Sir John's New York Central Train Layout to create freight car movements between our railroads via our blog posts. 

Sir John has been the creator and innovator to all of our moves and it's been a fun time bringing them to fruition. Since he created these movements, Sir John and I have expanded the moves to not only include freight going between our railroads, but to having freight come in and head out to other destinations that would serve both railroads in the Penn Central era! So let's begin NY-NJ Ops #4!!

Today we start at Rock Ridge Yard where 1:87 Yardmaster NJ John readies the crew for today's jobs. The first job on the docket will be to bring in a manifest train from Allentown, PA with NY-NJ and non NY-NJ ops freight cars...

Over at Little Jamaica Interlocking EL Train 3310 East has arrived from Allentown, PA...

The yellow 'approach' signal is given by the WH tower operator and they proceed in to the yard...

EL Train 3310 East heads to Rock Ridge Yard...

A stop at the Rock Ridge Tower and 1:87 TO Rich gives instructions for the crew since it's the first time for this crew to deliver to this yard...

The EL train arrives and is greeted by NJ John and the Rock Ridge crew...

AP engineer 1:87 Kai gets ready to break down this train and sort it in the yard...

First set of cars dropped on A/D track 'B'...

Next drop is on A/D track 'C' and has some empty EB gondolas from Bethlehem Steel that will head back home...

The breakdown is completed and Kai adds the EL caboose back on to the engine...

The EL crew thanks the AP crew for their quick work and they're ready to depart Rock Ridge...

The signal at CP Rock is given and EL 3310 departs...

The signal from LJ tower is given and EL 3310 departs Rock Ridge Yard...

Now that Kai has finished the breakdown of the inbound train, he picks up a caboose with 1:87 Conductor Jim W. and head out to Ideal Auto Parts. A trio of 86' Auto Parts cars for the Bedford FORD plant on the NYCTL are fully loaded with parts...

Rock Ridge TO Rich T. tells them to pick up the cars and then head to Rock Ridge East Yard to grab a trio of B&O empty auto racks and bring them back to Rock Ridge Yard....

A short time later Kai and Jim arrive at Ideal Auto Parts and grab the 3 box cars...

Later that morning, Kai and Jim arrive at West Harold Tower and 1:87 TO Bob gives them the instructions for pulling the 3 auto racks...

Kai and Jim pick up the three 86' auto racks from Rock Ridge East Yard...

Kai and Jim are back at Rock Ridge and are routed into the yard via CP Rock, the northern end of the yard. Reason being are the clearances for any cars that are in excess of 80 feet in length...

AP SW1000 with 1:87 Engineer Jim C. pull the 3 box cars and 3 auto racks from the train and spots all 6 cars....

Kai and Jim are not quite finished for today. They have one more run to do and that's to head over to Shapeless Steel and grab some loaded gondolas for Century Steel in the Bronx on the NYCTL. Shapeless Steel is happy to add a new customer to it's list and thanks the crew at the NYCTL for helping to make this happen!

They arrive at Shapeless Steel and pull 5 cars from the steel works, 4 of which will head to Century Steel and the Bethlehem car will head to National Steel in Newark, NJ...

Kai is ready to head out. A quick run for these guys...

Arriving a short time later at CP South, TO Rich routes them into the yard...

NJ John tells Kai and Jim to head to A/D track 'C' and drop the cars on that track...

A job well done by Kai and Jim...!

 Kai and Jim tie down on track 'C' as time has run out for these guys...

We'll cut it here for today. Tomorrow we'll continue with gathering more freight for Terminal Yard and the NYCTL...

Thanks for reading!

New York New Jersey Express TOFC Head Back To Terminal Yard!

Welcome back to the Inaugural run of our New York New Jersey Express TOFC Train! This was a joint collaboration between myself and 1:1 Sir John of New York Central Train Layout fame! 

The turnaround for this TOFC train is getting ready to head out. We're at the Reynolds Intermodal Terminal and we see Penn Central SW1500 #9543 ready to go. This yard is managed by the Penn Central through a long term lease with the Atlantic Pacific Railroad...

What's this? A police car from New York? Who? What? Why? 

Look here! It's 1:87 Sir John who was driven to the Intermodal Terminal to meet up with 1:87 Sir Neal and see the return of this train! It must be nice to have some clout to get the police to drive him here. Way to go Sir John!

The Penn Central engineer gets ready to climb on board to pull the outbound train for departure...

First pull are the 24' container chassis on 2 85' flat bed cars...

Next are the 40' trailers including that special EB Trailer. Rumor has it that despite it going back empty, the APRR crew loaded that trailer with goodies from Freihofers Bakeries. Hope Sir John has a lot of milk!! 😊

The switcher pulls the train out to the West Harold secondary tracks. Tower Operator Bob gives the crew some instructions...

They cut off from the cars and will do a run around...

Penn Central U25B #2647 has arrived to take the TOFC Train back to Empire City and Terminal Yard...

They pull the caboose and add it to the end of the train...

Coupled up! Ready to depart!!

With the switcher out of the way, the Penn Central train can get ready to depart...

Engine #2647 is hooked up to the train and will depart as Penn Central TOFC Train NYNJ-2...

Final train orders from Bob and they're ready to depart!!

Next stop! Terminal Yard!

This concludes the inaugural run of our New York New Jersey Express TOFC Train on our railroads. 

Check back often on our blogs for the latest and greatest in our NY-NJ Ops train moves!

Thanks for reading!

Introducing New York - New Jersey Express TOFC Service on the Atlantic Pacific Railroad!!

Greetings everyone and welcome to a very special blog post. 

If you've been following my blog as well as Sir John's New York Central Train Layout, Sir 1:1 John and I were looking for additional train movements that we could add to our current NY-NJ Ops sessions. 

I had the opportunity to get hold of 8 UPS 24' container chassis and 10 UPS 40' trailers. We came up with the idea of making a dedicated TOFC train from Terminal Yard to Rock Ridge and back. Some heavy brainstorming and the name 'New York New Jersey Express' was born! Decals were promptly ordered and when they arrived, packaged them up along with the trailers and shipped them to the Patti-O Paint Shop.

Sir John had everything he needed to bring these vehicles up to the EBRR and APRR standards as well as certifying them for both over the road and intermodal service. 

A preview of the finished trailers and containers in Terminal Yard, as these, along with a couple more containers chassis will head out from Terminal Yard to the Reynolds Intermodal Terminal located outside of Rock Ridge. This train is a 'HOT' train meaning it will depart and arrive in 24 hours or less, depending on rail traffic...

Check out the departure of the New York New Jersey Express Train NYNJ-1  

NYNJ-1 Heading to Rock Ridge

A day later, Penn Central NYNJ-1 arrives at West Harold Interlocking. Tower Operator Bob gives the PC crew instructions on how they will be routed into the Intermodal Terminal...

Penn Central NYNJ-1 heading to Reynolds Intermodal Terminal...

A short time later, PC Train NYNJ-1 arrives on the Intermodal lead by West Harold. The Reynolds Intermodal Terminal is a 4 track stub-ended yard that handles containers as well as trailers....

The Penn Central crew arrives at the West Harold Interlocking Secondary track and checks in with Tower Operator Bob for instructions. The yard crew will send out the switcher to pull the caboose so the crew can shove back into the yard...

PC SW1500 #9543 pulls the caboose...

...and backs on to yard track 3...

Track 2 gets the four 24' container chassis...

And track 1 gets the 6 40' trailers. 1:1 Sir John graciously gave me one of his Empire Belt trailers to round out the TOFC train making it 6 of those 40' trailers. Thank you 1:1 Sir John!!

Another view of the intermodal terminal. Two Mi-Jack Cranes and a Kalmar Crane in the rear...

The moves are completed. The caboose is added back on to the engine...

Penn Central U25B #2568 caboose lite departs the yard for Weehawken Yard for servicing and fuel...

Penn Central 2568 caboose lite leaves Rock Ridge. Next stop - Weehawken Yard!

It's a wrap! New York-New Jersey Express has made its inaugural debut and will be featured in more of our virtual ops! 

Tomorrow these cars will have been emptied (or loaded) and sent back to Terminal Yard. 

Here's the link to the entire blog post for these trailers...

Sir John's Latest Blog Post

Thanks for reading!!