P.C.C.M. 72 Part 3 On The A.P.R.R. - Inbound!

Greetings followers of the Atlantic Pacific Railroad and the Penn Central Car Movements. 

P.C.C.M. 72 is a three layout virtual operating session with Sir John and his N.Y.C.T.L. and PC Ralph and his Kings Port Division. Last week trains were dispatched from both layouts to the A.P.R.R. The crew will meet the train at Weehawken. Train VW-1 and Extra Train 2327 were both heading to Weehawken. A decision was made to add the freight from 2327 to VW-1. A swap out of both crew and motive power at the siding in Fort Montgomery, NY (CP43 on the River Line), and the train will head to Rock Ridge. 

A quick stop at the north end of Weehawken shows train VW-1 with a pair of GP38-2 engines consisting of #7983 and #8045. While it may be difficult to read, below the number 7983 is the name 'COLLINWOOD', a Collinwood, Ohio based engine.  Engine #8045 shows the name 'ENOLA' below the number, an Enola, PA based engine. 

Some prototypical background on the engines, courtesy of Athearn: By the early 1970s, many first generation diesels were reaching the end of their service lives. The most common replacement locomotive became the GP38-2. EMD began production of the 16-cylinder, non-turbocharged, 2000 horsepower engine in 1972. Unlike the GP38's engine which drove a generator to supply power to the traction motors, the GP38-2s prime mover drove an alternator which produced AC electrical current that was rectified to DC to power the four traction motors. Another major change for the GP38-2 was the introduction of the “dash 2” modular electrical cabinet. For the past 40 years, the GP38-2 has worked main line freights, locals, switching jobs, yard service, helpers, snow fighting trains, and hump power. Many remain service today.

Here we see PC Train VW-1 arriving Weehawken Yard, NJ from Selkirk Yard in Selkirk, NY.

Train VW-1 has arrived in Weehawken. They'll terminate here, and the train will get a new set of engines and crew. 

Looks like AP GP38-2 304 and AP U28B #2360 will take the freight to Rock Ridge Yard.

A swap of motive power..

With the AP motive power in place, AP Train Extra 304 will head out to Rock Ridge Yard...

AP Extra 304 is held at West Harold Interlocking. A call to the tower operator and the signal is up!

Here we see AP Extra 304 heading thru West Harold Interlocking en route to Rock Ridge Yard

AP Extra 304 checks in with CP South Tower and Rock Ridge Yardmaster 1/87th Rich. He'll pull the train thru the yard, cut away from the cars, and head to Richmond Hill Engine Terminal for servicing.

Now that the freight is in the yard, they'll need to be sorted in the yard until they head out to the consignees. 

There are 3 ballast cars from T&R Gravel located on the N.Y.C.TL. They will remain in the yard until needed.

AP #201 pulls them off the train and spots them on east ladder track #4

AP #200 continues spotting cars on the west ladder. First spot on west ladder track #5

A lone 86' box car gets dropped on track #7

The rest of the cars will get dropped on west ladder track #11

Here we see AP #200 sorting the last set of cars on west ladder track #11

Cars are spotted. One last drop, AP caboose #58 to track #1

Looks like 1/87th Sir John has stopped by to check on the yard and crew. "Looks Good!" he tells the guys and heads out to the office. 

AP #200, now out of the way on east ladder track #2. The work is done...

We'll cut it here for today. Check back tomorrow to see the freight delivered in and around Rock Ridge Yard. 

Don't forget to check the inbound part of P.C.C.M. #72 on both N.C.Y.T.L. and the Kings Port Division 

Thanks for reading!

Track Work On The .A.P.R.R.

Greetings followers of the Atlantic Pacific Railroad and my blog! Now that I'm back in the Northern Command (NJ) and with the free time I have (as do many of us), I had been contemplating the need for more staging tracks on the railroad. The main reason behind it is the fact that between hosting operating sessions at the house, and doing virtual op sessions in an earlier railroad era, it's tough for me to do the virtual op pics and videos with post - Penn Central cars and locos in the way.

For all of you who have either followed my blog posts and videos, or have seen the layout in person, you must be scratching your head and asking yourself - where is he going to add more track? The railroad has more track on it than Sunnyside Yard!! 

There was one area on the layout that had a blank spot on the lower level. It's on the east end of south staging, with plenty of access to reach and put down some track. South staging on the east end currently has 5 tracks; 4 of which are active. The fifth track was not attached to south staging from the west end to the east end due to new control panels, so the track was severed from the yard. The west end of south staging track 5 is in full use and is an integral part of the engine terminal. The east end of track 5 was used to hold some freight cars that may have been pulled off the layout on operating sessions due to mechanical issues. 

Here's what it looked like prior to changes....

The space in the front of the second image shows the solo track coming to you as well as the 4 staging tracks. 

The goal is to connect track 4 to track 5 and to add 4 additional storage tracks for freight cars not in use during a virtual operating session or when I host an operating session. 

A pair of #6 Atlas LH switches were cut in to place on both track 4 and 5. Once in place, track 5 went east and three #4 switches were added for storage. For the time being, they will be manual switches. 

Now that the crossover is in place, we added the switches and track for the staging tracks.

A pair of left hand #4 switches and one right hand #4 switch and the yard is ready for freight cars.

The freight cars that were moved to these tracks are ones that I didn't want shown when I do my virtual operating sessions on the blog. These tracks will hold anywhere from 12-16 freight cars, depending on car length.

The last part of this will be to incorporate it into an operating session that I host or when I need to move freight cars to and from this area. While Mickey's Five Finger Crane Company made the test to see what would fit, the scenario should go as follows:

Engine and freight cars head down to south staging. Once at the Morris Plains interlocking, the train must be left hand running as I have no intention at the present time to leave an engine sitting on track 5. Since it's left hand running, the engine can cut off from the cars, pull one track at a time and swap out, pick up or drop off cars as needed. The length of track 5 is long enough for an engine and to pull or shove 4 cars to a track. 

Now, if I decide to leave an engine on track 5, the train heading to this area would still proceed as above. However, the yard engine would pull cars out and drop them on the track outside of staging. The arriving engine would pick them up, and both engines would work to swap out the cars. I'll post a video of how this will work down the road, as I'm sure many will want to see what I added into an already jammed packed action layout!!

Since it's not part of actual operations and made for storage (like the rest of the staging tracks), scenery or ballast or painting is needed. 

As a side note, I did count last year the amount of freight cars that were on the layout, both in staging on the lower level as well as on top at industries and the freight yard. The count came a few cars short of 400!! Keeping track of where certain freight cars are located for some virtual operating sessions or when I host is another topic of conversation for another blog post!

Thanks for reading!

P.C.C.M. #72 Part Two On The A.P.R.R.

Welcome back to the continuation of P.C.C.M. #72 on the Atlantic Pacific Railroad!

We pick up the following day as 1/87th Bob and his crew had outlawed for the day, so the train had to sit while the crew took their mandatory rest.

AP GP60 engines #600 & 601 will prepare to pick up the outbound freight on the west outbound track by CP South. Meanwhile, a call was put out to Rock Ridge Senior Management that a pair of 60' Box cars are needed over at Marcal Paper as well as a pair of box cars over at Freihofers. The cars that normally get loaded were removed due to the cars needed at Marcal. People must be enjoying life and still have that 'Get Up and Go' feeling. Demand for toilet paper has never been so high!! AP #200 with the yard engineer pick up a pair of BN 60 box cars for Marcal as well as a pair of 50' box cars for Freihofer.

A quick stop at CP South and 1/87th Rich gives the crew some instructions. 'Get this freight moved out and make it snappy!" Sounds like the 1/87th Bob and his crew are back on the clock so the outbound needs to go! Add to the dilemma that no other freight can go out until this outbound clears Rock Ridge.

Now that AP #201 is back in the yard, the outbound can get ready to head out...

AP 600/601 head out to pick up the outbound freight...

1/87th Bob and his crew couple up to the train and slowly prepare to head out of Rock Ridge. The train will depart as AP Extra 601. since 601 is the lead engine.

At the end of the Rock Ridge Yard Limit, the signals going west are controlled by the tower operator at Little Jamaica.

The approach signal is up and Extra 601 is on his way!

Here we see Extra 601 heading to Weehawken.

Extra 601 slowly proceeds to Weehawken Yard. 

Extra 601 checks in with the tower operator at the north end of Weehawken for instructions, then heads into the yard.

Here we see Extra 601 arriving on the main yard track at Weehawken. 

With the train on the main yard track, a crew and engine change will be happening.

1/87th Bob uncouples from his train and takes a track in the yard..

PC GP38 engines 7783 & 7757 will couple up to the train as PC Train VW-2 and head to it's final Destination - Selkirk! At Selkirk, the train will be classified as some ffreight cars will go to West Mill on the K.P.D. while the rest will head over to Terminal Yard on the N.Y.C.T.L.

Looks like the engines are  hooked up, brake lines tested, and ready for departure.

Next stop, Selkirk!

Thanks for reading the outbound portion of P.C.C.M. #72 on the A.P.R.R. Don't forget to check back soon for the inbound portion, and the resat of the P.C.C.M. on Sir John's N.Y.C.T.L. and PC Ralph's Kings Port Division Railroad.