Penn Central Car Movement #74 Part 4 - Local Industry Deliveries West Of Rock Ridge Yard And More!

Welcome back to the Atlantic Pacific Railroad and Penn Central Car Movement #74! We have a number of trains being dispatched for some local deliveries today.

Here's the dispatch sheet for today..

We'll kick it off with a couple of deliveries just outside of Rock Ridge yard. First up is Train RC-1 with AP SW7 #110 and 1/87th Matt B at the throttle, he'll head over to Cargill. There's some expansion work being done, so a call was put out to Gervais Pipe in Empire City for some 20' pipes. The AP sent 3 of their 50' gondolas which came back as part of the inbound train from Sir John's N.Y.C.T.L.. A Hostess covered hopper from Hostess Bakeries in Empire City needed more grain, so they sent that as well..

Here we see the AP Train RC-1 with the delivery to Cargill...

The delivery is made, and they have one more job to do while at Cargill. A delivery of loaded coal cars need to be brought over to R.M.O. Electric. 6 cars came from the N.Y.C.T.L. and a pair came from the K.P. & W. 

Now that the empties are pulled, AP #110 head back to Rock Ridge...

Meanwhile, AP Train RP-2 with AP MP15 #105 and 1/87th Engineer Steve and his trusy brakeman 1/87th Bob head over with the 8 loaded coal cars.

AP #900 with 1/87th Engineer JP at the throttle picks up the cars. Don't let this little GE 44 tonner engine fool you by its looks. She's got the pulling and pushing power to get these spotted at the power plant!

Here we see AP #900 doing what it does best, taking care of business!

Back over at Rock Ridge, EB #8163 needs to head over to the Richmond Hill Engine Terminal. However, there's two special folks here for the day as Sir 1/87th Neal has flown them in to show them around and to see the operations. 

The train is back out of departure track "C" and heads over to the office at the north end of the yard. 

Who is at the throttle? None other than the owner of EB 8163 than 1/87th Sir John of Georgia! He's brought with him another special guest, 1/87th PC Ralph who will take the ride in the EB caboose. They'll head over to the engine terminal where they'll be given a tour of the entire facility!

He gets the signal and now AP Train #RH-5 will head out to Richmond Hill Engine Terminal.

These guys open up the throttle and highball it out of Rock Ridge flying thru the Little Jamaica Interlocking. Next stop! Richmond Hill Engine Terminal!

We'll cut it here for today. Tomorrow we'll continue delivering freight from both Sir John's N.Y.C.T.L. and PC Ralph's K.P. & W. railroads! 

Thank for reading!

Penn Central Car Movement #74 - A.P.R.R. Part 3 Inbound!

Welcome back to the Atlantic Pacific Railroad and the Penn Central Car Movement #74! It's going to be a three layout virtual op session with Sir John's N.Y.C.T.L. and PC Ralph's Kings Port Division. 

We have a number of inbound trains from Weehawken via Selkirk. The AP had 3 crews staged overnight at Weehawken as PC Train WV-1 arrived overnight-and late in typical PC manner. 

Sir 1/87th John made the call from the Rock Ridge operations center and dispatched the following engines with 3 crews:

AP GP38-2 #304 with 1/87th Engineer NJ John and brakeman 1/87th Jim will arrive as AP Extra 304
AP GP40 #400 with 1/87th Engineer Steve and brakeman 1/87th Bob will arrive as AP Extra 400
EB GP40 #8163 with 1/87th Engineer Norman and brakeman 1/87th Stuart arrive as AP Extra 8163

The first train to clear West Harold Interlocking is AP Extra 304 with the following freight and their final destinations:
AP 4035 – Ideal Electronics
AP 4182 – Ideal Electronics
EB 416079 – American Hardware
EB 406035 – American Hardware

AP 8260 – Cargill

AP 8279 – Cargill

AP 8294 – Cargill

TPFX 5510 – Mike’s Lumber
HRC 913001 – Freihofer’s 
EB 827946 – Freihofer’s 
EB 827941 – Freihofer’s 
AP CABOOSE #55

Behind AP Extra 304 is AP Extra 400 with the following freight and their final destinations:
BAR 7574 – C&P Restaurant Supply
AP 5760 – C&P Restaurant Supply
AP 5794 – C&P Restaurant Supply
AP 5782 – C&P Restaurant Supply
EB 5726 – C&P Restaurant Supply
EB 5730 – C&P Restaurant Supply
EB 5728 – C&P Restaurant Supply
PC 160502 – Three Amigos Warehouse
NYC 47062 – Mike’s Lumber
ACFX 56670 – Cargill 
AP CABOOSE #58

They’ll hold at CP South as 1/87th Tower operator Rich wants to get Extra 304 out of the way. 

Here's the video of Extra 304 arriving at Rock Ridge Yard..

Now that Extra 304 has been classified, Extra 400 can enter Rock Ridge Yard..

While Extra 400 is coming into the yard, Extra 8163 is approaching Rock Ridge, stops at CP South and proceeds to arrival track "C"

Here is AP Extra 8163 with the following freight and their final destinations:

PC 876818 – Richmond Hill Engine Terminal

PC 877242 – Richmond Hill Engine Terminal

PC 872147 – Richmond Hill Engine Terminal

PC 882509 – Richmond Hill Engine Terminal

AP 9416 – R.M.O. Electric

AP 9427 – R.M.O. Electric 

AP 9435 – R.M.O. Electric

AP 9403 – R.M.O. Electric

KP&W 233 – R.M.O. Electric

KP&W 234 – R.M.O. Electric

EB 416038 – R.M.O. Electric

EB 416035 – R.M.O. Electric

Here's the video of the approach and arrival at Rock Ridge...

With Extra 8163 in the yard, Extra 400 will be worked on. AP 400 will head out to Richmond Hill Engine Terminal along with AP304 for servicing, but not before shoving some freight cars on to east ladder track 8 while AP #110 with engineer 1/87th Matt B. starts the sorting of freight cars to the yard tracks..

Now AP400 will pick up AP304 outside Rock Ridge then off to Richmond Hill Engine Terminal 

With all of the cars classified AP 110 is back on east ladder track #4

We'll cut it here for today and resume tomorrow with the distribution of freight to consignees in and around Rock Ridge..

Don't forget to check out Sir John's N.Y.C.T.L. and PC Ralph's Kings Port Division with their inbound freight!

Penn Central Car Movement #74 - A.P.R.R. Part 2

Welcome back to the continuation of Penn Central Car Movement #74 on the Atlantic Pacific Railroad!

Today the freight cars brought back to the yard will be sorted and the outbound train will be assembled and dispatched to to Selkirk where the PC train crew will drop off the cars for West Mill, then continue on to Terminal Yard in Empire City on the N.Y.C.T.L.

Today's crew will be comprised of 1/87th Matt B. on AP MP15 #105 and AP GP 38-2 #302 with 1/87th NJ John at the throttle. Rock Ridge yardmaster on duty is 1/87th Norman, who will probably be grabbing some photos from the tower for the company newsletter. 

According to the manifest, the 7 freight cars destined for West Mill will need to be behind the engines as the Penn Central Selkirk crew works closely with the AP crew in Rock Ridge. 1/87th Matt B. will pick up the cars dropped off the prior day in the yard. 

The 3 PC cars are pulled along with the 4 KP&W cars off track A/D track "B".

The KP&W freight cars are added to the 8 auto box cars that have been sitting on A/D track "C", and build begins..

Next up are the empty ballast cars that will head to T&R Gravel for another load of ballast. The AP is working on track upgrades including adding ballast to tracks in and around Rock Ridge. AP GP38-2 #302 with NJ John at the throttle needs to pull the 4 ballast cars and a caboose to add to the end of the train.

The cars are pulled off west ladder track 5 and dropped off on the west ladder...

AP #105 gets behind the caboose so he can attach the rest of the cars to the train...

 AP #302 cuts away from the cars and takes a track 11 so the cars can be dropped off on the west departure track by CP South..

As we see a PC caboose on this freight train, the chatter on the radio states that a pair of PC GP40 engines are at CP East and will pick up the freight train with a designation of PC WV-2 to Selkirk, NY. 

Here we see the train being assembled under the trusty watchful eye of 1/87th Norman...

Next video is PC train WV-2 heading out on Rock Ridge track 2 West to the yard limits...

Clearing the yard limits at Rock Ridge, PC train WV-2 heads west thru Little Jamaica interlocking and West Harold Interlocking... Next stop, Selkirk!!

That concludes the outbound portion on the A.P.R.R. We'll return next week with the inbound portion of P.C.C.M. 74 with a lot of freight coming in John's N.Y.CT.L. and Ralph's KP&W.

Thanks for reading!

Penn Central Car Movements #74 - A.P.R.R. Part 1

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

We're going to kick off P.C.C.M. #74 - a three railroad layout escapade taking you back to the Penn Central Era. Participating will be Sir John and his superb N.Y.C.T.L. along with PC Ralph and his incredibly detailed Kings Port Division. Both railroads feature the Penn Central as well as their own private railroads.

The A.P.R.R., along with both railroads has seen a spike in parts for new cars and trucks that will be released in the next year. Production on these new cars always starts in the summer so they can be shipped to dealers in the fall. 

The Ford Plant in Empire City has put in a large request for parts, to the point that stored cars outside of Rock Ridge had be brought in. They were loaded up with parts and were awaiting pickup on the Ideal Auto Parts siding when a pair of KP&W box cars needed to be unloaded at Ideal and shipped back empty to Zenith TV in Bloomberg on the KP&W. 

A trio of PC box cars will be headed to IBM with empty crates for things called 'computers'!

AP MP15 #105 is called into action with a new hire! We're not sure who it is, and they won't tell us until his shift is over. Must be a top secret person!

First stop at Little Jamaica tower as he checks in for the move. A pick up is needed at C&P Restaurant Supply, and one over at Mike's Lumber. 

There's a pair of KP&W box cars over at C&P Restaurant Supply that need to be picked up and sent north to Cavendish Foods, loaded with some non-perishable food products. They'll grab those first..

A pull of the 2 cars and around the bend to Mike's Lumber....

A pull of the three PC box cars..

Take a look at the move for the 5 box cars from C&P and Mile's Lumber....

Now over to Ideal Auto Parts for the pair of empties...

Watch the move out of Ideal with the engine in a see-saw position....

Next stop, pulling into one of the arrival tracks at Rock Ridge...

Our mystery engineer needs to get out of middle of the train and makes the moves rather flawlessly. This guy is a pro!

The moves are now completed and the engine is parked by the office. A crowd gathers and there's an introduction by 1/87th Sir Neal. 'I'm proud to introduce the newest member to the A.P.R.R.family. Please welcome 1/87th Matt B, from Tennessee. Matt has been with the SAL with many years and has a wealth of experience as both conductor and engineer. He's been training for the last month and are now qualified for both road and yard work on the A.P.R.R.

A final chat with the boss and he returns his engine to track on the east side of the ladder...

We'll stop it here for today and resume tomorrow as we get ready for the next outbound portion of P.C.C.M. 74. 

Don't forget to follow the rest of P.C.C.M. 74 on John's N.Y.C.T.L. and Ralph's K.P.&W.

Thanks for reading!

Preparation for Penn Central Car Movement #74

Greetings everyone! It's time to prepare for another Penn Central Car Movement.

It's going to be a three layout virtual op session with Sir John's N.Y.C.T.L. and PC Ralph's Kings Port Division. 

While John and Ralph have their entire railroad set in the PC era, my railroad runs from the PC era to the present. Since our last P.C.C.M. ran at the end of April, I've run the railroad many times in between. As I posted back in May, it takes some time to set up for an op session. 

To prepare for the upcoming session, the yard needed to be cleared of post-Penn Central freight cars or anything that would have been around after the PC was taken over by Conrail. Here's what it typically looks like.

This upcoming P.C.C.M. was a special one as it was going to have the majority of freight cars heading to the Ford Plant on John's railroad. This was going to be comprised of 86's auto box cars as well as a couple of 60' auto box cars. For good measures, he decided at the last minute to request the ballast cars as the railroad is constantly maintaining its tracks! Also heading out are 7 freight cars to West Mill on the K.P.D. The entire train will head up to Selkirk, drop off the cars for the K.P.D. and the rest of the train will head to Empire City, home of the N.Y.C.T.L.

Ideal Auto Parts has a siding length of approximately 200 feet, and 4 of the 89' auto box cars fit with no overhang or obstruction to other tracks nor does it foul the main. However, there are some KP&W box cars that needed parts from Ideal. Since the the other cars were loaded, they were moved over to Rock Ridge Yard. 

The ballast cars needed to be placed in the yard as they were moved when I was running some trains. 

As you can see, there's still some post PC cars in the yard. Those needed to be moved along with a few others. After an hour and a couple train moves, we cleared out the yard and it's now ready for P.C.C.M. 74. There's 5 classification tracks on the west ladder open for the build up to launch 74 and there will be 4 arrival tracks that will be ready to receive the inbound. 

As a result of the increase of inbound and outbound rail traffic, the management has added a new hire and he'll make his first appearance this weekend.

That's all for now. We're ready to start P.C.C.M. 74 this weekend. Are you ready to watch and enjoy some great model railroading?