P.C.C.M. #36: Action at West Mill

Hello all,

The latest Penn Central Car Movement series has concluded on John's New York Central Train Layout and now the ball is in my court.  Check out the last part of the excellent series featured on the N.Y.C.T.L. here:  http://newyorkcentrallayout.blogspot.com/2017/06/pccm-36g-dispatch-of-train-nv-3.html

Train NV-3 reached Selkirk this afternoon and the cut for West Mill is expected tomorrow on a Selkirk to Weehawken freight that will stop at West Mill to set it out.

Meanwhile, anticipating the additional cars from Terminal Yard, the West Mill Yard crew is dealing with the first string of cars from the N.Y.C.T.L. that arrived the other day on Train VW-1. 

Firing up the NYC switcher to start the day's work.

The crew's assignment today is to sort the string of cars from VW-1 into the beginnings of three trains, each of which will receive more cars to be added tomorrow.  These trains will include:

1.  A KP&W run to Mayfield Yard where cars will then be set-out at Cavendish Foods and Spirits, Peerless Appliance, and ACME Auto Parts.

2.  A Penn Central Kings Port Turn that will serve local industries such as Canton Box Co., Reynolds Beverage Distributors, and Hedberg Aggregates between West Mill and Kings Port.

3. A KP&W transfer run to Williams Yard near Kings Port for TOFC set-outs, easy access to set out cars at Battaglia Brothers Warehouse, and a delivery for the Hudson Valley Ag. Coop that will be off loaded at the yard.

The first moves will join this PC gon loaded with pipe for the Hudson Valley Ag Coop with the two TOFCs, all headed to Williams Yard.  

After a couple of moves the TOFCs and the gon loaded with pipe are now coupled together and set on Track #3.  More cars will be added to this short string tomorrow to create a transfer run to Williams Yard.

The next bit of work will be to separate the cars bound for KP&W's Mayfield Yard from those destined for the Kings Port Turn.   The red, white, and blue BAR car loaded with tea for Cavendish Foods and the brown P&LE car full of gears for Peerless Appliance are going to Mayfield, but PC boxcar #77047 in between them is not.

The switcher couples up to the cut of cars on track #1 and prepares to pull them away from the BAR car at the opposite end.

 The cut leaves the BAR car behind...

The cars are shifted over to Track #2 where PC #77047 is dropped off....

..and then the cut returns to Track #1 to unite the BAR car and the P&LE car for their future ride to Mayfield together.

The remaining cars (PC boxcar #104478 and the brown 50' NYC #80755 boxcar, both loaded with drums of ink for Canton Box Co., along with IC #30130 loaded with Heilemans Beer for Reynolds Beverage Distributors)  pull away from the BAR and P&LE car and are set out on Track 2 to become part of the Kings Port Turn.

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The work completed, the beginnings of three trains can be seen in the pic below.  The Williams Yard Transfer with the pipe load and TOFCs is on the left, the Kings Port Turn is in the middle and the two cars (so far) for the Mayfield Run are on the right, next to the caboose track.

As the switcher crew takes a break, a horn blast can be heard coming from the tunnel at the south end of town...

 ...announcing the arrival of Unit Coal Train URN-4 from the Genesee Coal Docks at Rochester, running with pooled KP&W and B&O F7 power at the head end.

This train is heading to Hudson Coal on the N.Y.C.T.L.   We're planning to make unit coal trains a regular feature in the virtual ops.

The F7s roll past a pair of six axle U Boats at West Mill's engine service track.  These big PC units will be taking over the unit coal train on the rest of the journey to Hudson Coal.

A B&O caboose brings up the rear of the unit coal train.  This will be switched out for a PC caboose before the train leaves West Mill.

The trio of F7s comes to a stop, blocking local streets. Local residents are usually patient at grade crossings because they know that West Mill handles these moves as quickly as possible.

The pooled power  is separated from the train and moves to the engine service area.

As the F7 trio gets tied down, the U28C and U30C consist comes to life and slowly rumbles out of the engine service track.

The pair of U Boats couples onto the unit coal train.

The train pulls forward to allow the West Mill Yard crew to make the caboose exchange.

The B&O caboose is cut off the train.

...and pulled away by the switcher crew now back from their break.

After a quick runaround move the caboose is set out on the caboose track.

..and its replacement is tacked onto the rear of the train.

URN-4, now a Penn Central Train, heads out toward Hudson Coal.

That's enough for now!  Next Up:  The arrival of the second string of cars from Terminal Yard.