Newer Bachmann/ Older Athearn lashup!

Hi all,

In the most recent P.C.C.M. (#62) I included a short video of a light engine run passing a small local train.   To assemble it I grabbed several locomotives, hoping to create a GP38-2, GP38, GP40 grouping.  I experimented with pairing two powered units I've never matched up before: a Bachmann GP38-2 I bought last year and an old Athearn GP38-2 I've had for 20-25 years.    To my surprise and pleasure they ran very well together!

After seeing how well they did in the short clip in our last virtual ops series I decided to pair them again running a train, and put them through their paces of slowly rolling a train out of town, hauling along the mainline, and backing the cars into a yard.  This all was accomplished flawlessly!   

I documented the run in the following YouTube video.

I'll be including this consist in some future P.C.C.M.s!

P.C.C.M. 62: Part 5 on the KPD: Conclusion

Greetings railfans!

Yesterday we celebrated the accomplishment of Apollo 11 and the delivery of cars on the Mountain Branch.  Today we'll finish off by following set-outs in the Mayfield area and the delivery of the HRC boxcar sitting at West Mill to Reynolds Beverage near Kings Port.

A KP&W transfer dispatched yesterday from West Mill has been sorted at Mayfield Yard to create a train of empty coal hoppers for the Lehigh Valley connection into coal country. 

The train includes the two KP&W hoppers sent from Rock Ridge Yard on the A.P.R.R.

LV #305 powers the train out of Mayfield. 

The other two cars forwarded from West Mill include PRR #125468 for ACME Auto Parts and IC 30130. The IC boxcar loaded with tea to be included in Cavendish packaged English meals is being set out in the background.

PRR #125468 then gets its turn at ACME.

That concludes the Kings Port & Western R.R.'s participation in this series but there is still one car left to move.  A load of Heileman's beer languishes in this HRC boxcar for Reynolds Beverage Distributors.

 

The car is currently blocked in the yard by a the string of loaded coal hoppers the KP&W dropped off yesterday.    

West Mill's yard switcher gets to work placing the loaded hoppers on the carfloat

After the carfloat is loaded a pair of RSD12s fires up and moves to pull the HRC boxcar. 

We now have a very short local ready to go with one set-out.

Watch as the short "Turn" pauses for a light engine run from Weehawken to Selkirk.

The Turn picks up a SP boxcar from Canton Box Co.

The Turn later arrives at Reynolds Beverage Distributors.

The HRC car will replace the LV boxcar currently sitting behind Reynolds.

The train pulls ahead of the switch to the industrial spur...

...and backs into it toward Reynolds while a crewman protects Ulster Ave.

The Lehigh Valley car is pulled out and placed on the main.

The HRC car full of Heilemans Beer is set out at Reynolds Beverage Distributors.

The RSD12s head back to the cars left on the main for the return trip to West Mill.

Arriving at West Mill the Turn picks up cars at Sal's Salvage and GERN.

The Turn crosses the road with cars in front and behind the Alco consist...

...and brings the cars into the yard.

The crew is still talking in amazement about yesterday's Apollo 11 moon landing and Neil Armstrong's historic first steps.   As they tie up the Turn conductor Danny Rand nearly lands on his butt as he slips getting off the locomotive, prompting his engineer to joke "That's one small step for Dan...one giant leap for Rand-kind".  ...Oof!....

Well perhaps its a good thing that this concludes the KPD's involvement in P.C.C.M. 62! Thanks for following along and remember to check John's Blog and Neal's Blog for the virtual ops action on their layouts!

P.C.C.M. 62: Part 4 on the KPD. KP&W trains dispatched!

Howdy everyone!

In the last post cars sent from John's New York Central Train Layout  and Neal's Atlantic Pacific R.R. arrived at West Mill.  Today two KP&W trains will be dispatched to deliver them to their consignees.

A four car block for Mayfield Yard with two coal hoppers for the LV connection...

...an empty 86 foot PRR auto parts car for ACME Auto Parts, and IC boxcar #30130 loaded with tea from Neubaum's for Cavendish Foods.  

On the next track we see the block for the KP&W's run up the Mountain Branch to Bloomberg.   This branch on the KPD is somewhat inspired by the Penn Central Catskill Mountain Branch out of Kingston, NY.  Apparently trains were dispatched up the Catskill Mountain Branch when ten cars consigned to businesses there gathered at Kingston.  The KPD sometimes runs shorter freights up their version of the Mountain Branch once cars arrive at West Mill.   

In this case, HRC 913001 loaded with fresh vegetables from Empire Produce is headed to Van Winkle Canning and RI #35062 loaded with drums of Dry Well ink will be set out at Catskill Mountain Press.

Three "nonplayer" cars have been added to the train for other non-virtual ops industries.   The Rock Island Line is a "mighty fine road!"

The one remaining car to be forwarded is this great looking black and orange HRC 40 foot boxcar loaded with Heileman beer for Reynolds Beverage Distributors.  The one car set-out will include some pick ups as the short "turn" delivering the beer makes it trek.

KP&W operations  at West Mill often involve the coal traffic between Mayfield Yard and West Mill's car float that serves the large coal fired power plant across the river at Port Own.  A string of empty  hoppers recently pulled from the float await pick up.

When they head back to Mayfield the block of cars seen below will be going with them.

Later in the morning a pair of KP&W SD9s arrives from Mayfield with a loaded coal train for Port Owen.

The train completes the usual moves of backing the caboose into a separate track to free it, and then shoving the loaded hoppers into the yard for later placement on the car float

Loads and empties sitting next to each other

West Mill's yard switcher grabs the caboose, tacks it onto the rear of the string of empty hoppers

..and then moves them over to the next track to pick up the block of cars for Mayfield.

The entire train for Mayfield is pulled out of the yard to position it for the two KP&W SD9s to pick up and take out of town.

The set of six axle units couples with the train by WM tower and heads to Mayfield Yard. 

The train leaves West Mill.  We'll catch up with delivery of its cars to Mayfield area industries tomorrow.

KP&W railfans get a treat as a second train powered by blue and orange equipment is scheduled to run up the Mountain Branch.  The busy yard switcher crew sets to work preparing the train.

"Non-player cars"

Cars for Van Winkle Canning and Catskill Mt. Press.

The cars are put into position for pick up by...

.....KP&W RS3 #566.

The yard switcher provides a KP&W caboose for the trip and the Mountain Branch local to Bloomberg heads out.

An hour later the first set out at Bloomberg is completed.  

Its a hot summer day in Bloomberg, NY but the train crew notices a gathering outside of Catskill Mt. Press.   

Seems a bunch of guys are paying rapt attention to a Zenith console TV placed on the loading dock.   "Hey guys"!  one of the men calls out to our crew.  "You gotta come watch this!!!" The crew consents to find out what's going on.

Its July 20th, 1969 and Apollo 11's Lunar Excursion Module is descending to the surface of the moon!   The guys watching join the nation in anxious anticipation of the momentous event!   They can hear a countdown of seconds that later will be understood to indicate just how close the LEM came to running out of fuel for the landing.   Waiting for the confirmation of a lunar touchdown the crowd holds its collective breath until Neil Armstrong utters the famous words, "Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed!"  Cheers and great relief follow as Houston responds "Roger Tranquility, we copy you on the ground!  You got a bunch of guys who are about to turn blue.  We're breathing again.  Thanks a lot!"

Everyone is very relieved and very proud.    After cheers, applause, handshakes, and even some hugs, the group disbands and gets back to work in the plant and on the train.     RI #35062 is set out with its load of drums of ink.

Still energized that America has actually landed on the moon the KP&W crew can't stop talking about the event while they finish the Mountain Branch Job by setting out the remaining cars on its train.  While dropping of a couple of covered hoppers at Agway  the usually reliable RS3 stalls....


...leading Engineer Tommy Catone to mutter what might be the first use of what will become a common phrase when technology fails:   "If we can put a man on the moon...you'd think we could keep this hunk of junk running!"

Stay tuned for more action tomorrow as the Mayfield cars and the lonely HRC boxcar still at West Mill are set out to complete this series on the KPD.