PCCM 115: Part 4 on the KPD

 Welcome to the final installment of our current virtual ops series!

Yesterday the sun set on the train action at the KP&W's CS Yard in Binghamton, NY.    Today we'll return to that southern NY railroad hub to follow some interchange action and the deliveries of our PCCM active cars.

 Its early morning in "Bingo" as the first trick reports for duty.

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The first train of the day is the Lehigh Valley Sayre Turn which arrives to exchange cars with the KP&W here.   The LV crew will set out several cars and then pick up six empty open hoppers for a coal mine in Luzerne County, PA,  along with five gondolas loaded with untreated railroad ties that will eventually find their way to the Stella-Jones Tie Processing Plant near Sayre, PA.

 The next movement at CS Yard is the KP&W City Local serving industries near the Binghamton area including Milton CAT which will be receiving three heavy construction vehicles from Empire City CAT.

The cut for the City Local begins with a string of 40' KP&W boxcars.

KP&W RS3 #566 is called as today's power for the City Local.  Shortly after it couples up to the train and hauls it out of CS Yard an Erie Lakawanna transfer arrives from their nearby QD Yard to interchange with the KP&W.   There is always a lot of train action happening in Binghamton!

 The City Local works its way to Milton CAT to drop off the three vehicles on flat cars.

 

Watch the set out below: 

 Later in the afternoon the LV Sayre Turn arrives back to its starting point.   From Sayre the five gons of untreated ties are forwarded to the Stella-Jones plant.   

The cars are shoved inside the building for processing.

Our last bit of car forwarding takes us back to West Mill Yard where the Penn Central crew is preparing another South Local.  GP9 #7175 will run two 38 foot coal hoppers and the six empty PS-2 covered hoppers to Tri Mount Cement. 

 Watch the South Local's run below:

Well that concludes our two layout virtual ops!  Be sure to check in on John's Blog to follow the action on his New York Central Train Layout!

Thanks for following along!

 

PCCM 115: Part 3 on the KPD

 Welcome back!

After focusing on the car forwarding action on John's New York Central Train Layout the last two days its time to follow the return of the cars he sent to my Kings Port Division.

John dispatched train LI-1 from Terminal Yard to Selkirk. The train carries a manifest of empty cement hoppers, CAT heavy equipment, untreated railroad ties, empty tank cars, and empty open hoppers.  Selkirk can be seen below waiting for the train to arrive.

 LI-1 arrives at Selkirk!  The cars from Terminal Yard will be added to a VW-1 transfer to Weehawken with stops at Kings Port and West Mill.

Additional freight cars are tacked on to the block from LI-1 to create Penn Central train VW-1 to Weehawken.  The train will stop at Kings Port and West Mill to set out cars.  The train's power, a U33C/ GP30 lashup rolls past to couple to the front of the train before it sets out for Kings Port.

 An hour and a half later VW-1 arrives at Kings Port and stops at Ulster Ave.

From here it will back two cuts of cars into the Kings Port & Western's Williams Yard.

 

Cut #1 consists of empty open hoppers to be forwarded to the Lehigh Valley Coal Connection and five gondolas loaded with untreated ties to be delivered for processing at the Stella-Jones plant near Sayre, PA.

Cut #2 consists of three flat cars of CAT heavy equipment for Milton CAT and three empty tankers for GULF.

 After making the set outs at Williams Yard VW-1 continues on to West Mill.  Workers on the Team Track dock pause to watch the big U33C roll by.

 It takes about 45 minutes for VW-1 to reach West Mill...

 The train is cut behind empty cement hoppers for Tri Mount cement.  These cars will be set out on the siding next to the main.

VW-1's locomotives complete the set out.

 The VW-1 receives permission to continue to Weehawken.

 Let's head over to the KP&W's Williams Yard where a Yard Local is preparing to deliver three empty tankers to GULF.

Its a quick job for the crew of GP9 #742.

The next job at Williams Yard is assembling a WiBi-4 transfer to Binghamton, NY.    After the WiBi-4 arrives in Binghamton the open hoppers and gondolas will be picked up by the Lehigh Valley's Sayre Turn while the three loads of CAT heavy vehicles will be delivered by the KP&W to Milton CAT. 

 After the WiBi-4 arrives at 5:30 PM switcher #34's crew gets to work sorting blocks of cars for tomorrow's LV Sayre Turn and the KP&W Bingo Local.  There won't be much daylight left for this work.

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The lights begin to come on in Binghamton. 

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The S12's work is nearly done.... 

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 We'll call it a night for now.   Come back tomorrow to see the freight cars get delivered to their consignees!

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PCCM 115: Part 2 on the KPD

 Hello again!

John and I are engaged in a two layout, one weekend Penn Central Car Movement series.  

Yesterday the Penn Central and the Kings Port & Western sent freight cars toward West Mill Yard for eventual forwarding to John's Terminal Yard on his  New York Central Train Layout

West Mill's crew has arranged the outgoing cars on two tracks to be picked up by the next WV-2 Weehawken to Selkirk transfer.  The cars include six cement hoppers, three flats with CAT heavy equipment, a pair of non player bulkhead flats, and five gondolas loaded with newly treated railroad ties.

 While we wait for the WV-2 lets head over to Kings Port where a switcher from Williams Yard has been sent to move three tank cars from the Gulf facility to the interchange track.   The tankers and six hoppers loaded with aggregate that were placed on the interchange track yesterday are scheduled to be picked up by the WV-2 to Selkirk.

The WV-2 from Weehawken arrives at West Mill!

The U33C-GP38 consist uncouples from the train to pick up several cars at West Mill.

WV-2 completes the pick ups... 

 ...and continues on its way to Selkirk with one more stop at Kings Port to pick up the three tankers and six open hoppers the KP&W left on the interchange track.

 The WV-2 is given permission to proceed to Selkirk.  It will arrive at the big yard an hour and a half later.

WV-2 arrives at Selkirk!  As WV-2 slowly rolls to a stop Train VE-1 for Enola heads out in the opposite direction.

 

Freight cars scheduled to be forwarded to Terminal Yard will be pulled from the train and assembled into Train LI-2.   The two bulkhead flats with plywood loads will be sent to Mechanicville, NY via Rotterdam Jct.

Train (LI-2) for Terminal Yard on John's New York Central Train Layout is now ready to go.    Its manifest includes six hoppers of aggregate, five cars of treated ties, three CAT loads, three tankers, and six cement hoppers.  It pulls out of Selkirk while some of the cars that were removed from WV-2 are assembled into a train for Rotterdam Jct.

 

Before we call it a day lets follow the NY-20 transfer to Rotterdam Jct. and Mechanicville.  The train leaves Selkirk with a mixed manifest including  MEC bulkhead flats 1400 and 1414.

The NY-20 leaves Selkirk behind a pair of GP40s while a freight heading toward the old Boston & Albany line passes by with an FP7-F7B-FP7 consist.

 NY-20 reaches Mechanicville and meets B&M Train BM-7 arriving from Boston.

 

Follow what happens next on John's blog.  Be sure to check back here on Sunday when the cars return to the KPD!
 

PCCM 115: Part 1 on the KPD

 Hello there!

John and I are running a one weekend Penn Central Car Movement series (PCCM) that will feature mostly MOW and construction related loads.   I'm starting today (Thursday) because I ended up creating more content that I originally planned!  I hope you enjoy it.

You can follow the action on John's New York Central Train Layout blog Here starting on Saturday!

Meanwhile, its 5:45 AM at West Mill Yard and the sun has yet to make an appearance.   The first trick crew has just arrived for work.

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After large quantities of coffee were consumed, opinions about last night's ballgame were disputed, and switchlists were reviewed in the crew lounge the guys are ready to head out to the yard tracks.  Sunrise starts to light up the day at West Mill Yard.

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The first train of the day is the South Local which will serve Half Moon Wholesale Lumber Distributors and Tri Mount Cement.   All of the outgoing cars are empties for Half Moon.

A trio of MEC bulkhead flats is coupled onto the boxcars, completing the manifest.

The South Local will be powered by a GP9/GP7 set, the GP9 #7085 still in its PRR merger compliant livery.   The engineer and fireman head toward the lead unit's cab. 

After powering up, the two First Generation Geeps move away from the engine service area to couple up to their train.

 The Yard's SW9 #8951 tacks on a caboose for the run.

After the caboose is secured, connections are checked, and the air pumped up the South Local backs out of the yard and heads out of town.   Why all of this focus on a trainload of non-PCCM cars?  The South Local will return with six PS-2 hoppers of cement from Tri Mount Cement to be forwarded to the Long Island RR via John's Terminal Yard and North Side Yard.

 Let's move on from West Mill Yard to Hedberg Aggregates where Kings Port & Western GP9 #769 spent the night after delivering six empty hoppers.  The loco's morning crew has arrived by van and is preparing to fire up the unit to take the now loaded hoppers and a couple of PS-2s back down to Williams Yard in Kings Port.

The train heads downgrade until it reaches the junction at the north end of Williams Yard.  It then backs into the yard tracks.

 KP&W #24 is assigned to set the six hoppers loaded with aggregate out on the interchange track where they will later be picked up by a Penn Central Transfer to Selkirk. 

This post is a bit of a travelogue as we change locations again!   We're now moving over to the Binghamton, NY area to observe a set out and pick up at Milton CAT.  This new industry on the KPD was inspired by John's Caterpillar dealer in Empire City.  The NYC depressed well flatcar was recently purchased to join its PC counterpart in moving heavy CAT equipment.

 KP&W local Extra #566 sets out two empty flat cars and then picks up the three cars loaded with heavy equipment.  The three loads are consigned to Empire City Caterpillar.

Our next stop is the KP&W's CS Yard in Binghamton. 

Among the freight cars sitting in the KP&W yard are five gondola loads of treated railroad ties.   These will eventually be forwarded to the Long Island Railroad via John's Empire Belt at North Side Yard.  

The KP&W's CS Yard interchanges with the Erie Lackawanna, the Lehigh Valley, and the Delaware & Hudson Railroads.   The daily D&H transfer from their Liberty Street Yard arrives shortly before KP&W Extra #566 returns with the CAT loads.  The first four cars on the D&H train are recent gifts from John and Neal!  Thanks guys!

 The CS Yard crew assembles a BiWi-3 transfer to Williams Yard in Kings Port with the CAT vehicles and treated ties included in the manifest.  An F7A-B-A set is assigned to haul the train to Kings Port with an intermediate stop at West Mill to interchange with the Penn Central.

 As the BiWi-3 works its way toward West Mill lets go back there...

 

....to catch the return of the South Local which made pick ups at Half Moon Wholesale Lumber Distributors and Tri Mount Cement.

The six cement hoppers will be forwarded to the LIRR while the two bulkhead flats loaded with plywood will be routed to Mechanicville.

 Things get quiet for a couple of hours until a horn blast at the south tunnel heralds the arrival of the BiW-3 dispatched from Binghamton.

 The BiWi-3's crew uncouples the gondolas loaded with ties and the three cars carrying CAT heavy duty equipment for set out at West Mill 

 

 The F7A-B-A set pulls the eight cars past the yard lead by WM Tower and shoves them into the yard tracks.

 After completing the set out the KP&W consist returns to its train.

 

 The engineer receives permission to proceed to Kings Port!

 

 That's plenty of action for one day!  Come back tomorrow as we complete the outbound portion of this series and send cars to John's N.Y.C.T.L.!