New Kings Port & Western Power

Hi all,

A recent chance glance at eBay revealed an auction for a never-been-used, undecorated Athearn "Super F7" (with the large heavy weight) which I ended up winning at an excellent price.   The unit quickly arrived after purchase.  I was originally going to paint it Penn Central black but then decided my freelanced Kings Port & Western needed more road power.

I have a pair of F7's that I painted for the KP&W a long time ago and have since found that the paint color I used is no longer available.   I ran into this when looking for colors for the RS3 unit I recently added to the KP&W roster.  The old F7s are lighter than the new RS3.

My plan was to paint the loco shell the same blue as the RS3 but to experiment with orange stripe decals as  away of further decorating the engine instead of attempting to mask and paint a stripe myself.  Looking over MicroScale's catalog it seemed that their C&O passenger car  decal set might have the sort of stripes I was looking for so I purchased a set at my LHS to give it a try.  While at the store I also noticed an F7B shell for $4.00 which I purchased, thinking to make a matched consist with the new F7A.  
I have an Athearn Penn Central B unit and figured I could interchange the shells as I wished for each road.   

I started with the B unit and achieved decent results.  The orange stripe is more yellow than the stripe on my other KP&W F7s but I figured I could live with it.   I liked how easily the decal made adding a stripe compared to masking and painting.

I added the road name decals I had made by RailGraphics.

 

My attempt to add stripes to the F7A, however was a disaster.  The remaining stripes on the decal sheet immediately disintegrated on contact with the loco shell and had to be quickly wiped off.  A friend suggests the decal sheet may have been old, leading to the decals becoming fragile to the point of uselessness.

So, I went back to the drawing board and decided to mask and paint a stripe using a light color of orange I had on had used on my KP&W boxcar fleet.

 After the first application I realized that it was a poor match for the C&O decal stripe and wasn't anywhere near close the orange on the early F7s I custom painted years ago.  I'd have THREE different shades of orange striping on the layout.  I decided that was unacceptable and ended up re-doing the entire project, using the orange and blue I used on the RS3 unit.  Here is how the new F7 A&B consist came out.

Here is the new F7A&B consist in front of the older pair of F7A's along with the RS3.  There is now more uniformity among the fleet.  It has been suggested that the lighter units underwent some fading after being exposed to the elements, much like the Penn Central Red P's fading to pink or the Yellow on the PC FL9's fading to white.  I can go with that idea,  From now on, however, any additional KP&W locos will sport the blue and orange matching the new F7A&B consist and the RS3.

The F7A still need headlights, window glass, and horns.  These were not included in the box with the unit, which probably accounted, in part, for its low sales price. I  also plan to add some grab bars on the roof just behind the windshield.

So, that's the convoluted account of the Kings Port & Western's latest power.  The new F7 runs great, by the way!

Removing roof walks/running boards

Hi all!

I'm switching gears with this topic.  A while ago, a viewer of one of my YouTube videos commented about the roof walks on my Penn Central boxcars, noting that they would have been removed during my layout's era.    Frankly I hadn't thought about that but the feedback motivated me to take a closer look at videos of Penn Central trains (The Green Frog series I own and other films found online) to check that out.  I noticed that the Penn Central boxcars in most trains indeed did not have roof walks while many of the cars from other roads still sported them.  Many of the Penn Central cars looked more modern than the 40 foot cars from some other roads and appeared to never have had a roof walk.   I have ONE car like that on my roster!  (seen below)

Conversations with fellow modelers and some research online yielded impressions, if not primary source information, about the removal of roof walks (also apparently known as running boards) from boxcars in American railroading.   It seems, according to several sources, that the ICC ruled that boxcars ordered after April 1966 and/or delivered after October 1966 were no longer to be fitted with roof walks.  Hand brakes had to be set low so crewmen no longer needed to access the roof to brake a car.  Ladders were cut shorter (as in the photo above).   Presumably this was a movement in the industry to reduce the risk of injuries to crewmen on the car roofs.

 A number of sources noted that there had been a 1974 cut off date for when all roof walks were to be removed, but it was extended beyond the Penn Central era.

So, based on this information I decided to remove some of the roof walks from many of my PC boxcars to reflect the prototype practice of attempting to comply with the new safety reg.   A lot of my PC boxcar fleet are Tyco and Bachmann cars that I upgraded with Kaydee couplers and metal wheelsets.  Most had roof walks that were removable but others are molded on which, of course, makes them impossible to remove w/o damaging the car.   

Examples of removable:

Molded example:

Here's how I worked with the cars that had removable roof walks.   It is easy to pry the roof walks from the top of the car.  Doing so leaves the roof with four holes that accommodated the roof walk installation pegs.   These holes need to be filled in and disguised.  Tools for the job included Green Putty, needle files, some fine grade sandpaper (not pictured), and weathering chalks.

After filling the holes with putty, allowing it to dry, and doing some initial sanding and filing, the now roofwalkless (is that a word!?) cars await more detailed care.

Sanding wore away some of the factory paint on the models, creating black streaks on the roofs that actually look like road-weary weathering to me.    The Green Putty is clearly visible since it is a lighter shade than PC Jade Green.  It couldn't be that easy, of course!

I continued light sanding and filing to remove as much of the putty as possible without re-opening the holes.  I then brushed on rust colored and black artist chalk powder to blend the putty with the roofs.  I don't usually seal chalk weathering with a matte finish spray since that tends to virtually obliterate most of the effects, but I did with these cars and it seemed to turn out OK. 

I'm especially pleased with the way this Bachmann car turned out

 

This was a relatively easy project that yielded satisfying results.  I still run some PC cars that have molded roof walks but I'm content with the idea that the Penn Central just hasn't yet gotten around to removing those yet.  The company certainly had a lot of other issues to worry about!  

Thanks for taking a look!

Operations 4: FINALLY! A video about the car cards!

I've finally completed and uploaded a YouTube video about the use of the Penn Central Car Movement Cards.   Hope this is helpful in describing how I'm using them to run ops on the layout.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QdNXt97AFo

Operations 3: A Card Carrying Member.

Hello all,

My previous post about using Penn Central Car Movement Cards prompted some discussion about the inconvenience involved in carrying and organizing a stack of cards around the layout while switching a train.   I'm putting together a video demonstrating the use of the cards but its taking longer than I expected, so I thought I'd do an abbreviated post to the blog today to show off an idea I recently came up with to deal with the issue of carrying several cards around. 

I like the idea of using a switch list too but I also want to incorporate the cards.   I use a clip board to carry the switchlist.   After assembling a number of boxes for my cards, it occurred to me to add a card box to the clip board so all information is handy and easy to carry.

The upcoming video will feature a 13 car train.   Here are the corresponding cards for set-outs fanned out like a deck.

Here is the switchlist based on the cards for set-outs and also for the pick-us that are staged on the layout.

And, here is the newly fashioned clipboard that accommodates both!

Even with this convenient arrangement I still need to set the clipboard down sometimes to run the train.

This is accomplished by installing a couple of conveniently located hooks on the fascia.

More to come, but I wanted to post something about what I'm up to!

Enjoy the Super Bowl today!

Ralph

Operations 2: A Brief look at Yards and Car Movement Cards

As I mentioned previously, I wasn't really thinking about model railroad operations when I first designed my layout.  I mostly wanted a a long mainline run so I could watch a couple of trains roll by.   Fortunately when I became interested in operations, the layout offered enough possibilities to make ops feasible and I've made some adaptations to increase the fun.

One of the biggest obstacles to my running trains in a prototypical fashion is the fact that I didn't include a good sized yard in my track plan.    The layout fills a 12.5 X 20 foot room in my basement.  I walk into the narrow space between the two return loops shown in the crude sketch below.  The dotted rectangle coming down the middle of the room was an idea for an add-on yard I flirted with, but in the end I decided I prefer the nice open space in the middle of the room and easy access to both sides of the layout

I know I'm missing a part of the fun of model railroad operations by not having a main yard to build and break down trains, but I've managed to find some creative ways to stage trains that come on and off the layout.  I imagine there is a large yard near Kings Port called Williams Yard (named after my Uncle Bill, who years ago gave me boxes of his old HO equipment when he switched to N scale).   WilliamsYard is represented by hidden track that goes under the overpass this picture.  Trains are made up by hand and reversed under the overpass to be staged for future use.

I do have a small Car Float Yard on the other side of the layout at West Mill so I can enjoy some of the fun of making up trains there.   Transfer runs to the Car Float Yard are broken up into small trains serving local industries, or as transfers to Mayfield Yard on the KP&W track branching off at Empire Grain. 

Mayfield Yard is represented by two hidden tracks here.

The Float Yard and Mayfield Yard are two destinations some of my trains can go.  I can also use hidden portions of the main line to stage trains.    After some tinkering around, I've come up with an ops scheme that allows me to move up to seven trains during an extended session. 

For now, however, let's take a look at how I'm hoping to use the Car Movement Cards.  For illustrative purposes I'll use a one car train on Extra #3007 (referred to by locals as "The Growler" because of the Bachmann GP40's noise...which is actually much quieter after I put some electrical tape inside the shell to reduce shell vibration.  I think the unit itself is getting quieter over time as well.)  

Any way....Extra #3007 emerges from the overpass, presumably having just left Williams Yard...

...with its one Penn Central boxcar and caboose in tow.

The car card for the boxcar came from this box mounted on the layout fascia that now represents Williams Yard.

I'm in the process of writing one or more cards for every car on the layout.   As a way of generating traffic on the layout, I could shuffle the cards and pull out as many as I wish to work with, but I'm also considering taking a look at JRMI, or going back to Dallas Model Works hobby site to take another look at the free traffic generator feature they offer.   

In today's example I pulled one card for the PC 50 foot boxcar #229046. 

As noted above, it is destined for Mayfield Yard where it will be delivered to the off-layout consignee, Peerless Appliance.   Its loaded with gaskets from the Leike Gasket Company.   The car will be "off -going" (as in leaving the PC system) at West Mill where it will be picked up and handled the rest of the way by my freelanced Kings Port & Western Railroad.   

Flipping the card over reveals information about its return trip after unloading at Peerless Appliance, so its a two cycle card.  Despite all of the information on this side about the car going to Rotterdam Junction and onward to Massachusetts on the B&M, I really only need to route it to staging at Williams Yard.  The rest of the information just makes it more interesting for me.

For now though, I'm taking the card with me as I run Extra 3007 as its corresponding car is part of the train.

I thought I'd throw in another move to illustrate the use of the new card boxes I described in my previous post.   Michigan Central Gondola #350623, loaded with steel pipe from nearby KP Steel,  is waiting on an interchange track for Extra #3007 to pick it up.

Here is the interchange track's box with the car movement card for  MC #350623 in it and ready to go.  

 The car card for the gondola shows its reporting information and notes that its being routed to Terminal Yard for delivery to Gervais Pipe and Fitting in Empire City.  This REALLY "off-layout" destination is actually located on a friend's layout in Georgia!  (More on these very fun, long distance "virtual ops" later).  I'll represent the gondola's trip to Terminal Yard on my layout by running the train into hidden staging. 

Once the gondola is picked up I'll pull the card out  from the box and take it with me as I run the train.

Next up:  Extra #3007 arrives at West Mill's Float Yard where it will drop off PC boxcar #229046, so it can be picked up later by the KP&W for Mayfield Yard.

The PC boxcar is set out....

...and its corresponding card is placed in the Float Yard box to indicate its presence at the Float Yard and describe its next move (to Mayfield).  

The rest of the train heads off to staging (presumably to Terminal Yard in Empire City.

Later that day the King Port & Western's "Mayfield Turn" arrives at West Mill to drop off and pick up cars at the Float Yard.

Again for illustrative purposes I'm making this a one car train with only KP&W's 50 foot plug door boxcar #15630 behind the two F7s. 

Here is the corresponding card for that KP&W car.

 

The card indicates that the car is loaded with new washing machines made by Peerless Appliance that are bound for Battaglia Bros. Warehouse in Kings Port.   For the Penn Central, the card notes that the car is "On-coming" to its system at West Mill from the KP&W.

 The KP&W boxcar is dropped off at the Float Yard...

...And its corresponding card is placed in the Float Yard box

The "Turn" picks up Penn Central boxcar #229046 (and its car card is removed from the Float Yard box)...

...and heads off layout to Mayfield with the PC car that will eventually to be delivered to Peerless Appliance.

Once the train is off-layout, the card for PC car #229046 is placed in the box for Peerless Appliance, indicating that is where the car is.  The card is flipped over to indicate its return movement to Williams Yard (and eventually to Leike Gasket in Montaque, MA.) in the next ops session.

Well, this post is plenty long!  I hope it conveys a sene of what I'm tryng to do with ops nowadays.  You railroaders out there, please feel free to provide feedback regarding the use of the cards.

Thanks for taking a look everyone!