PCCM 105: Part 2 on the PD

Hello again! 

We're continuing our one weekend/three layout Penn Central Car Movement virtual ops between John's New York Central Train Layout, Neal's Atlantic Pacific R.R., and my own Kings Port Division. 

Its Saturday morning and time for the special weekly Spring and Summer runs of a vintage Doodlebug up the Catskill Branch to Bloomberg! This popular day trip brings out the railfans of West Mill!  A crowd is gathering at the commuter station.

Looks like 1/87th scale Emory is here to photo-document the run!

 Watch the Doodlebug leave West Mill in the video below:

Later in the afternoon a couple of the  Old Heads at West Mill are spending the end their shift talking about "the good ol' days".  

 Their conversation about better times is interrupted by the arrival of WV-2 with six empty coal hoppers from Neal's APRR.

 The hoppers are separated from the rest of the train to be set out at West Mill.

WV-2's consist shoves the hoppers onto a nearby siding before continuing on to Selkirk

After the WV-2 leaves West Mill, the yard's SW9 switcher goes out to grab the empty hoppers.

...and brings them into the yard.

The hoppers will be transferred to the KP&W's Mayfield Yard where they will later be forwarded to the Lehigh Valley and its coal connection.  GP38-2 #8045 and GP7 #5689 have been assigned to the Mayfield Transfer and await their manifest of cars.

Switcher #8951 supplies the cars by shoving them into the waiting consist.

The six empty hoppers are in front of the non-player bulkhead flatcars.

The #8951 tacks on a bay window caboose still wearing its NYC heritage to finish off the Mayfield Transfer.

Meanwhile, over at Mayfield a set of Lehigh Valley power waits for more empty coal hoppers to take to the mines.   The string of empties behind the locomotives will run with the six hoppers coming from West Mill.

A D&H freight is also seen arriving at Mayfield.   As bridge lines the KP&W and the Delaware & Hudson are often more competitors than collaborators but they sometimes find it beneficial to work in cooperation with each other.

Returning our attention to West Mill the Penn Central transfer backs out of the yard for the run to Mayfield.

The empty hoppers from Neal's APRR will soon be on their way on the LV.    That concludes this installment!   Come back tomorrow as John's Terminal Yard dispatches a train to the Kings Port Division.

PCCM 105: Part 1 on the KPD

 Greetings virtual ops fans!

We're back with a three layout Penn Central Car Movement virtual ops between John's New York Central Train Layout, Neal's Atlantic Pacific R.R., and my own Kings Port Division.  This time we're focusing on the theme of hoppers; open hoppers for coal and covered hoppers for grain and cement that will travel between our three layouts.

West Mill yard is currently empty this morning and ready for the sequence of trains and car movements in this series!

Its not long before we hear a horn blast from the South Local returning to West Mill.  The train had been dispatched earlier this morning to serve Tri Mount Cement and Half Moon Wholesale Lumber.  Its bringing cars from both industries back to West Mill.

Watch the South Local arrive in the video below.   The boxcars and bulkhead flats from Half Moon are non-player cars while the cement hoppers are loaded for Lombo Concrete served by the LIRR connection on John's layout.

Grain hoppers come to our attention next as the yard's SW9 switcher #8951 pulls a string of six cars from Empire Grain.   These will be forwarded to Pier 16 near John's Terminal Yard.

A crewman checks connections between the covered hoppers before they are pulled from the grain complex.

SW9# 8951 receives instructions from WM tower before making its move.

Watch the action at Empire Grain in the video below:

The #8951 is instructed to hold the covered hoppers on the siding because of an approaching Kings Port & Western transfer run from Mayfield Yard.  

The turnout on the main is realigned to allow the KP&W transfer to pass by on its way to West Mill Yard.

Watch the KP&W transfer from Mayfield roll by while the covered hoppers wait to access the mainline.  Once the transfer has cleared the main and enters the yard limits the SW9 gives the grain cars the shove!

 After the KP&W RS3 and F7A return caboose lite to Mayfield, SW9 #8951 brings the grain cars into West Mill Yard.

Now that all of the cars scheduled to be forwarded to the N.Y.C.T.L. are at West Mill Yard the #8951 gets to work blocking them according to orders from Terminal Yard.

Six covered cement hoppers for Lombo Concrete will be placed at the rear of the train.

The six grain cars for Pier 16 will make up the first block followed by the six coal hoppers for the Empire Power Authority.

An NYC bay window caboose is tacked onto the end of the blocks of cars.

Power for the run over the "Selkirk Hurdle" to Terminal Yard will be U28C #6533 and U33C #6554.  Watch the pair of six axle GE units couple to the train and pull it out of West Mill in the video below:

 The train designated as Extra 6533 is later seen running through Selkirk on it way to Terminal Yard, closely followed by the arrival of train EV-4 from Enola.

Meanwhile, demand for cement has been high this last quarter and Tri Mount Cement is working three shifts to meet customer orders. A second shipment of loaded cars arrives at West Mill.  Six of these will be forwarded to Neal's APRR for transfer to their connection with the M&E.

The cement job is brought to West Mill by the newest motive power addition to the Kings Port Division GP9m #7270    

This second cement job of the day drops off six cars at the siding for the VW-1 to pick up later.  They will be heading to Neal's APRR which will forward them to the M&E.

 The rest of the cars are pushed into West Mill Yard.  These non-player cars will presumably be delivered to other consignees.

The West Mill gang takes a look at the latest power addition to the Kings Port Division, GP9m #7270.  The engineer getting off the unit reports that it ran very well.

The six cement cars for Neal's APRR to forward to the M&E are picked up for their trip south to Weehawken by train VW-1. 

After arriving at Weehawken they will be sorted into a train to Rock Ridge Yard.   That's it for today but check back tomorrow for more virtual ops action!

PCCM 104: Part 2 on the KPD

 Hello again!

This is the second installment of a short virtual ops between Neal's Atlantic Pacific R.R.  and my Kings Port Division.  So far, empty cars were dispatched from Rock Ridge Yard to the Penn Central's yard at West Mill.   They were then forwarded to the Kings Port & Western R.R, via transfers to Williams Yard and Mayfield Yard.

The transfer to Mayfield consisted of a string of empty hoppers that was then forwarded to the Lehigh Valley to be loaded with coal.   Here at Mayfield we can see an LV coal train returning with the now loaded hoppers that will be sent to Neal's RMO Electric Co..

The LV consist uncouples from the train and goes to service. 

It is then replaced by a KP&W RS3 that will take the hoppers to West Mill. 

 After the transfer to West Mill arrives the hoppers are backed into the yard. 

The transfer's power heads back to Mayfield caboose light.

Shifting our attention to  King Port we see a KP&W S12 hauling some cars from KP Steel to Williams Yard.   The PCCM cars at KP Steel are the two Penn Central corrugated gondolas loaded with steel coils for Neal's Shapeless Steel.

After the gons arrive at Williams Yard they are coupled onto a transfer run being assembled for the Penn Central's West Mill Yard. The transfer is dispatched to West Mill behind a KP&W GP9.

At West Mill the gons are added to the string of loaded coal hoppers that recently came from Mayfield.    The whole cut will be set out on a siding for the next VW-1 to pick up on its way to Weehawken.  

   SW9 #8951 works hard to place the cut on the siding.

 The cut of hoppers and gondolas waits for VW-1 to pick them up.

An hour later VW-1 arrives at West Mill headsed by an F7A-B-A!

VW-1 picks up the cut of cars and prepares to continue on its journey to Weehawken. The train stretches the length of West Mill.

After a crewman finishes walking the train and checking connections VW-1 heads out of West Mill.   PCCM cars on this train will be forwarded from Weehawken to Neal's Rock Ridge Yard.

That concludes the action for this series on the Kings Port Division!  Check in on Neal's blog to see what happens next after the cars arrive at Rock Ridge!

PCCM 104 A Call for Coal and More!

 Hello,

We're running a shorter two layout virtual op this time between Neal's Atlantic Pacific R.R.  and my Kings Port Division while John is temporarily away.   Even with just the two of us participating there is a lot of rail action to follow!

As always at the beginning of our Penn Central Car Movement series, things seem quiet at West Mill Yard... but not for long!

The quiet is broken by the sound of a Leslie S-3L airhorn at the south end of town as train WV-2 from Weehawken to Selkirk arrives. The WV-2 is headed by an F7A-B-A consist first dispatched from Rock Ridge Yard.

The train's caboose is cut so the block at the end of the train can be set out at West Mill.

The train pulls ahead so it can shove the cut for West Mill into the yard.

The cut of empty hoppers and gondolas is backed into the yard....

 After the cut for West Mill is set out WV-2 continues on to Selkirk.

Shortly after the dust clears from WV-2's departure a Bloomberg Turn returns to West Mill with cars from industries in the Catskills.  All of these non-player cars will soon be added to a transfer to the KP&W's Williams Yard.

After the Bloomberg Turn cars arrive West Mill's switcher #8951 gets to work assembling a transfer run to the KP&W's Williams Yard in Kings Port.  The two PC corrugated gondolas are the PCCM cars on this train.  They will be forwarded by the KP&W to KP Steel.

The transfer will be powered by  a pair of GP20s.

Connections are checked and the air is pumped up.   The train receives clearance to leave West Mill Yard and proceeds to Kings Port.

A Williams Yard crew works on assembling today's Steel Job for KP Steel which will include the two PC corrugated gons

The Steel Job will be powered by KP&S RS3 #566.

The Steel Job is dispatched to KP Steel where the gondolas will be loaded with steel coils for Shapeless Steel in Rock Ridge.

Returning out attention to the Penn Central yard at West Mill crews have prepared a transfer for the KP&W's Mayfield Yard.  These empty coal hoppers will be forwarded by the KP&W to the Lehigh Valley and its coal mine connections.

Mayfield Yard waits for the transfer from West Mill.  The Lehigh Valley regularly interchanges with the Kings Port & Western here.  A pair of LV locomotives is standing by to run another string of empty hoppers to coal country.

The transfer to Mayfield is dispatched from West Mill

That's it for today! Come back tomorrow as the hoppers and gons return loaded for Neal's Rock Ridge Yard.