PCCM 96: Part 3 on the KPD

 Greetings for a third time.  :)

This is the third and final installment of my "outbound" posts for this series in which cars are gathering to be dispatched into trains heading to John's New York Central Train Layout and Neal's Atlantic Pacific R.R.  

Yesterday all of the cars scheduled to arrive at West Mill Yard for this purpose had come in on various PC and KP&W trains, along with a little help from the car float that runs between West Mill and Port Owen!

Now its time for all of those cars to be assembled into trains.  It won't be an easy task with a yard choked with rolling stock.    Over the sea of freight car roof tops we see West Mill's Yard Tower...

...the commanding perch of Yardmaster Cappy Foster who is having a Maalox cocktail while barking orders...

...via intercom to the small shack in the yard where crewmen plan their moves.

One of them takes the throttle of SW9 #8951, the yard's reliable workhorse switcher and grabs a string of empty hoppers for Hudson Coal.   Today's job foreman on the ground is calling out moves and observing the cars as they roll by.

The switcher shoves the coal cars back into track #1 to pick out G&MO #21129 loaded with barrels of lube oil for the Terminal Yard locomotive facilities, and LV NIRX #41000 carrying adhesive backed paper for Berk Enterprises.
 

The cut now backs into Track #3 to fish out PC #360063 loaded with English-styled packaged meals from Cavendish Fine Foods for Ralph's Grocery Warehouse.  I wonder how popular blood pudding is in Empire City? 

Rolling back into Track #2 the cut adds P&E #3638 filled with REVCO kitchen gadgets.

The cut heads down Track #1...

...to grab an empty Swift reefer going back to its home in New England.

The Swiftee couples up with three Gulf tankers full of fuel for Ford Motor Co.

Dipping back into Track #3 the cut picks up EBRR gon # 509823 carrying two tanks for West Chemical and PC boxcar # 104478 loaded with bagged Cement Flux for Lombo Concrete.  This is the beginning of a block for the LIRR.

Finally, the increasingly larger cut that will soon become a train backs into PS2 hoppers KP&W #45052 and PC #883190, both loaded with fine aggregate for the NY State DOT project.

That completes the yard work for train WKV-2 (West Mill-Kings Port-Selkirk).    We're waiting for the assigned power to arrive. 

While the yard work is being completed in West Mill the crew at KP Steel's yard in Kings Port is ready to set some loaded cars on the KP&W/ PC interchange track just outside the steel plant.  Watch the action as a couple of KP Steel industrial switchers combine horsepower to shove six cars loaded with heavy steel coils.

These cars will be picked up by the train about to leave West Mill.  Speaking of which, the power for this run has arrived in the form of a U33C/ GP30 combo.

Watch WKV-4 leave and travel over the Division summit at Marion to reach Kings Port in the video below:

As noted above, the train will be picking up the six cars loaded with steel coils.  The PC gon is for Gervias Pipe and fittings while the five Evans Steel Coil coaches are for Pier 16 at Terminal Yard.

The train is cut behind the six empty hoppers.  This provides the engine crew with a protective buffer between the coil load in the PC gondola and also will help place the coil cars for Pier 16 next to other cars like G&MO #21129 for Terminal Yard.

Watch the pick up in the video below:

Now that the train for Selkirk is fully assembled the crew checks all connections and pumps up the air while waiting for permission to proceed from the Kings Port Dispatcher.   A VW-1 from Selkirk for Weehawken is expected but the size of the siding WKV-4 is on allows for a "rolling meet".   Watch the action below:

An hour later WKV-4 arrives at Selkirk!   

Cars on this train will be sent out to Terminal Yard with new power and and a different designation.  It will also include BAR boxcar #5226 which is loaded with blueberries from Circle B Farms in Caribou, ME for Empire Produce.   The car arrived at Mechanicville yesterday and was transferred to Selkirk.

The Swift car will be removed from the train and forwarded to Mechanicville for its return trip to Lawrence, MA.

Meanwhile back at West Mill the VW-1 that met WKV-4 in Kings Port has arrived to pick up cars for Neal's APRR.  The cars were set out for VW-1 while we were focused on Selkirk.

The cut for VW-1 includes KP&W #15638 loaded with bricks for American Hardware and three Hi Cubes of Peerless appliances for PC Richard on Neal's layout.

Watch VW-1 arrive in the video below:

The GP38/ F7B consist is cut from the front of the train.

Watch the pick up in the video below:

After picking up the cars for Neal's APRR the train continues on its way to Weehawken:

That concludes the "outbound" portion from the Kings Port Division in this series.  Come back next week to follow our inbounds as a train from the N.Y.C.T.L. arrives at Selkirk with cars for the KPD!