P.C.C.M. 60: 2nd KPD Post. Trains dispatched with virtual ops cars.

Hello everyone!

P.C.C.M. 60 continues as the West Mill Yard switcher sorts cars for dispatch to Terminal Yard and Rock Ridge Yard.

Power for the northbound run to Selkirk that will eventually forward cars to Terminal Yard is F7A #1802 and GP30 2228.

The EMD consist stops at WM Tower for orders before backing into the yard to pick up its train.

Once connected and air is up, the train is given the go-ahead to proceed out of the yard. 

Rolling by are IC 30130 and PC 77047 loaded with Woodstock Hills Natural Soda for Ralph's Grocery Whse.   GM&O 21129 loaded with barrels of cutting oil from Gulf for Walsh Steel Wool

PC 360158 from Zenith with TVs for Superior Furniture and two steel coil cars for Gervais pipe.

KP&W PS-2 covered hopper heading to T&R Gravel for locomotive sand, E.B.R.R. gon 509823 with an industrial tank for Crown Oil and Chemical, and A.P.R.R. hopper 9416 loaded with aggregate for NYS DOT highway projects. 

The train, designated WMV-3, leaves West Mill.

Meanwhile the yard switcher pulls these two empty KP&W boxcars, heading to Rock Ridge and American Hardware.  

...and places them for easy pick up by the next run from Selkirk to Weehawken.

Later that morning WMV-3 meets the transfer from Selkirk at Ulster Ave in Kings Port.  The F7A/GP30 consist crosses first northbound...

...before a pair of large six axle U Boats roar by southbound.  "The more they near their destination..."

The two trains create a loud rumble and clouds of dust as they pass each other....a railfan pleasure!

The two cabooses finally cross Ulster Ave and things quiet down again in Kings Port.

I seem to be having problems with my blog cooperating with my adding more pics here so I'll close this out and add a short addition.

Stay tuned!

P.C.C.M. #60: Pick ups to be forwarded to the N.Y.C.T.L. and A.P.R.R.

Hello Virtual Ops fans!

We are embarking on P.C.C.M. #60 involving John R.'s New York Central Train Layout, Neal's Atlantic Pacific R.R., John B.s L.F.N.W., and my Kings Port Division.

Check out John R.'s posts here

John B.'s posts here

and look for Neal's upcoming posts here.

Meanwhile, on the Kings Port Division cars are being picked up for eventual forwarding to both John R.'s New York Central Train Layout and Neal's Atlantic Pacific R.R.

Two empty cars are pulled from Amalgamated Container to be sent to American Hardware on Neal's layout for loads of rivets and other hardware for large tank manufacturing.

A Penn Central way freight picks up A.P.R.R. hopper #9416 loaded with aggregate for the New York State DOT #10 region for highway construction.  The car will head to John R.'s Terminal Yard and be forwarded to the LIRR for final delivery.

Two Evans Bread Box Trough cars loaded with steel coils are pulled from KP Steel for Gervais Pipe and fittings on the N.Y.C.T.L.

Empire Belt gondola # 509823 sent to Sal's Salvage with a load of rough scrap ...

...has now been unloaded and is to be moved to Amalgamated Container where it will be loaded with a storage tank for Crown Oil & Chemical L.I.C. NY.

Gulf, Mobile & Ohio boxcar 21129 is pulled from the Gulf facility loaded with barrels of cutting oil for Walsh Steel Wool on the N.Y.C.T.L.

Meanwhile over at Woodstock Hills Natural Soda in Bloomberg a pair of cars, PC 77047 and IC 30130, both loaded with pallets of soda. head out to Ralph's Grocery Warehouse on the N.Y.C.T.L.

On the other side of Bloomberg, PC 350158 is pulled from Zenith Television loaded with TVs that will be going to Superior Furniture on the N.Y.C.T.L

A Kings Port & Western Transfer run brings the Bloomberg cars to West Mill. 

A new car in the virtual ops mix, PS-2 covered hopper #445052, has been sent over by Williams Yard to be included on a train to Terminal Yard so it can be forwarded to T&R Gravel for locomotive sand. 

Check back tomorrow as these cars will be sorted into a train to be dispatched toward Terminal Yard via Selkirk.  The two KP&W boxcars for the A.P.R.R. will be tacked onto a train dispatched from Terminal Yard for Neal's Rock Ridge Yard as it passes through West Mill.

New Industry on the Layout

Hello all,

In our last virtual ops series one of the intra-layout moves on my layout involved this old NYC Pacemaker being forwarded to KP Steel Supply to be loaded with new 55 gallon drums for Drywell Inks on John R.'s Layout.

KP Steel Supply sits along what I've been referring to as KP Steel's Holding Yard whose tracks are often used in our virtual ops to accommodate strings of coal hoppers, gondolas loaded with scrap, or multiple coil cars.  

The Pacemaker is seen above set out on a track that really should be occupied by several coal hoppers.   It was seeming more and more unlikely to me that a business like this would be in such a location. 

Another thing I found dissatisfying about KP Steel Supply is its lack of a visible loading dock that doesn't provide any views of the steel drums being shipped.    

Speaking of steel drums, John R. recently posted about making 55 gallon steel drums from wire crimps based on and idea found in the Model Railroad Luddite Blog which is referenced in John's post below...

"Roll Out The Barrels" blog post from the N.Y.C.T.L.

I really wanted to replicate his barrel work to show another commodity that is shipped between us, which furthr motivaed changing the manufacturr of the barrels on my layout

I have also been trying to come up with more loads for our depressed well flat car which has recently been employed to ship an oversized air conditioner from Peerless Appliance to SCC College.

 I thought some larger drums or tanks might fit the bill such as in this example I found online.

 Again, however, there really aren't any ways to show such loads being placed in cars at KP Steel Supply.

So, after some pondering I came up with a new industry that would make steel drums and larger tanks and can be located outside of the KP Steel complex.   Introducing Amalgamated Container Co, (ACCO)!

ACCO is another shelf layout industry that is supposedly located near Mayfield Yard.  It will be served by the Kings Port & Western after cars are forwarded to my freelanced road by the Penn Central at West Mill Yard.    

The structure itself is a simply a cardboard box turned upside down, supported on the inside by strip wood to keep it square, and covered with corrugated craft paper to suggest corrugated metal siding.  Michael's Arts and Crafts stores used to carry this paper in packs but discontinued doing so several years ago.  I finally found similar sheets sold individually at JoAnn Fabrics.   A building flat made from lightly corrugated plastic sign material helps create the illusion that this is a large factory. 

The distinctive oil drum signs were made by finding a Google Image and using Word to superimpose a circle on the image to add the company letters.  

I made several black and white wire crimp drums and assembled them into stacked loads as John R. had done.  

 
I also purchased Walthers Industrial Tanks kit and added them to the scene as additional loads...

 
...the largest is for the depressed well flat car while others fit neatly into a gondola.

I'm pleased that the new industry generates a number of possible operations including receiving steel coils, paint, pallets, and printed labels while shipping 55 gallon drums to Drywell Inks and tanks of various sizes to as yet to be determined consignees.

The video below captures what I imagine to be a typical op at ACCO.  A local from Mayield Yard pushes a loaded steel coil car into the building for unloading while the boxcar behind it is set out at the outside loading dock to receive 55 gallon drums.  The loco then moves to pick up a depressed well flat and gon, both loaded with new industrial tanks.

One last thing:  I moved the Pacemaker to its new location at Amalgamated Container where it will be loaded with those black and white drums.

 That's it for now but look for Amalgamated Container Co. to be featured in a future P.C.C.M.!