WY79 Tank Sweeper and WY841 (RDG) Coal Drag

WY79/80 was a run to service the refineries in Westville and Paulsboro. Some referred to it as the "Tank Sweeper". I believe it originated from the old Reading Bulson Street yard in Camden.

My representation originates in the new 4th staging track (hidden behind the viaduct) and is 23 cars long. With 3 engines on the head end it is a beautiful 75" long sweeping train. It services the on-line Texaco Refinery in Westville and the off-line Sunoco refinery in Paulsboro.

WY841 in Woodbury heading down the Penns Grove/Deepwater branch

23 cars = 75"

Leaving Woodbury with a PRSL N5 cabin bringing up the rear.

Red Oak tower in Woodbury

The Reading usually had the coal contracts to support the Atlantic City Electric generating plants in Atlantic City and Deepwater NJ. I have pictures of it with multiple Reading RS3s on the mainline to Atlantic City but I don't model that portion of the PRSL. The Deepwater plant may (or may not) have been supplied by Reading car floats across the Deleaware but on my layout the same type Reading RS3s service it via the Deepwater/Penns Grove Branch through Woodbury.

My WY841 runs from the main staging tracks with loads south. It returns north with empties as WY840 with the same Reading equipment on the front and back ends. Yard staging limits this train to 16-20 cars (5').

WY841 over Timber Creek entering Westville with a pair of Reading RS-3s on the head end

Passing Olive Street in south Westville

Entering North Woodbury

Drone view

Edith Avenue in north Woodbury

Passing Hollaway Lumber (current site of the Colonial Diner) in north Woodbury

PRSL Operating Session #8

We had our 8^th group operating session today. We were missing one of our regulars so I had to do some actual railroad work in addition to my normal responsibilities of handing out demerits and providing general crew harassment. As I mentioned on a couple of the model railroad forums we learned the following:

• You can't take a 23 car tank train up a 3% grade with only 2 Atlas GP38s
• The crew will forget everything they have learned from the first 7 op sessions when you give them 6 months off
• We only have 2 operators that can still fit into the Camden access hatch since the city encroached into its space.

Mario (@mrodtoo) got cheated in the crew highlights of my articles in N Scale Magazine (you could only see the back of his head while he was working), so this is his actual face. He obviously enjoys yard work:

Mr. Model Railcast Show, Tim, switching the Woodbury area:

Bob stuffed in the access hatch fixing a mistake 😊:

A 23 car tank train struggling up a 3% grade behind a pair of PRSL GP38s:

The famous PRSL meatball on the lead unit's nose:

The Philly transfer leaving Camden behind a Baldwin RT624:

...while a pair of Baldwin BS12s shove a cut of cars into Pavonia Yard:

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Atlantic County 4-H Model Railroad Club Train Show

Along with Bob, Mario, & Larry, I attended the Atlantic County 4-H Model Railroad Club Train Show. It contained several large layouts manned by members of the:
.          Atlantic County 4-H Model Railroad Club
.          NJ Southern N & T Trak
.          Central NJ N-Trak
.          Five Point N Trak
.          Northern NJ T Trak
.          Brooklyn N Trak
.          Keystone N & T Trak

This was the first time I ran across the T Trak modules and I was impressed by their work.

Enjoy:

Hey, the Tax Co. is going out of business!

I question the wisdom of building an airline terminal over a railroad???

23 More Days!

23 more days until the end of tax season and I can return to the hobby! 

I do seasonal work for a large tax preparation firm from January to April 18^th. They are about 50 people short in their southern New Jersey offices and consequently we put in a lot of hours during the tax season. My health has been struggling with annoying minor issues so I am dragging myself to the finish line this year.

I did get the opportunity to attend dual meetings of the PRSL Historical Society last week. The first part was an open house at the restored PRSL Glassboro train station. I’ve included a photo from Ben Kranefeld showing its deteriorated state before the restoration began. The station was built in the 1860s and the local historians, especially Rich Drobil, can regale you with their adventures in uncovering historical treasures before the actual restoration began. There was not much left after the termites and vandals had completed their work but a faithful few returned the station to life and turned it into a worthy railroad museum.

Prior to Reconstruction - photo by Ben Kranefield

Glassboro Station March 2017

A local freight train passes Glassboro station every night around 8:00 PM - photo by Lou McCall

A painting of the Glassboro train station area in the 1890s.

Following the open house we moved to a local church basement where Steve Barry, editor of Railfan/Railroad magazine, presented a slide show of railroading in southern New Jersey.

Visitors

Was pleased to host a visit by a band of 13 local model railroaders headed by the infamous Lt. Steve Moyland (ret.), benevolent dictator of the HO Oak Valley Model Railroad crew in Deptford. They also let me tag along on a full day of visits to other local model railroads. (Unfortunately all HO since the group has deficits in eyesight and small motor skills. (Just kidding :-) )).

First stop: Bob Ainsworth: What stood out to me, on his Oak Valley & Western, was the many industries that had 3 dimensional signs (fuzzy teddy bears, toy blocks, etc. - nice touches).

Next we visited Paul More. What I enjoyed the most was that most of his scratch built structures had memorable personal stories attached to them (his granddad's gas station, etc.). (He also had a nice collection of antique cars and gas pumps.)

Next we stopped to see Chris Schulte's Reading RR layout and his beautiful street and catenary work.

After a visit to my PRSL layout (and you have certainly seen enough pictures of that!) we created a disturbance at a local restaurant and learned the steps needed to buy a 100' hot air balloon (Steve again). Then we visited an open house of the Delaware & Susquehanna Model Railroad Club. Beautiful structure work and impressive electrical displays.

A fun day! Thanks Steve!

Overdue Projects

I finally got around to some overdue work in the Camden area trackage:

1. Lengthened the arrival lead (now holds 9 cars instead of 4).
2. Added an engine escape turnout between the yard leads (also effectively lengthens the yard leads).
3. Added a pair of turnouts to enable a 4th staging track to be located behind the viaduct (holds 23 tankers and enables us to add another turn (2 trains) to the operating schedule).

Next up I need to:

1. Replace a Peco Electrofrog turnout that thinks it’s an Insulfrog in the other 3 track staging area (getting tired of dispatching 2 trains concurrently instead of 1 at a time) and 
2. Wire the extended yard lead

N Scale Magazine Jan-Feb 2017

My third and final series article was published in the Jan-Feb 2017 issue of N Scale Magazine. Hopefully this will help those attempting to set up prototypical group (or individual) operations on their layouts.

They also graciously gave me the honor of the cover shot  (3 billion photo attempts later) for the magazine. I think I had reached the limits of my 10 year old, 8 magapixel, Canon PowerShot A590. The trick is to get as small an aperture (and lots of daylight lighting) as possible to maximize the area in focus. An amateur/professional friend made a valiant but failed effort to help with his high end equipment. 

Shooting a model railroad is a distinct talent with different rules to the game. My A590 was limited to an f stop of 8. I borrowed my daughter's 12 megapixel DSLR, f stop 20 (which in reality is not a big improvement over the point and shoot's f8), and managed to get better results. I submitted what I though was the winner but they chose a different shot from one of the last photo shoots. (They are not color-blind, but I am!)

The real laugh is my layout attempts to faithfully model Westville, Woodbury, and part of Brooklawn. They chose to use a shot of Camden which is not faithfully modeled. Such is life.

The Russians are Back! 

The bulk of the recent views (183) of my blog have come from Russia. I hope Mr. Putin is enjoying the photos!

The Philly Transfer Has New Power

Here is the latest edition (from the Chris Broughton Locomotive Works) to my PRSL layout. A Baldwin center-cab RT-624 arriving in Camden with the Philly transfer. A movie clip, shared (2013) by someone on the PRSL Historical Society, showed a center cab in Camden. I am assuming that was a Baldwin RT624. I traded Chris some brass cabins for this and transforming some old Model Power P70s closer to what the PRSL uses.

The RT624 is a Shapeways body on an Atlas Alco C630 chassis.

A Baldwin S12 hustles out to meet the Philly transfer headed by a Baldwin RT624

The P70s were originally cheap Model Power models. Chris added steps, replaced the 6 axle trucks with 4 axle ones, repainted, and lettered for PRSL. The decals are not as elongated as the prototype but were still an improvement. He did 3 coaches and a PBM (Passneger-Baggage-Mail). No PBMs existed on the PRSL so we numbered it with the open number (9937) between the coach and combine numbers.

PRSL P70s discharging their passengers in Woodbury