New Bachmann S 4 Arrives at Harlem Station

A new locomotive arrived at the PoNY Railroad's Erie Harlem Station with little fanfare but much appreciation today. With the 44 tonners down until a suitable decoder and sound system is found (I finally gave up on the LokSound I've been messing with for over a year now!), no. 514 (an Alco S-2) has been shouldering all of the duties by itself. The shiny new sound-equipped Alco S-4 no.529 is a welcomed site to the crews, and at under $100, the general accounting office couldn't complain.

I had already assumed I was going to have to change out the headlight since the double configuration seemed unusual, but again, another nice surprise that it is consistent with prototype. (Maybe all S-4s came this way?) Not sure how much closer I'm going to look, but I'm impressed with the out-of-the-box experience so far. Didn't even hesitate when I started him up. The crews should be happy.

Some prototype photos I've acquired lately of 529. Notice how close the first two photos were taken!

1970 at Jamestown, New York

A few milliseconds later in 1970 at Jamestown, New York

Post merger sometime/where

5 October 1971 at Croxton Yard, NJ

Delivered in October of 1952, no.529 was one of only 4 Alco S-4s (nos. 526-529) on the Erie who was a pretty good customer for Alco. I'm pretty sure they weren't bought because of the characteristic galopty-lop sound of the engines, but that is one reason why I like them.

Bonus material
An outtake from the 2 minute film session today. Even the simplest filming needs more than one take! The office crew got a laugh when no.529 moved in reverse instead of forward on the first take...

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New awesome products from TCS and Soundtraxx!

At the 2015 MARPM event last week, I stumbled across a great new product.  Bob the Train Guy:(Website: Bob the Train Guy ) had the new TCS motherboard replacement with the Keep Alive capacitors.  The Keep Alive capacitors are a direct replacement for the boards in RTR locomotives.  right now they have 4 different boards, Athearn RTR, Athearn Genesis, Intermountain and Bowser.  I'm pretty sure the Athearn Genesis will work on a Atlas drive!  I have been adding KA's or Soundtraxx's Current Keepers in my sound locos for several years now.  They work well and keep the sound and locomotive moving on dirty track and through unpowered frogs.  A must for sound equipped locomotives.  Making room for a speaker and capacitors was always an undertaking.  So enter this new replacement board from TCS: http://www.tcsdcc.com/.
I was already picking up a speaker and my first Soundtraxx Econami 21 pin decoder from Bob.  I was putting the sound decoder in a Intermountain GATX SD40-2 that I picked up for $72 from MB Kleins.   It had the 21 pin connector on it motherboard and I was somehow going to add a capacitor.  Bob then told me about the new motherboard replacement from TCS.  Saved alot of time and the capacitor worked better than the others on the market.  I turned the power to the track off and the locomotive ran for about 27 seconds!  Unbelievable!

Here is the original mother board out of the Intermountain SD40-2.  These come DCC ready and have a 21 pin decoder installed.  I unhooked all the connectors. 

This is the new TCS motherboard.  Same plugins so the wiring requires no soldering!

The new Soundtraxx 21 pin economi sound decoder.  The CV setup is totally different for the Tsunamis but the horns are better and has different bell selections.  The best feature, it's 20-30 bucks cheaper.   

The only small problems I ran into was adding a speaker to the new mother board.  I need a connector to solder to the speaker wires.  Luckily I had one of these in my DCC drawer.  Never dispose of stuff because it may come in handy down the road.  The other is the Econami decoder itself.  The 21 pins on the TCS mother board were not long.  So adding the Econami decoder was not perfect fit.  On the bottom of the Econami were electronics that did not allow it to lay flat.  So the 21 pin connectors barely fit in the Econami at an angle and came off easily.   If the pins were longer, it would be no problem.  I'm sure the TCS WOW decoders will lay down quite snug on these and they were making Econami users like me work fro it! Overall easy installation and great sounding decoder.  Here's a quick sample of it:

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Wow! This new track arrangement makes sense!

Someone actually commented that this track arrangement makes so much more sense.  Well, the track has been ripped out and the new arrangement has been put in.  I really like it and why didn't think of this before?  What was I thinking of adding another diamond and creating a weird and unprototypical track arrangement?  This new arrangement really flows and makes sense. Now all I need to do is add feeder wires and I'm done!

The Virginia Midland trackage is on the left, now serving the elevator at Mid-Atlantic Feeds.  The Virginia Central trackage is on the right serving the sand unloading facility. 

The trackage towards the door is just about the same.

The sand facility now holds 8 hoppers instead of 4 as before.

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Happy New Year!

From the Erie Employees Magazine: John C. Novy, car forman at the E. 55th Street shops, Cleveland, shows how to set a hand brake. Note the firm hold he has on the grab iron; left foot on ladder rung, right foot planted on the platform.

Have a "Safe Happy New Year" from the employees, family and friends of the Port of New York Railroad!

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New trackage is well underway!

Hope everyone had a great Christmas holiday and good start to the New Year!
Spent the last week I'm off completing a freight car project for a client and getting started on my new trackage.  The last couple of days I decided to start on the hardest part of the project, the removable section across the aisle.  This is not an easy straight piece of track that is on a square piece of wood, but an angled piece of wood with curved track.  So, definitely not easy.  I went down to the Home Depot to get a quality piece of wood, cut in a 2' X 4'.  Knowing I would need only a small piece of it.  Turns out, I need all of it because of cutting mistakes and redoing it.  Definitely the third time is the charm.  I also did an adjustment on the track plan.  A passing siding will be added to the trackage which will enhance the operational state of the layout.

The passing siding will end here at the canal.  

Trackage will extend through the wall towards the helix.  This area will be renamed Parker, where there was a passing siding was in the 1920's.

Here is my outline for the removable bridge. It will be more narrow.

The outline in place.  

Testing out with track.  The track will be easy compare to getting the removable bridge correct.

Here is my 3rd try at the removable section.   It's a nice snug fit.  

Add caption

The removable section "holder".  These will be painted black to match the fascia.  

Holder on the other side.  The right bracket is really not needed but would look better.  Have I told you how much I hate angles?  Glad I have a nice saw to do all this cutting,  Equipment for the woodworking in MR is a big plus!

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Remotored Roundhouse Boxcab breaking in on New Test Track

A re-motored Roundhouse boxcab

A comparison of the out-of-the-box configuration (lower) and remotored and weighted chassis from Ron LaFever (upper).

Activity on the New Test Track

Last week I created a test track loop to break-in locomotives. I used some code 83 weathered Micro Engineering flex track on top of a door/worktable. I quickly made a note at how difficult it was to work with the rail joiners straight out of the pouch, so I started to pry the openings up a little with the tip of a file so that they would go on the rail more easily. I then soldered the joints between the four pieces and set my re-motored GE-IR boxcab off in circles. I sent this little guy off to Ron LaFever to be remotored (exchanged, actually, for another rebuilt chassis), and the results were very good. Very nice work. The only problem that remains is the noise of the gearing, which is a result of the design, but hopefully the break-in will help with that. In the meantime, I have the radio turned up pretty high to cover up (some) of the noise.

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New video series The Virginia Midland industry tour

Here is part one of the new VMID industry tour.  This will cover the east end of the railroad and the following industries: Rappahannock Aggregate, Mid-Atlantic Feeds and Specialized Beverage.  Enjoy!

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Update video on the new track Trains are running again

Here's the video of my updated trackage.  Got trains running again on the lower level.  Still a ways to go.

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New floor complete in the layout room

I finished the floor in the layout room last Thursday. Turned out better than thought it would.  Makes the room look more bright and hopefully less dust.  I have just about got everything organized back.

Adding the trim at the entrance

Before I added all my clutter.

Just about complete

Adding back the desk and shelves.

Slowly getting it back to normal.

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Photo of No 19 at New Harlem Freight Station

I recently found a copy of Erie Railfan (vol 1, no. 3, pp 8-9, Summer 1973) that has the second part of an excellent Larry DeYoung article on first generation diesels. Included is this photo (Ed Kelsey) of no.19 at the Harlem Station (149th Street). The building behind it is the office and freight house located on the Exterior Street side of the yard looking E-SE. No.19 was actually the fourth boxcab Erie acquired in 1928 (no.20 was the first in 1926 and nos. 21-22 in 1927).

The photo and article provide some interesting and relevant data for my layout. I now know that no.19 was at Harlem on June 12th, 1949, and that it had its end tiger striping. Cross referencing another photo from the Railroads of New York Harbor 2010 Calendar by George J. Abere, Jr. in April of 1955 shows that the striping is still there, and since it is a color photo, I know the striping is yellow as is the lettering and herald on the sides.

I also have a good reference for the building windows, awning and configuration in '49. I haven't researched this fully, yet, but the building changed over the years, so this adds a piece for nailing down what it looked like if I want to choose a specific year to model it (or perhaps multiple models for different years?)

1954

Also of note is that it looks like the ground is paved with concrete, which is previously unknown information to me. So, I go to historicaerials.com and search for "Exterior St and 149th, New York", and I find aerials from 1954 (above) showing the concrete paving. The tracks are also uncovered at this point, and I know from a 1957 photo that the two tracks, along with others) are enclosed by a building. There is also a neat feature that allows you to compare photos side by side with a slider to reveal one or the other photo. I choose 1966 and 1954 to compare (the oldest available), and notice not only the new building, but also maybe some new tracks by the centrally located crane and an elevated I-87 over Exterior St. (below)

1966

So a really good find leads me through a slew of resources to have a better idea of the evolution of the yard. I think I prefer the smaller building without the covered tracks, which means pre-'57 at some point. I may go to 1959 and simply construct the walls of the building with a removable roof for operation, or, better yet, just say it is '59 and not have the building. (Don't tell anyone if I end up doing that.)

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Im back with a new video for Memorial Day weekend

Well I'm back for Memorial Day and wanted to give a moment to thank all the Veterans, including my dad that have made this great country possible.  I fly my stars and stripes in front of my house everyday.  It's been a busy time with me but I do see the light at the end of the tunnel.  I did find some time to shoot a video today.  I recently purchased a Minuteman Models I-Car and finally put the finishing touches on it yesterday.  It holds my I-phone and you can film as if the camera is mounted on the front of the locomotive.  The video is a mainline run around the whole layout, top section.  I will have a trip down the helix to the lower level very soon.  Only modification I would do is to get rid of the Kadee sprung trucks it comes with.  They like to pick switches.  See if you can find where I saved the video from a derail right after the first road crossing.

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Blog New york central ho train set

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New video on the various trains that make up the railroad

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Erie in New York Harbor 1929

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New Jersey Junction RR Map 1911

1911 map of the New Jersey Junction Railroad

Some of the notable directors on the board of the New Jersey Junction Railroad in 1911 were William Rockefeller, William and Frederick Vanderbilt, and J.P. Morgan. So there must have been something of interest going on along this part of the Jersey Shore before Snooki. Taking a look at the vitals in the image below, the line ran from Weehawken headquarters to Jersey City for a grand total of 4.44 "main line" miles and .34 "branch line" miles. The cost of the road was $367K per mile and the stock price was $100/share.

Turns out that all the shares belonged to the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad Company (hence the big names involved), but there was certainly already lots of business to be had on the West Shore of the Hudson in 1911, and probably more importantly, the need for the connection between the West Shore RR (also owned by the NYC) in Weehawken to Jersey City and another access point to Manhattan, etc. Along the way the NJJRR ran across the Erie and the DL&W that went to the Hudson as well. The line ran right alongside the Erie's Weehawken Branch line, and I believe became part of Conrail's River Line branch.

The vital statistics of the NJJRR of 1911

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The new year is off to a good start!

Being off the last 2 weeks you would think I would have time for lots of model railroading right?  Not so much.  Been busy on the homestead with shopping, cooking and the holidays.  Modeling time has taken a back seat and really I haven't been feeling the MR vibe.  I've done a few things, but nothing major. The last two days have been productive and I'm probably realizing I have to go to work on Monday!  I also have been rolling out of the bed at 8:00 or later too so that doesn't help much.  So in the last two days, I've installed a Tortoise on the lower level on the Mine Run Branch, removed a Lok sound decoder from a loco and installed a Tsunami, and for some reason started to install a valiance over the layout.  I've wanted to do this for a while now and just got started yesterday.  It will greatly improve the look of the layout room, like the floor has.  It's a two person job for a bit but my wife is gone shopping so the main 7 foot section will have to wait until this afternoon.

First section is done.  The blue bags are for debris from drilling holes.  It will hopefully give the layout a more professional look.  Do I do anything professional?

The next section is the longest part.  It will hide the light fixture and the all the wiring.

Last section to be installed.  Not idea what to do for the yard since it has no shelving above it.

GP39-2 #274 is back in service.  This is one of my newest engines that for some reason I put Lok Sound in.  Lok Sound sounds great but but adding a capacitor like a (Keep Alive) is not possible.  Even tried to add it but still the sound was in and out.  I believe Lok Sound has their own KA, but I believe it's in the $50 range.

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New batteries

I received a handful of new batteries for my CVP Products CNVRTR radio control battery powered system locomotive fleet to try on the PoNY. They are LiPo 500mA Turnigy brand batteries with JST-XH balancing plugs and JST BEC power connectors. I had been searching for 300 or 400mA, but all brands and outlets seemed to be out of stock. 

Up until now, I have been using 3200mA, 1200mA, 1000mA, and 800mA sizes. I have yet to run a battery down during a session, but I haven't had enough sessions to prove out what is necessary for my layout for a 2-3 hour time frame. I believe I am still at overkill, though. 

The May issue of MR includes an introductory  article on using battery powered locomotives. In it they say that a 240mA will run for 2-3hours. I hope to find these available at some point soon to find out for myself. These batteries go for less than $10. 

I am soooooo happy I am using battery power at this point, and I don't see any speed bumps on the horizon. Now I can concentrate on the decoder settings and dialing in the locomotives for the most enjoyable experience possible for my guests. 

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