Building and operating the Atlantic Inland

 Those of you that operated on AIR1 are familiar with Pettigrew yard. For those new to the Atlantic Inland the coal marshaling yard is Pettigrew Yard. Coal hauling railroads often had a yard dedicated to processing coal hoppers from various branches and building trains that forwarded coal on to it’s final destination. For the Western Maryland this was Knobmount. On the C&O it would be Hinton, on the N&W, Bluefield. Clinchfield’s was at Dante. On the Atlantic Inland it’s Pettigrew. Coal loads picked up from various loaders, tipples and mines make their way to the marshaling yard, traveling on a “mine tag” for paperwork. Once at the marshaling yard loads get weighed, classified, and receive billing and permanent waybills(1*). On AIR1 I simulated this billing change with two sided waybills. One side was the mine tag which simply routed the car to Pettigrew Yard. Once the PYM began classifying these cars HE would flip these bills and reinsert them 8n the card pocket. Once flip...

 Located at the west end of the layout is main west staging, divided into two sub staging yards: St.Louis and Chicago. Additionally there will be three staging yards representing the three connecting railroads: B&O, C&O, and NYC. AIR passenger trains will originate from West Staging. These passenger trains will feed a handful of cars to the passenger service facility: REA, USPS, Pullman Service, various industries, etc… These passenger trains will not, I think provide enough work for my passenger job, so I am planning three passenger transfers from the connecting roads, one passenger transfer from each of these connecting road staging yards. These transfers will be made up of several of each type of head end car(1*),   billed to various spots in the passenger jobs area of responsibility (From time to time there will be a passenger car in these transfers, making a connection, but that is for another discussion). If, as I expect, each transfer consists of at least ten ca...

 It’s been a while. I’ve had a couple things that have side tracked me. My knee rehab. I am falling behind. Doing my two knees so close together, 14 weeks apart, makes the rehab seem like one long slog. I find, at PT, that I’m falling behind. So I have to be more diligent. Secondly, Murphy has, in quick succession, shredded the two train books I was reading. I’ve re-ordered them, but I’m waiting.  The third book, about produce reefer traffic, has to be locked away from Murphy when I’m not there guard it. I’ve been discussing reefer ops with my friend John Fiscella. John is one of the big movers and shakers at the San Diego Model Railroad Club. They are located in the Balboa Park museum in San Diego, Ca., across the hall from La Mesa. In my era, ice bunker reefers were how the railroads moved produce. The Reefer operators, PFE or SFRD to name two examples, offered what are known as “Protective Services” along with the transportation of goods. Protective services are everything ...