Train sets!

Thanks for the update Arthur

Hello everyone, another PLRX update here!

As of 1:45PM Central Time on 10/28/2019, work on getting the Phoenix Line powered & operating has begun. I've also been informed that, due to some disagreements, the operating configuration of the railroad's "Mixed Pack" train has come under review. I for one am disapointed to have learned of this but I'm trying to remain optimistic that the review will be completed soon.

While this railroad's track already runs through the town of Rustyville (as well as its suburb of Stackville) and the village of Hillside, there is a plan to extend these to the town of Oakdale at some point in the future (in actual fact the "Oakdale" section of the layout has not been built yet but this work will be happening).

Please stay tuned as the PLRX saga continues.

thanks for the update art

Hello everyone!

As of 2:15PM Central Time on 10/29/2019, the PLRX has power!!! This development has created at least two issues though, and there is currently no way to fix them. Unfortunately, these problems are happening at two sets of switch points and we do not have replacements for them. Fixing these problems is going to be a challenge but I'm trying to stay somewhat optimistic about getting this done however as it needs to be done. 

Building some secondary trackage has yet to be done but I hope that it gets done soon. I've also made a suggestion to change the track of a spur near a very tight turn to accommodate our future plans for that particular area. Also, due to dirty track and locomotive wheels, there is a LOT of cleaning work happening as well.

Please stay tuned as the PLRX saga continues.

cool thanks for the Update art

Hello everyone, got another update to share.

As of 2:00PM Central Daylight Savings Time on 10/31/2019, track work on the Phoenix Line has resumed but this work is happening on some of the secondary tracks (the passenger car yard and its entry lines) of the layout. Frustratingly my twin brother has taken it upon himself to remove all of his rolling stock from the setup, but has decided to leave a few cars on for testing purposes. Obviously I'm not thrilled about this, but every single one of my best efforts to talk him out of it have been a complete waste of time. 

As a result of this, two of this railroad's trains (the Barley and Grain Express as well as the Mixed Pack) have been cut in half. Such is not the best of outcomes but I will try and live with it as there's no other option. Another matter that is causing some disappointment at present is that there still isn't any talk of building the "Oakdale" section of the layout but I suspect that such is due to the physical labor involved and life's other priorities.

Please stay tuned as the Phoenix Line's story continues.

Hello everyone, got another update to share!

1.) As of 1:45pm Central Standard time on 11/3/2019, the Phoenix Line's Barley and Grain Express has reverted to its original name (the Grain Express) and is able to operate with up to 49 cars again. The PLRX's Board of Directors has expressed its desire to obtain a few more grain hoppers though, and this train will probably growing to a maximum length of 52 cars in the near future. 

2.) After a lengthy (and occasionally heated) debate, the line's "Mixed Pack" train is going to be tested in order to determine if its better to have it operated in 2 separate sections or keep it as a combined train. According to the discussion, this test may be happening at some point next week but such is not guaranteed.

3.) The plan to modify a section of track in order to accommodate the unloading of two and three level autorack cars has not been acted upon as yet, but local scuttlebutt remains optimistic that such is going to be happening.

Please stay tuned as the Phoenix Line story continues.

Thanks for the updates Arthur. Looking forward to any more updates when ever they may be

Hello everyone, here's another update on the Phoenix Line's story (as of 8:45am on 11/5/2019)...


1.) The "Mixed Pack" service has been renamed as the "Stack and Trailer Pack" to better reflect the cargo it carries. 

2.) Recent power issues have forced the railroad to postpone testing of the longest version of the Stack and Trailer Pack's train. This will be happening just the same however, as its an important task. Interestingly there has been some additions to the service's power pool (EMD SD45's 7604 and 6144 as well as GE AC4400CW 8356).   

3.) Work on the secondary track lines is currently on-going but connecting the grain elevator's loading and storage spurs as well as the intermodal yard to the westbound main line appears to be the priority at this time. Unfortunately large gaps in the track have created some frustration but the work is happening regardless. In addition to this work, changes to the wiring of a yard entry track are going to be made as well due to issues that the original wiring has created.  

Please stay tuned as the Phoenix Line's story continues.

Thanks for the update TTF .

Hello everyone, here's another update! Please stay tuned until the end as well, because there's a special message at the end.

As of 8:35 am Central Standard Time on 11/7/2019, the PLRX situation looks like this...

1.) The Rustyville town site has a 3-track grain car yard with a 30 car capacity now. This yard is also connected to the mainline.

2.) The grain elevator & intermodal yard track is now connected to the mainline. The loading and elevator switcher storage spurs have yet to be completed at this time but this work is going to be happening very soon.

3.) The railroad's Maintenance of way (or MOW) train has taken a few trips over the new lines but, due to issues their trucks, 3 of the cars in it cannot be used (these three cars have triple-axle trucks which have proven to be troublesome). Unfortunately this problem has forced the railroad to remove a car from its Phoenix Flyer passenger service and assign it to this service. It can use one of its other 3-axle cars (a combination Baggage/Railway Post office car) however (according to local scuttlebutt, this car's RPO section has been converted into a small kitchen in order to prepare TV dinners for the railroad's work crew).

The railroad is presently trying to fix this problem, but the cars have been placed in storage in response to it and will remain stored for the foreseeable future. 

4.) The summer version of the railroad's Phoenix Flyer has also made a test run on the new line and, aside from a very minor issue with one car's trucks (which are a 2-axle design), everything worked out fine.

5.) The work to convert a single-ended spur into one that can accommodate the unloading of bi-level as well as tri-level autoracks has been done but its end hasn't been given protection to keep these cars from derailing on it yet. 

Please stay tuned as the PLRX's story continues.

As promised, here is that special message I mentioned earlier...

I'm sure that most of you have noticed that I've been posting updates every two days by now. There's a reason for this actually, and its being done this way so as not to upset anyone. I was posting updates every day for a while but this was upsetting people and they've asked for this to stop.

Hopefully the new system has been successful in keeping people satisfied in terms of how the Phoenix's Line is progressing.

cool thanks for the update art

Hello everyone, here's another Phoenix Line update!

As of 12:45PM Central Standard time on 11/9/2019, the situation looks like this...

1.) The loading spur for the Archer-Daniels-Midland (ADM) elevator is in place now but, due to clearance issues, only two cars will be allowed in it at a time.  It also has an extra spur for car storage but how many cars will fit on it has not been determined yet. A dedicated parking spot for an elevator switcher is also in place, but it has not been powered up as yet.

2.) Unfortunately an issue with a section of the double-track mainline has appeared and this has created problems in regards to keeping trains together in the area. Before any work can be done however, the railroad needs to ensure that the grain car yard is empty before any work can be done to fix the issue.

3.) Another unfortunate development is that the railroad's yard switcher service  in the main yard at Rustyville is currently out of action due to mechanical issues being experienced with former CP Rail GP9 8827, which occurred almost  three weeks ago (this unit acts as a mother unit to former Southern Pacific GP7 no.5600, which was converted to a slug by the Liptonville Central Valley Railroad). This unit has not been repaired as yet but another unit (the 2448, which was a custom SD60M built by the LCVR and decorated as a CN Rail unit) has returned to service after receiving repairs for its own mechanical issues (which, thankfully, were very minor).

Please stay tuned as the Phoenix Line's story continues.

Thanks for the updates Arthur

Hello everyone, here's another update on the PLRX

As of 11:50am Central Standard Time on 11/11/2019, the Phoenix Line's situation goes as follows...

1.) All of the issues with the main lines have been solved now and, much to my surprise, weren't as bad as they appeared to be at first.

2.) The "standby" track at Rustyville's ADM elevator has a maximum safe capacity of 4 cars.

3.) The grain car yard can hold 31 grain cars safely but its been determined that its better to limit its capacity to 30 cars due to clearance issues.

4.) Rustyville is going to be getting a passenger car yard soon but space restrictions mean that it will only have 3 tracks. These tracks will be rather short as well, which will limit how many cars can be held there at any particular amount of time.

5.) The Phoenix Line is now leasing some of its MOW (or Maintenance-of-way) cars (cars 404910, 411296 and 411297) to a private rail-themed hotel and restaurant company (Crossover Junction Enterprises, which was incorporated on January 22nd, 2019). These three cars have proven to be very problematic due to their 3-axle trucks and have been declared unusable on the railroad's tracks as a result.  Also, one of its former Santa Fe Railway baggage cars is now operable on its tracks.


 Please stay tuned for further updates as the Phoenix Line's story continues.

Hello everyone, another Phoenix Line Railroad update here!

As of 10:35AM Central Standard time on 11/13/2019, the situation looks like this...

1.) Work on the passenger car yard tracks in Rustyville is about 95% complete but it needs at least another day to be completed.

2.) The switch points that will allow access to this yard and Rustyville's passenger depot & enclosed water tower have been placed in their final positions now but haven't been installed as yet. 

3.) Unfortunately there's still no news about what's happening with GP9 8827 but it has been replaced with a single EMD GP35. This locomotive (the 3535) was last used by the leasing company First Union Rail but is now a PLRX unit. It saw service with its Phoenix Flyer operation.

Please stay tuned as the Phoenix Line's story continues.

cool thanks for the update art

Hello everyone, another Phoenix Line update here!

As of 9:30AM Central Standard Time on 11/15/2019, the situation looks like this:

1.) Work on Rustyville's passenger car yard has progressed a lot and most of its track is in place but there is some work that needs to be done before all three are fully completed.

2.) Electrical work on the other entry track to the railroad's main yard at Hillside has yet to be done, but this work is going to be done soon. 

3.) Rustyville's passenger depot & enclosed water tower now have a connection to the mainline but it has not been tested for clearance as yet. This may change at some point in the near future however.
 
4.) The switcher lead track at Rustyville's ADM elevator has been given an end of track marker now, as it never had one before (its a pile of railroad ties).
 
5.) This track will be getting its own power as the current system of powering it is much too complicated.

6.) The single-ended spur near the railroad's interchange yard at Hillside has a wheel stop on its end now but this will only affect the PLRX's boxcars as the two 89' auto carriers owned by the railroad sit too low and need space to open the loading doors on their ends. 


7.) The lease agreement between the PLRX and Crossover Junction Enterprises involving the 3 former CP Rail heavyweight maintenance-of-way cars (Tool and cable car 404910, 12-1 sleeper 411296 and 36-seat diner 411297) owned by the railroad has been terminated, but they remain in open-air storage at Rustyville. The railroad has hired its own staff for these cars though and two of them (411296 and 411297) are still in use (for the sake of clarity the term "12-1" means that this car has 12 open sections with two fold-down single beds each and a separate room that can comfortably house 3 people). There has been some talk of modifying their couplers in order to make them operable on the railroad's tracks but such remains unconfirmed at this time.   

Please stay tuned for further updates as the Phoenix Line Railroad's story continues.

Thanks for the update Arthur

cool thanks for the update art

Hello everyone, another Phoenix Line update here!

As of 10:00AM Central Standard Time on 11/18/2019, the situation looks like this...

1.) The railroad continues to test its mainline operations but issues with a set of switch points has started to create issues again.

2.) The passenger car yard in Rustyville has been mostly completed but two of its tracks have yet to be finished.

3.) Work on the other yard entry track at Hillside has yet to be started but this is going to be happening.

4.) There is no update on the main yard switcher service's power at this time.

5.) The PLRX has played host to a number of visitors this past weekend (11/16/2019), and all of them were impressed. 

Please stay tuned as the Phoenix Line's story continues.

Thanks for the update art

Hello everyone, here's another update.

As of 9:25AM Central Standard Time on 11/20/2019, the situation looks like this...

1.) Work on two of Rustyville's passenger car yard tracks has yet to be completed.

2.) Problems with conductivity on a track switch have returned and are creating some frustrations.

3.) Former CP Rail SD40-2 5415 has been removed from the "Helper Set" operation & allocated to the "Intermodal Yard Switcher" operation, but remains as extra power for the "Local Freight" operation.

4.) Unfortunately the "Yard Switcher" operation is still out a locomotive at this time. The 3 former CP Rail maintenance-of-way cars also remain unusable (on account of issues with their 3-axle trucks) at present.    

5.) Trains for the "Grain Express" and the "Stack & Trailer Pack" operations still need to undergo some testing but this work will be done as soon as physically possible.

Please stay tuned as the Phoenix Line's story continues.

Thanks for the update Tigertankfan.

Hello everyone, here's another update from me!

As of 13:35PM Central Standard time on 11/22/2019, the situation looks like this...

1.) The double-track bridge that allows access to the overall layout has guards on it now, but these don't keep shipping containers secure during accidents.

2.) Work to finish the passenger card yard in Rustyville has yet to be completed.

3.) Issues with the other yard entry track at Hillside are still on-going, but this track is currently disconnected and out of service.

4.) The railroad is testing is steam locomotives now, and problems have been quick to show up. Unfortunately this will probably mean a redesign of some track corners but, as these problems are in their early days, there is no plan in place.

Please stay tuned as the Phoenix Line's story continues.