Week 152

Week 152

Sunday, June 25, 2017 thru Saturday, July 1, 2017

Sunday, June 25, 2017

Jordan stopped by this afternoon for a couple of hours and helped me wire up some platform and street lights.

Here's a look at what we did...

Here's Jordan Osborn using his tablet to capture the moment. 

We finished wiring the platform lights at Geneva Station.

I took this night scene of the new lights (with flash).

Same night scene without the flash - a little different angle.

When I first wired up the street lights at Western Avenue they didn't work.
Later in the evening I went back to the basement to do some trouble-shooting and found the problem.
Here's the final test shot.
Hopefully Rob Fair and Jordan and I can finish up wiring the Western Avenue Streetlights tomorrow.

Jordan Osborn took this shot with his tablet after I finished wiring and testing the platform lights at Geneva Station.

Monday, June 26, 2017
We had a special guest come tonight.
He lives in the neighborhood and used to work with Rob Fair.
Small World.

His Name?

Oh yeah, Bob Bendeich

He was instrumental tonight in some troubleshooting we had to do.

Check out these pics.

 Rob Fair got busy with wiring up the Western Avenue Street Lights.

 Jordan Osborn, says, "What you talkin' 'bout Willis?"

Jordan Osborn shows off some new organizational material to keep things straight.

 Rob Fair continues down the line connecting the wires to light up Western Avenue.

 And HERE's our special guest, Bob Bendeich.

 He played a major role in figuring out why the Track Cleaning Car derailed at the Grusome Casket Company.

Putting some more light on the subject.

The Three Amigos saying good-bye for the night.

Great work MEN!

Last but not least, here are some shots of the lights on Western Avenue that Rob Fair wired up tonight...

Wednesday, June 28, 2017
Wow! What a night!

It started off with Ed and me running trains from 4-5:30pm

I was the engineer tonight, while Ed checked the four signal bridges for clearance.

We did find some signal bridges that needed some work...

Here is Ed Nelson cutting some base plates for the signal bridges.
They needed additional height clearance for the camera car.

 Ed Nelson making the adjustments at South Power District Signal Bridge.

Putting the SPD Signal Bridge in place.
You can see the camera car and the track cleaning car in the foreground.

Today marks my Mom and Dad's 65th wedding anniversary and my brother, Neal's 64th birthday.
What a treat to have them all over for dinner and trains tonight.

Check out these fun photos and video.

Thanks to Geena for these great shots!!!

Look how attentive the boys are as I explain who has what train.

As Neal keeps Becca from getting burned on the lamp.

Still paying attention...

Final instructions.

A view from the rear.

We're getting ready to run some trains.

This is a view from the South Power District of the layout.

You can see the camera car in front of the Metra Commuter train.

Central Control Tower in full operation.

Christian being very very patient.

This is a view of the East Power District of the layout.

Check out this video that Geena shot during our family operating session tonight...

YouTube Video
2 min. 10 sec.
Click on the link above...

This is a cute series of photos.
I had no idea what was about to happen.

Christian puts the "drawbridge" down.

Now it's UP.

Oops. It came down a bit too early and knocked over a commuter coach car just as a freight was coming by.

Whoa! Those passengers are getting quite a ride.
Be careful we still have a freight train rolling by.

We'll wait for the freight train to pass.

Then we'll put everything back on the track.

No one was badly injured and no equipment was lost in the process.

Week 151

Week 151

Sunday, June 18, 2017 thru Saturday, June 24, 2017

Saturday, June 24, 2017

We came back from vacation on Thursday afternoon.

I did a quick tour of the layout to make sure we had something for Week 151

What's on Your Workbench this week?

Click here for the YouTube Video Layout Tour

You may need to click on the Ctrl key and then left click on the link above.

Just half of the Central Control Tower

Week 150

Week 150

Sunday, June 11, 2017 thru Saturday, June 17, 2017

NOTE:

Curt was on vacation from Wed, June 14 thru Thu, June 22

Therefore no TRAIN DAY or EVENING for two weeks.

Sunday, June 11, 2017

TRAIN SHOW in Wheaton today!

Jordan Osborn and I took off to find some deals at the DuPage County Fairgrounds.
When we arrived we noticed a lot of dogs and cars with dog labels on them.

I walked up to the entrance and saw a sign posted that said,

"Since you're reading this, we want you to know we tried our best to notify everyone, but obviously you didn't receive the notice. 2 1/2 weeks ago it was discovered there was a double-booking of the facility. Therefore something had to give. This is the first time EVER the Great Midwest Train Show had to cancel an event. Needless to say, Jordan and I were bummed, but we thought we would make the best of this adventure and head over to B&G Train World in Elgin. When we arrive we found another big surprise! It was closed! Oh well. At least we got in some quality time together. So they say.

I did have some time to finish up some projects on Western Avenue Buildup.

Check this out...

First, I prepared the surface for the final piece of sidewalk installation.

I glued it down and let it set for a few hours.

Oops, I overglued in one spot.

Installed the street light.

Also installed the street lights on the other side of the street.
And Whah Lah! Western Avenue ready for lighting.

Monday, June 12, 2017

No pictures, but I finished installing street lamps on Western Avenue.
1 hour.

Wednesday, June 14, 2017
Leaving on vacation...back Thursday, June 23, 2017

Week 149

Week 149

Sunday, June 4, 2017 thru Saturday, June 10, 2017

Monday, June 5, 2017
Train Night!

Josh came over for about 30 minutes.
Rob and I worked on the Western Avenue Sidewalks.

Check this out...

Josh Jones came by while his buddy, Jordan Osborn, takes a quick nap in preparation for their movie night.
Josh worked on the Geneva Station Metra sign.

We used a template to cut out the sidewalk by Global 1 on Western Avenue.
Here's Rob Fair cutting out the sidewalk from the pressed board.

Length: 00:00:16s
Josh explains the drying process for the Metra Station Signs.

Rob Fair moves his work station off the ground and onto the layout.

After I took the picture above, I was intrigued with our progress in the South Power District.
I think it's really coming together. 

This is a shot from the other direction.

Josh Jones shows off his completed project for tonight.

Hard to see the sidewalks with the weights on top to secure the adhesive.

Before gluing the sidewalk down by Global 1 I took this picture.
Tomorrow I will remove the weights and take a finished project picture.

Tuesday, June 6, 2017
As promised, here's the picture of the final scene - most of the sidewalks installed.

Check this out...

Sidewalks installed and secured on both side of Western Avenue.
Still  need to install and secure the sidewalks by the corner of the "skinny" building.

Maybe get to that on Wednesday.

We'll see...

Wednesday, June 7, 2017
TRAIN DAY!

Whoa! I mean, ALL ABOARD!

Check out what we did tonight.
I think you'll be a bit surprised...

We moved into the other room to check the street lights to make sure they worked.
I'm pretty sure we only found 1 bad light.
Here is Jordan Osborn and Ed Nelson working at the test station.

Jordan Osborn and Ed Nelson are "lighting it up!" 

We also installed and secured the sidewalk at the corner of the "skinny" building.
I have one little section to finish and then the sidewalks are all "in".

We figured out where the street lights should be installed.
I drilled the holes.
Ed Nelson began the installation.

Jordan Osborn is preparing for the Train Show this Sunday in Wheaton.
We like to have our "box cars" in a row before going so we can stay focused while we are there.

Here are the street lights installed on both sides of Western Avenue.
I've been waiting a very long time for this moment!

Nice shot of the guys who did the work.
Nice street level shot, wouldn't you say as well?
Note: I'm painting the sidewalk.
As you can see, I'm in process.

Finished painting the sidewalk.
What do you think?

One more look.
The aprons will need to be carved out of the sidewalks at either side of the Global 1 entrance.
Then I'll need to paint those sections that are currently not painted.

Make sense?

FYI...

Jan and I are going on vacation on Wednesday (6/14), so we won't be having TRAIN DAY/EVENING for two weeks. We return on Thursday (6/22).

If you come the doors will be locked.

I'm ok if you know the garage door code to go in and work on the railroad. 

Seriously?

Absolutely.

Just let me know.

Saturday, June 10, 2017
Since Jan and I are heading downtown Monday night, I asked Rob Fair if he could come over and work on the train on Saturday.
He agreed and came over this morning and stayed from 9-11am.

Look what we accomplished!

Rob Fair started out this morning painting our lone sidewalk section yet to be painted.
Check that one off the list.

Here's the area we are going to concentrate on today.
Railings on the sidewalk where it divides and changes contours.

We also had to redrill some street light holes.

Here Rob is getting ready to install the railings.

This is the BEFORE shot of what we'll finish today.
I will put this picture side by side with the AFTER shot which will be the last photo of the blog for the day.

Rob is setting the holes for the base of the railings.

Making sure they fit the way he planned.
And yes, they did!

Securing the corners.

Now continuing down Western Avenue in front of the "skinny" building.
Rob is going to work on the plant beds for the trees in front of the building.

Drilling the hole for the tree to stand.

Foliage added and trees standing tall.

And finally the third tree in place.
All in a days work.
Nice job, Rob!

Here's the final scene.
It looks great!

The picture on the left is the BEFORE
picture that you saw earlier in today's blog.

The picture on the right is the AFTER
picture that wraps up our day.

Thanks for getting to the end!

Have a great weekend!

P.S. You may be wondering what happened to Jordan? He and I are going to the train show tomorrow so I gave him a day off today.