Week 161

Week 161

Sunday, August 27, 2017 thru Saturday, September 2, 2017

Sunday, August 27, 2017

No train activity today.

Monday, August 28, 2017

Rob Fair came over from 6-7:30pm

I was late and worked from 6:15-7:30pm

Here's what we accomplished...

Rob Fair started working on shortening of the Kedzie Avenue Station, but I had to call him over to help me get the engine I've been working on for a week to run.

And true to form, Rob figured it out. The bottom negative connectors were not touching the frame. Once we made the adjustment we had another issue. The wheels were whobbeling. 

Length: 00:00:17sec

Now back at Kedzie Avenue station.

Here Rob is lining up the short wall (on top) with the tall wall (on the bottom).

We will need to trim at the top of the short wall shown on top and then cut just below the white reinforced board on the bottom wall. Make sense?

Rob continues his work.
We were surprised it was already 7:30pm.
More work updates next week.
Until then...Happy Railroading!

Tuesday, August 29, 2017

No train activity today.

Wednesday, August 30, 2017

Train Day!

Who will show today?
No one showed today.
No Train Day :(

Thursday, August 31, 2017

No train activity today.

Friday, September 1, 2017

No train activity today.

Saturday, September 2, 2017

Only train activity today was being the engineer at Kuipers Family Farms.

Check out this great picture I took at the end of my shift:

Week 160

Week 160

Sunday, August 20, 2017 thru Saturday, August 26, 2017

Sunday, August 20, 2017

No train activity today.

Monday, August 21, 2017

Rob Fair stopped by today at 4pm worked until 5:30pm

Rob Fair was assigned installation of the handrails at Kedzie Avenue station tonight.

Here he is anchoring the supports for the handrail.

I worked on putting the SD40-2 back together again.
You can see the truck on the left has one wheel set installed.
There are two more wheel sets to go.
The truck on the right is completely apart, but all the parts are ready to go.

In this photo you can see the wheel sets are in place in the left truck, but not fitting properly.
The parts are beginning to take shape on the right truck.

Meanwhile, back at Kedzie Avenue station the left handrail is installed.
Nice work, Rob!

While Rob continued working on the upper stairs handrail, I used the vice in the garage and closed the wheels to fit in their perspective axles.

I had to squeeze them together until they met the wheel specs on the NMRA HO ScaleGauge Guard shown here.

Rob Fair is so handy.
He even fixed the stool with wheels.
One of the wheels fell off.
 But now it's fixed.
Thanks to Rob Fair.

And now back to engine repairs.
The right truck runs very smooth.
I had to take the left truck apart a few times to try to work out the kinks.

And now, back to Kedzie Avenue station.
Look, Rob finished the upper stair handrails too!

And finally, the SD40-2 is back together again.
I need to solder the wires to the truck mounts and the middle motor.
But that, my friends, is for another day.

Tuesday, August 22, 2017

No train activity today.

Wednesday, August 23, 2017

Train Day!

Ed Nelson stopped by for about 30 minutes

Jordan Osborn came late and stayed about an hour.

This is the project I wanted to finish tonight.
I want to install the retaining wall along the side road.
We'll see how we do.

First, I needed to cut the base plate for the retaining wall.

Ed Nelson came by to check on our progress.

Jordan Osborn made a quick cameo, but then stayed to help finish my project.

Jordan Osborn and Ed Nelson checking out the computer train coming their way down Track 2.

Ed had to take off, but Jordan and I continued with the retaining wall project.

After attaching the base with screws, I began to attach the retraining wall.

And Wall-Ah. There you have it.
It will look great once we finish the landscaping.

Thursday, August 24, 2017

No train activity today.

Friday, August 25, 2017

WHAT'S ON YOUR WORKBENCH THIS WEEK?

Working on locomotive UP SD40-2 3571
Trying to get it up and running again.

First Step: Polish the metal strip to prepare for soldering.
I used the dremel tool with the attachment on the mouse pad.

Second Step: Solder the wire to the metal strip.

Third Step: Re-insert the metal strip above the motor.

Fourth Step: Solder the ends to the truck leads.

Saturday, August 26, 2017

No train activity today, except I worked at Kuipers Family Farm as the train engineer.

Week 159

Week 159

Sunday, August 13, 2017 thru Saturday, August 19, 2017

Sunday, August 13, 2017

DuPage Co. Fairgrounds Train Show today!

What I bought at the Train Show today.
total cost: $42

Breakdown as follows:
4 containers @$5 ea. but only asked for $16 - what a deal!
2 3-bay covered hoppers at $12ea total $24
6 trucks at $.25 but paid $2 only. Another great deal.

Same picture using the flash. I thought the previous picture was a little dark.

 WHAT'S ON YOUR WORKBENCH THIS WEEK?

Still working on the SD40-2 but waiting for parts. So this will be here for a while.
But I did return my laptop and now am connected to a desktop.
So now only one keyboard and one monitor.
That's all I really need.

Monday, August 14, 2017

Train Day with Rob Fair and Jordan Osborn

5:30pm-7pm

Rob Fair working on Kedzie Avenue station.
We're going to bring the roof down.

I was having some phone problems and Jordan said, "Hand me the phone!"

Jordan Osborn back at work.

I did some troubleshooting tonight.
The transformer that runs these lights was very loud.
Also, the top left light no longer was working.

Paperwork station moves with Jordan wherever he goes.

I traded out the transformer and wah-lah, the light works!

The transformer I used didn't have mounting brackets, so I had to attach my own mounting bracket.

Rob Fair meticulously taking apart Kedzie Avenue station.

I wonder what Carlos and Dean will say when they see these last two pictures?

What a mess!

Wednesday, August 16, 2017
Quiet day today for Train Day!
Carlos Baez came about 4pm followed by Jordan Osborn shortly after.
We worked on the water retention pond and called it a night at 5pm.
Jordan brought some of his car/truck collection and place them strategically around the layout.

I was surprised by Carlos' reaction to the dismantled Kedzie Avenue station.
He actually agreed the model's ceiling was way too high compared to the prototype.

The weight is in place holding down the bridge support and the corner of the water retention square.

Thursday, August 17, 2017
No train activity today.

Friday, August 18, 2017
I spent some time with James today.
Here's what we did...

In the foreground you can see what I bought from B&G Train World.

Then James got a surprise hug from his lovely wife.
It appears James didn't move a muscle when you compare the pictures.
Indeed, he was deep in thought.

Here's the breakdown in the items I bought today.
Total spent: $40.37

Saturday, August 19, 2017
No Model Train activity, but I did engineer Kuiper's Farmview RR steam train all day.

Week 158

Week 158

Sunday, August 6, 2017 thru Saturday, August 12, 2017

Sunday, August 6, 2017

I had some time to work on my locomotive fleet.
I tackled one of my three UP SD40-2

Take a look...

This particular SD40-2 has some real problems.
Let's take a closer look.

I took off the shells of two of them so I could look at the guts of both at the same time.
See previous picture above this one.

I turned the base of the engine over and exposed the drive shafts.
As I tried to figure out why the wheels were moving freely, I diagnosed the problem.
The one gear (of three) shown below the chassis are broken in two.
The middle gear is also broken. You can see it is missing in the picture.
The third gear is the only one in place.
There was no way gears 1 and 2 could connect to the drive gears.
Thus the problem of the locomotive not moving in motion.
Conclusion: Turn this engine into a dummy - remove the electric motor.

Monday, August 7, 2017

As far as I know we're on for tonight.
I'm waiting to hear from Rob Fair for what time...
Rob had to work late, no train time tonight.

Tuesday, August 8, 2017

No train activity today.

Wednesday, August 9, 2017

Train Day! 4-5:30pm
Ed Nelson came but I was a little late so he moved on to get some other things done.
I'll make sure I'm not late again.

Tonight we ran trains to test the mainline for any track improvements.

We also had a special guest today.
See picture below.

Jordan Osborn completing his paperwork for the train session tonight.

WB Unit Coal Train arrives at Proviso Yard. We will split this train and put the rest on CNW Yard Track #4
Next train out is the UP AC6000 on Mainline Track 1 (see Video below).

Length: 00:00:23sec.
UP AC6000 departs WB out of Proviso Yard Mainline

Length: 00:00:32sec.
UP AC6000 continues it's WB journey on elevated track.


Special Guest

Jordan Osborn meets our special guest, Bill Berg, AKA "Dad".

Thursday, August 10, 2017

No train activity today.

Friday, August 11, 2017

Did a little work on the SD40-2

I called Atheran and plan to replace the drive gears that are cracked in half - see them in pairs at the bottom right corner?
I might as well order a engine mount as well.

Saturday, August 12, 2017
No train activity today.