Week 184

Week 184

Sunday, February 4, 2018 thru Saturday, February 10, 2018

Sunday, February 4, 2018

I came home from church and before going back to church for the Super Bowl party I decided to paint some trim...Check this out...

This is the BEFORE picture.
I've just started painting the green trim.

And this is the AFTER picture.
All the green trim is done.

I almost forgot to paint the sidewalks the concrete color.

After the Super Bowl party at church I came back home and cut out the parts I painted this afternoon.
Now I'm ready to put the model together...

But, that, my friends, is for another day...

Monday, February 5, 2018

Train Day! with Rob Fair, Jordan Osborn, and me!
We were all over the place tonight.
Let me show you what I mean...

First we had to cut down one of the pillars at Chicago Terminal.
Rob Fair is on it!

You can see the gap where the pillar belongs right in the center of the photo.
We installed the pillar back in its spot and everything went in smoothly.

Next, Rob Fair began work on the newly painted concrete bridge in the Melrose Park business district.

Jordan Osborn is keeping an eye on things from Central Control Tower.

Here's a video for Faith of her Dad inspecting the unit coal train.

Length: 00:00:27 sec.

This video shows the same unit coal train going backwards.

Length: 00:00:22 sec.

Rob Fair continues work on the concrete bridge as Jordan runs another train.

Here's another train Jordan Osborn ran on the mainline.

Length: 00:00:17 sec.

Rob Fair placing the bridge in location.
Checking for clearance and any adjustments we'll need to make.

We're missing the middle section, but I think this will work.

Next, Rob Fair did some more troubleshooting with the C40-8s.

Not sure what was going on here, so we'll need to take another look on Wednesday.

Tuesday, February 6, 2018

No train activity tonight!

Wednesday, February 7, 2018
TRAIN DAY
with Dean Hatzis (1.5), Carlos Baez (1) & me (1.5)
Take a look at what we accomplished:

Dean Hatzis enjoys the humor behind Carlos Baez applying the band-aide after handling the very sharp carbide drill bit.
Carlos said, "Don't put that picture in the blog."
I just couldn't help it! 

Carlos Baez with no fear of the carbide bit installed some street signs.
You'll see them highlighted later in tonight's blog.

In the meantime, Dean Hatzis and I worked on securing the pillars/piers below Union Station.

We pre-drilled the holes and then ran screws from the bottom to secure the pillars above.

Back with Carlos Baez.
He made a very cool billboard highlighting Metra trains.
I'll go back later tonight and get close-ups of the billboard and post at the bottom of the blog.

The following pictures highlight the signs Carlos made & installed tonight...

To the left of Global 1 entrance is a Union Pacific logo and train sign, "Building America".

At the end of this street is the California Avenue Maintenance shop, thus a "Dead End" sign is very appropriate.

Carlos added the RR sign on the right side of Western Avenue.

Carlos installed the right turn sign for W.15th Pl.

Dean Hatzis removes the clamps so we can work on the PVC hollow pipes which we'll install in the four middle pillars.

With the top now removed, you can see the four open holes where the PVC pipes will fit.

The holes were drilled for the doll rods at 3/4". The PVC pipes are 7/8". So we needed to enlarge the hole that 1/8" more.

Finishing up the job.

And there you have it!
All set for wires from the top going through the hollow core PVC and into the phone jack mounted under the layout for easy plug in (or unplug) when work is required in the downtown area or in the underground station terminal. 

As promised, here is one side of the billboard Carlos made/installed tonight.
Heading out of Chicago into the suburbs.

And here's the other side of the billboard heading into Chicago.

Thursday, February 8, 2018

No train activity today.

Friday, February 9, 2018

Josh Jones & Jordan Osborn came by this afternoon for some train time...
3:30-4pm

We ran some trains on the mainline checking for derailments or uncoupling.

This doesn't happen often, but Josh Jones is at the throttle and...

Jordan Osborn is checking for "issues".

One of our problems was this heaved rail at Kedzie Avenue.
The yellow tack means it needs correcting at the joint.
The red tack shows where the track buckled.

I reworked the ballast and cut a gap in the rail and put everything back together.

We ran a test train and all worked out as expected.
No uncoupling or derailments.
YES!

This video shows one of our test trains in action.

Nice to see the SD40-2s in motion again.

Length: 00:00:29 sec.

We were so excited to finally fix the dull blinking lights at 3rd Street Geneva.
Josh posed to express his delight.

 The video shows Josh Jordan in "the pose" and the new bright blinking lights!

Length: 00:00:04 sec.

Three of our cars today were removed from service because of poor performance.
They will need to go through a full inspection before they're allowed back on the mainline.

Saturday, February 10, 2018

Final day of Week 184

I did some work on Melrose Park downtown and weathering the buildings of Merchant's Row II.

First I had to remove the top layer and insert some fillers so the track level would match the ground level.

I'll need to put in two layers.
This is the first layer.

Here's the second layer with glue on the bottom.

Second Layer in place.

Final top coat in place.
Nice and even at the bridge.

And finally, the boards for weight to keep in all in place.

Meanwhile up in the dining room, I brushed on gray tile grout to dull the bright new paint look.
I like the look.
Compare with the same pictures on day 1 of this blog Week 184.