Week 187

Week 187

Sunday, February 25, 2018 thru Saturday, March 3, 2018

Sunday, February 25, 2018

I put the Post Office in place above Chicago Terminal.

I'm going to take a picture of the four corners of Chicago Union Station.
This is the NW corner.

NE corner.

SE corner.

And finally, the SW corner.

Monday, February 26, 2018

Marklund Community Outreach tonight.

No train activity today.

Tuesday, February 27, 2018

Prayer Meeting at Church

No train activity today.

Wednesday, February 28, 2018

Train Day!

with Carlos Baez, Dean Hatzis, Jordan Osborn & Colin Wesley
Lots going on.
Check this out...

First things first.
Carlos Baez is holding the new cut platforms.
Dean Hatzis cut the new Station Platforms for Union Station this past week.
Here you can see Dean is laying out the templates.

Still trying to figure out which piece goes where.

I think Carlos is thinking, "Forget the templates, just lay out the real thing."

Jordan Osborn & Colin Wesley working at Central Control Tower.

Now moving over to Union Station to install the new platforms.

There you have it.
Beautiful job, Dean!

Carlos Baez went back to do some static grass.

Carlos Baez in action, with Dean Hatzis lending a hand.

A close up shot.

Colin Wesley inspecting each car for plastic wheels.

Dean Hatzis and Carlos Baez preparing another spot for more static grass.

You can see how Carlos Baez laid down the glue to prepare for more grass.

Video of the "Twins" and Colin checking for plastic wheels.
If found, the car was removed for thorough inspection.

Length: 00:00:21 sec.

Thursday, March 1, 2018

My marching orders until we meet again is to paint the columns and the platforms at Union Station.
So tonight I started on the white columns.
Here's how I did it...

First, I laid a sheet of paper over the work surface.

Next, I cut holes for the columns to poke through the paper.

Each column is now through the paper.

Now I need to tape down the paper so I can paint the bottom of the columns.

The first coat is applied.
I will probably leave as is for the weathered look.

Finally I trimmed the edges because I'll use the sheet for another purpose.
More on that later.

Here's how it looks without the paper.

And here's the new look with the unpainted platforms in place.

This is the paint I used for this particular project.
Next up: paint the platforms concrete gray.

Mom & Dad stopped by tonight.
I ran some trains and gave them a train layout update.
I wished I would've taken some pictures, but I didn't.
Dang!

Friday, March 2, 2018

Sleepover with Mae, Henry, & Ida

Since today is going to be a full day, I thought I'd get started early.
Here's what I did this morning...

Getting ready to plate the Union Station platforms.

First coat of dark gray.

Then, a light coat of light gray.

Over the top another coat of dark gray.

Finished off with a final coat of light gray.

Here are the paints I used for this project.
Dark gray on the left and light gray on the right.
Duh!

Tomorrow, after the paint dries, I'll put these platforms in place and see how it looks.
See you then...but before I go, I must tell you something that happened just before supper.

The Zielke kids came over tonight and before we ate, Ida and I were running trains.

Mabel came downstairs to call us up for supper when...

Mabel said, "Are you guys addicted to trains?" 

Saturday, March 3, 2018

Well, we're up in the morning after our sleepover.
Mabel got up at 6am and we decided to work on the train.
Here is Mabel's assignment:

Mabel's job was to put the Union Station Platforms in place.
She accepted.

The first section going in place.

Doing a very good job.
See how she's keeping the platform level?

The last section to be put in place.

Job well done, Mabel, well done!

Later, after everyone was up and finished breakfast, we ran a train with the Zielke team in place.

Here's Henry!
He's a great little engineer!

And little Ida.
She loves to come down and play trains with Boppa.

One more look at Mabel's job this morning.

I also took a couple of videos.

Length: 00:00:11 sec.

Here's another video, this time with Mabel in the picture.

Length: 00:00:16 sec.

After we dropped off Mabel, Henry, and Ida, we returned home and I did some work in the basement:

Here I'm preparing the far right track for painting.

After covering the platforms with the old platforms, I covered the track with old binder clips.

Then I painted the inside and outside the rails white.

I also prepared and painted the other outside track too.

  

Here's a birds-eye view of both outside tracks painted white.

This will close out Week 187.

Tomorrow begins week 188.

See you then!