Week 200

Week 200

Sunday, May 27, 2018 thru Saturday, June 2, 2018

Sunday, May 27, 2018
Jordan Osborn stopped over today from 3:30-5pm

Jordan Osborn working on paperwork.
He's updating the trouble-shooting log.

As Jordan worked on the log, I worked on the wires below...

This is a view from the other side.

Jordan Osborn helped me construct the platform for the equipment to run the traffic signals.

Here's the BEFORE picture.
The wires hanging down belong to the four traffic signals.

And here's the AFTER picture.
The traffic controller and transformer will rest on this stand.

And here they are.
I should go back and take a video of the traffic signals in action.

Monday, May 28, 2018

No train activity today.
Happy Memorial Day!

Tuesday, May 29, 2018

No train activity today.

Wednesday, May 30, 2018

Train Day with Dean Hatzis.
Dean came from 4-5:30pm today.

We did quite a bit tonight.
Take a look...

Dean Hatzis prepares the new base for Monitor #5.

I've removed the monitor to expose the old base.

We took the plywood out to the garage to cut.

Dean does a check fit.

After Dean left at 5:30pm I went back and worked another hour...

I installed the new platform Dean Hatzis cut out.

Then I put the DVD on the stand.

Last week, I put all the Power District maps on clip boards.
However, the buttons for the power switches were in the way.
I needed to reset them so the clip board would fit between the buttons and the transformer.

Here's the move before the clip board is put in place.

And here's the final placement with the clip board in position.

Thursday, May 31, 2018

I did some gluing and some videotaping...
Here you go...

I'm finally going to finish the transition pieces from the sidewalk to the bridge.

Now I'll glue them down, put weight on them and let it sit overnight.

Watch the Traffic Signals at work

Length: 00:00:36 sec.

RED light facing Main Street on N. 19th Ave.

Same location, GREEN light.

Now on Main Street facing N. 19th St. with GREEN light.

Finally, same location, with YELLOW light.

Friday, June 1, 2018

Worked half day today at church and the rest of the day I worked on the basement railroad...
I spent about 1 hour working on Melrose Park grocery store and another hour installing the shelf units at Central Control Tower.

I got tired of looking at the curled roof top of the grocery store.
So today, I did something about it.

This was the rejected roof of the Kedzie Avenue station.

I cut it to shape and reattached the supports.

Placed the new roof in position.
And there you go.
I'll need to add a HVAC unit and vents for rooftop details.

There is the finished product in position.

I also reattached the stairway to the building at the other end of where the grocery store sits.

 Now it's time to work on the shelf units.

Since I had to cut this one to fit, I brought it out to the garage to keep all the sawdust out of the basement.

I tried to use my skill saw, but it kept veering off center.
I changed to the jig saw and everything worked out just fine.

Here's the shelf units in place from this angle.

And also from this angle.

Saturday, June 2, 2018
This weekend we're making good on our Christmas present to the Crockett girls.
We're meeting Natalie at Woodfield shopping mall at 11:30am.

Before leaving I cut some "bricks" for Central Control Tower.
I spent 1 hour working on this project.

I started with these tools.
After the experience with the skill saw yesterday, I scrapped that piece of equipment and used the jig saw the rest of the way.

You can see the sheets of "bricks" laying against Ben's truck and on the garbage can.

After measuring and cutting these are the pieces I'll bring downstairs to put in place.

The garbage can proved to be a poor workbench, so I moved to the table and used this as my work surface.
Much better!

The section I'm working on here is the base boards holding up the "bricks".

I haven't secured it all with finish nails, but here's a good look at what this will look like when it's finished.

The same thing, but just the other side.
I really like how this turned out.

I did go down one more time to take final pictures.
Here they are...

Finished product one side...

...and the other side.

Next up:
The curtain for the front.

Week 199

Week 199

Sunday, May 20, 2018 thru Saturday, May 26, 2018

Sunday, May 20, 2018

I had to disassemble the bridge because there were cracks in the steel beams.

This looks complete, but it's not.

Same picture just from a higher vantage point.

I noticed cracks in the steel, so I disassembled and reassembled with more glue.

I took a trip to the basement to paint the I beams.

First, is the brown spray paint.

Then the black spray paint.

I will cut these to the proper distance to support the city viaduct going over the tracks at 

Chicago Terminal.

Monday, May 21, 2018

Train Day with Rob Fair (2 hrs.) and Jordan Osborn (1 hr.).

We really accomplished more than I expected.
Check this out...

Rob Fair working on the deck bridge replacement.

The replacement bridge is in place, but not installed.
Dean Hatzis will be coming over Wed. afternoon to notch out the openings for final installation.

Hey Jordan Osborn.
How about a crazy face?
Here you go...

After Rob Fair finished the work on the new deck bridge, he started working on the new sidewalks that would be installed on Lake Street.

While Rob Fair worked on the sidewalks, I traveled to Melrose Park to install the traffic lights.
In this picture you can see the straws in place where the traffic signals will be installed.
The straws act as the conduit for the wires going through the layout subframe.

I had to drill the holes a bit bigger for the traffic signal base wires to fit.

That worked perfect.
Can you see the first traffic light that I installed?

Now all four are installed.
It's going to tough holding me back from getting these up and running.

I didn't really like the road pieces under the bridge, so I removed them.
I cut new "asphalt" pieces and began the installation process.

Here they are cut to fit, but still waiting for adhesive.

Jordan Osborn was rearranging the vehicles throughout the layout tonight.
This is one view of the work he did tonight.

Another view...

Rob Fair finished the Lake Street sidewalks.
Now he's putting the sidewalk in place on the bridge to downtown Melrose Park.

Here they are in place.
Now I need to score and then paint them.

Rob Fair's work area tonight.

Back at the deck bridge and viaduct...
You can see the old bridge we removed and the new one in the upper right of the picture ready for installation.

Tuesday, May 22, 2018

I had a few minutes tonight, so I went and cut some foam board to fit Lake Street

This is my work area where I cut the foam boards.

Here you can see the two layers I used to "lift" the ground to match the bridge.

This distance between the foam board and the base of the bridge will hopefully match the distance the bridge has to come down to be even with the subroadbed above.

Don't forget to calculate the "asphalt" layer too.

Wednesday, May 23, 2018

Train Day with Dean Hatzis (3:30-5:15pm) 1.75, Ed Nelson (3:30-5:15pm) 1.75, and Jordan Osborn (3:30-5pm) 1.5

Wow! Check out this progress...

Getting ready to put the cabinet in place.
It will be a bit tricky to get all those cables out of the way.

Ed Nelson in the ready position.

Jordan Osborn is doing some clean-up before he places his vehicles in place.

Jordan Osborn getting into the nitty gritty.

Dean Hatzis and Ed Nelson carefully shore up the braces.

Ugh, look at all those wires.
It's a mess!

Jordan's finished work.

Another view.
I will need to weather the roads before we say it's finished.

Back at the monitor cabinet.

There you go.
All in place.
Signed, sealed and delivered!

After the cabinet was installed we traveled over to Lake Street to notch out the opening for the bridge.

What a great tool.
To see it in action open the video below:

This video shows Dean Hatzis in action...

Length: 00:00:13 sec.

One side is finished, and now Dean Hatzis works on the other side.

Nice!

Thursday, May 24, 2018

Dean Hatzis stopped over today to install the top shelf of the cabinet we installed yesterday.
3-4pm (1)

Dean Hatzis getting ready for securing the top shelf.

Dean Hatzis ready for installation.

Later in the day after Jan, Ben and I went out for dinner I returned to the basement layout...

This will be the BEFORE picture.
Wires everywhere - frontal view.

Quite a mess on the left.
BEFORE - back view left.

Another mess.
BEFORE - back view right.

Friday, May 25, 2018

I cut out the holes for the cables for three of the monitors.

Saturday, May 26, 2018

Notice how we filled in the slot where the sidewalk now resides.

I also had to recut the sidewalk where the bridge meets the street.
The left side is cut (but not secured).
The right side still needs to be cut out and the new piece inserted and secured.