Week 196

Week 196

Sunday, April 29, 2018 thru Saturday, May 5, 2018

Sunday, April 29, 2018

No train activity today.

Monday, April 30, 2018

Train Day!

Rob Fair (5:45-8:15pm) and Jordan Osborn (6-7:30pm)

I took these pictures this morning in preparation for tonight's session...

Here's the main station clock installed.

Tomorrow I'll have Rob Fair put these people in place.

I've put together some scenes as follows:
Far left: Telling Tall Tales
Track 1: Waiting for incoming train
Track 3: Leaving the station - two will miss the train as they run to catch it.
Track 5: Amtrak arrival - family greeting
Track 7: Arriving train passengers detrain and move through station. First one out is running ahead.

 TRAIN DAY!

Rob Fair begins people placement.
He texted me earlier today and asked about what was on the agenda for tonight.
When I told him we were going to be putting the people in place on the station platform, Rob responded,
"Oh Yeh! I enjoy putting people in their place."
Clever.

Jordan Osborn getting ready for the evening session.

The beginning people placement.

I took some video of Jordan running some trains.

Length: 00:00:20 sec.

Rob Fair continues putting people in place.

Jordan Osborn works the paper.
Putting the Union Station prototype pictures in the binder.

Track 3: Train departs.

Track 7: People exit platform after detraining.

Here's the Amtrak passengers being greeted by family.

Rob Fair finishes placing people on Track 1.

Track 1: Waiting for incoming West Line train.

As they wait for the train to arrive a conversation continues.

Looking from the opposite side of the platform at the conductor waiving to each other at the other end of the train.

Track 1: West Line train arrives.
Passengers prepare to board.

Track 3: Train departed. Two final passengers make a dash, but are too late.

One more look at the NW line arriving passengers on Track 7.

Tuesday, May 1, 2018

Josh Jones and Jordan Osborn stopped by tonight for about 30 mins.

We found a problem with a dip in the track.
Jordan Osborn is taking a look at the dip from the top.
Josh Jones takes a look at the dip from the bottom.
We'll need to take a look at this again tomorrow night.

Wednesday, May 2, 2018

Train Day!
Personnel and their hours worked:
Carlos Baez (1), Dean Hatzis (1.5), Ed Nelson (1), Jordan Osborn (1), and me (1.5)

And here's what we did...

We put Dr. Carlos on the troubleshooting band wagon.
There is a dip in the track so the engine and the first coal car uncouple through the switches.
He does such a great job in this area so it's hard to give it to someone else.

Jordan Osborn maintains a steady hand on the throttle.

Ed Nelson looks on and keeps his eye on the progress.

Meanwhile, back at Chicago Station, Dean Hatzis and I work on securing the top layer to the bottom layer.

I believe Carlos Baez and Ed Nelson have devised a plan that will solve the problem...

Carlos decided to put in the 2x4 brace to bolster the sag which would eliminate the dip in the plywood base.

Dean Hatzis and I continue to secure the frame to house the electrical components of Chicago Station.

We actually ran some trains and simulated some railroad operations.

Length: 00:00:11 sec.

One final check to be sure everything is on the straight and narrow.
Yes, it is!
Nice work, men!

Yeah, did you notice Dean's new glasses?
Well, in case you didn't, check these out!

The last steps to complete the task are to secure the hinges.
We decided to hinge just one side instead of both sides.
Much better arrangement.

I'll take one more picture with the hinges engaged and the board raised.

The final picture of the night.
Here's what it will look like when the top is open to view the electrical components in between.
All the wires will come from the top panel and set on top of the bottom panel before going to the power source which will be below the bottom panel.
Access to the power source will be through the four middle columns that support the downtown area above.

Thursday, May 3, 2018

No train activity today.

Friday, May 4, 2018

I have a meeting Monday with Trustees at church so I asked Rob Fair to come over tonight since we won't be able to meet on Monday our regular Train Day.
He agreed, and this is what we did...(from 5:30-7pm)

First we started at Chicago station.
The first order of business was to remove the pins from the hinges.

Next, we began to move each part, section by section, from the original floor plan to the main floor plan.

Here you can see where we moved from and where we moved too.

We finished.
Notice Union Station is now on the opposite side of the street.
After doing some research I noticed Union Station faced east not west.
So I made the change.

Here's another shot from the opposite direction.

After we set up Union Station, we took a ride to Melrose Park and did some work there.
I made one little change from this picture to the next.
Can you spot it?

Rob and I worked on securing the sidewalk at the end of Merchant's Row II.
The top picture shows the top of the screw we used to move the sidewalk down.
This bottom picture shows a warning cone on top of it.
See it now?

Finally we secured the base plates for the buildings with Elmer's glue.
Rob Fair is working on plate #1.

Plates #1 and #2 are in and the weights are in place.
Rob Fair is applying the glue to plate #3.

Finishing Plate #3.

And now plate #3 is in place, secured, and weight applied for proper adhesion.

It's a little bit after 7pm so we're calling it a night.

Saturday, May 5, 2018
Only train activity today was driving the wedding train at Kuipers Farmview RR from 5-7pm.
Oh yeah!