Week 252

Week 252

Sunday, May 26, 2019 thru Saturday, June ?, 2019

Sunday, May 26, 2019

No train activity today.

Monday, May 27, 2019

Spent a little time working on the RR maybe 30 minutes.

Ben gave me his leftovers from the Play it Again Sports Complex.
I trimmed them up, taped the back and will use them as "runners".

Another view.

Finished piece in place.

As I moved around the corner I studied the bus depot.
I need to switch out the street sections and put a corner here.
I'll need to move the bus stop down a bit.
Another work in progress.

I went to ACE Hardware and bought a 1/4" copper tube ($9.99 YIKES!).
I will install this tube in the middle upright and use the hollow core for the wires for the overhead street lights.

The tube will go through the base and thru the "ground" to the bottom of the layout.

Here it is in place, but not upright.

You can't see the middle support that well.
How about if I put some light on it?

There, now that's better.

Of course I needed to do it to both overpasses since both will have lights.

Tuesday, May 28, 2019

I had about 15 minutes to work on the RR a little more today.

Next is putting the wire through the holes.

There will be two sets of wires for the two sets of overhead street lights for each overpass - I290 and I294.

Wednesday, May 29, 2019

Train Day!
Carlos Baez 4-4:45pm .75 hrs.
Jordan Osborn 4:15-6:15pm 2 hrs.
Cameron Passaglia 4:30-6:15pm 1.75 hrs.

Here's what we got done tonight...

Carlos had an important job to do tonight and he finished right on schedule!

Carlos Baez soldering all the connections for the overpass lighting.

Jordan Osborn makes his peaceful entrance.

Back at the workbench, Carlos Baez keeps up the great work.

Cameron Passaglia!
Nice to have you back my man!

An action shot of Cameron driving the Amtrak toward Chicago Terminal

Length: 00:00:18 sec.

A still photo of Cameron bringing in the Amtrak.
Note the soldering smoke coming up from the workbench.

Some of the fine work Carlos Baez accomplished tonight.

And here they are in place.
The clothespins are used to keep the poles in place while the glue sets.

OK, men, what's going on?

We also ran the Metra commuter tonight.

I finished up the night remounting the bus stop.

Another perspective.

Final perspective before we call it a night.

Thursday, May 30, 2019

No train activity today.


Friday, May 31, 2019

Not train activity today.
Elisha & Jordyn getting married today in MI. 

Saturday, June 1, 2019

I was able to work on the train for about 1.5 hours today.

I decided to finish up both engine terminals this weekend.

First I had to add a pad to the UP engine house.

Put the weights on for the glue to set up.

Now to tack down the track.

All set.

 Now put the engines in place.

A look down the "throat".

And now over to the CNW Engine Facility.

Getting ready to tack down the track.

Looking down the "throat" of the CNW Engine Facility.

One more look down the "throat" of the UP Engine Facility.

Week 251

Week 251

Sunday, May 19, 2019 thru Saturday May 23, 2019

Sunday, May 19, 2019

No Train activity today.

Monday, May 20, 2109

Train Day!

Rob Fair wasn't able to make it tonight - car problems.

Jordan stopped by for about 30 minutes.

Jordan Osborn stopped by to say, "Hi".
Peace Out!

Since Rob Fair wasn't able to come, I thought I'd work on getting the prototype pictures in place around the layout.

I also added the street lights to the I290 I294 overpasses.

More prototype pictures to be used when the time comes to add these details to the layout.

Melrose Park city block I'm modeling.

Kedzie Avenue

Western Avenue

Tuesday, May 21, 2019

Special Guests this afternoon: John & Susan Rodgers and their grandson, Beckett Rodgers.

Welcome Beckett and Mimi!

Mimi standing close by for safety first!

Beckett wanted to run the Amtrak so here he is admiring the train as it goes by.

And the Metra as it runs by...

I asked Beckett to point to the work we did this afternoon.

Jan and John join the party.

Here we are putting in the cross walk.
Beckett said we can't stop at the station since the passengers couldn't cross the tracks.
So I said, "Let's put in the crosswalk."
So we did.

Beckett has great fine motor skills.

Yep, that's what we did!
Good job, Beckett!

Here we are watching a freight and a metra commuter pass each other on the elevated tracks.

Wednesday, May 22, 2019

Updating calendar log.

Thursday, May 23, 2019

No train activity today.

Friday, May 24, 2019

I worked on Chicago Downtown streets & sidewalks.
The following photos show the progress I made tonight.

These streets and sidewalks are are in place with tape.
I'm about to remove everything and put down grout for adhesive.

First section removed ready for grout.

Grout in place ready to put in street and sidewalk sections.

Streets and sidewalk sections in place for first section.

Moving north on Clinton Avenue.
One section at a time.

More streets and sidewalks more grout.

We're going all the way to the end.

Final grout layer ready for streets and sidewalks.

What I wanted to accomplish tonight is now complete.

Saturday, May 25, 2019
Rob Fair came over today (5-6:30pm 1.5 hrs.) to work on the RR

Getting ready to get started...

We cleared the way and then put down the grout.

An action video of Rob at work...

Length: 00:00:22 sec.

Putting each part in piece by piece.

We've turned the corner and started on the Union Station entrance on Canal St.

Coming to the end of the line.

Laying down the final pieces.

And there you have it.
We just need to finish Jackson Avenue.