Week 261

Week 261

Sunday, July 28, 2019 thru Saturday, August 3, 2019

Sunday, July 28, 2019

First ever Open House at 60 Whittington Course

2-4 pm.

Who came?

Here's the list with pictures and captions below:

Tony & Kathy Passaglia: Cam's parents.
Wes Coulter #52
John Radman #108
Don & Michelle Fisher (friends of Jim Geaman #97)
Joe and son, Blake (friends of someone who lives in Manor Homes of Whittington Course)
Bob Bendeich #47
Ellen Rivers #14
Helpers: Rob Fair, Jordan Osborn, Cam Passaglia

The first sign as you enter Whittington Course directing the residents to the Operating Train Layout.

The next sign in front of our home #60.

Once inside we meet our first guests:
Kathy, Cam, and Tony Passaglia.
Kathy and Tony are Cam's parents.
Cam is here to assist with the Open House today.

Next is Rob Fair, another worker/helper on the layout.
He's done lots of work in making the layout what it is today.

Jordan Osborn also was one of our helpers today.
He's been my main engineer from the very beginning.
He knows all the tricks of the trade in running on the rails.

Our first guest was  Wes Coulter #52 who recently moved into the neighborhood.
I thought I had a picture of him but it wasn't in the file.

Our second neighborhood guest was John Radman #108

Our next guests were Don & Michelle Fisher (friends of Jim Geaman #97)

Friends of Whittington Course residents also came. This is  Joe & his son, Blake, who also came to see the trains. 

Rob Fair and Bob Bendeich #47 look at train pictures on Bob's phone.

Our final guest today was Ellen Rivers #14.

Thanks to all Whittington Course residents and beyond for making this open house such a great time and even better experience for all.

Monday, July 29, 2019

Train Day!

with Rob Fair 6-7:45pm (1.75 hours)

Rob Fair getting his "claws" ready to hold wires for soldering.

Back at the workbench...
Rob Fair prepares to test the traffic signals.

Traffic signals worked, but they stay on for 5 seconds and then go to the next color and then repeat the cycle.
Not exactly realistic. We ditched the circuit board.

Rob Fair getting ready to solder lighting wire under Union Station.
It's a bit blurry due to the action involved in this picture.

Tuesday, July 30, 2019

I put some CA on the bases of the light poles and took some pictures.

My brother, Bill, came to basketball this morning and gave me these trucks from Afghanistan.
Pretty cool!

More pictures of the light poles in downtown Chicago.

Wednesday, July 31, 2019

Train Day!

No one came today, BUT, I did have some very...
SPECIAL GUESTS:
Craig & Mimi White and her mom.

Craig & Mimi White with her Mom, Barb Lyon #40 watching the trains pass each other.

Here are my very special guests today.
Craig & Mimi White and Barb Lyon #40.

We had such a great time. Great questions and the trains ran well too!
One slight problem. The unit coal train dragged one of the signals down at Melrose Park.
No harm done, thank goodness.

Thursday, August 1, 2019

NTA

Friday, August 2, 2019

When I first got home, after working half day today, Tim Christopher was taking out our basement skylight. Good thing we did, check out these pics...

Check out the bottom left corner. See all the dry rot from standing water with no where to go.

Here's the other side, even worse the the opposite side.

No skylight.
Top view.

No skylight.
Bottom view.

Hopefully with the skylight gone, we won't have any more leaking down the wall that you see here in this picture.

Later today, I started painting the Chicago downtown buildings.

Saturday, August 3, 2019

I continued building and painting Chicago downtown buildings...

First I need to construct the middle building.
The design is quite a bit different, but it will be stunning on the layout!

Here's the rest of the work I did today...

First up, was to paint the brick on the front of the previous model.

Finished fronts on previous models.

Next up.
I constructed the middle building.

Then I began by painting the window panes and sills.
After that I started painting the bricks on the back of the building.

Now to the front with much more detail.

Back to the back with more "rust" color for the brick work.

All three buildings painted on the back side.

All three buildings painted on the front side.
The middle one still needs more details.

Finished backs.

Finished fronts.