Week 282

Sunday, December 22, 2019 thru Saturday, December 28, 2019

Key: NTA = No Train Activity

Sunday, December 22, 2019

My current project is to move the crossover switches as shown on this diagram from B2A3 and B3A2 to before the B1 A1 mainline switches. See next diagram...

Here's the diagram updated with the new location of the crossovers B3A2 and B2A3.

Now, let's go under the layout.
I labeled the wires for the switch machines after I removed the "guts" to install Milwaukee Ave and Fulton Street in North Chicago downtown.
What you see here is the wire stubs for B2A3.

And here is the wire stubs for the other crossover A2B3.

I knew I would need a point of reference for what wires went where so I drew this diagram to help me remember what worked. See tomorrow's update for more on this project.

Monday, December 23, 2019

But first, we have some special guests...

No train day today, but we did have some train activity with Henry and Ida Zielke.

Engineers Henry and Ida Zielke!
They did such a good job tonight!

I tried to capture Ida's excitement.

Length: 00:00:29 sec.

Ida is the Engineer for the CNW Unit Coal Train.
Here is the train running through the South Power District.

Henry counting cars...I love it!

Length: 00:00:20 sec.

Project Update:
I mounted the terminal blocks that will be the hub of the wire stubs for A2 and B2 as you saw earlier in the blog.
Also you can see I updated the diagram and included "Lake Street".

Here's the Terminal Block mounted below where the new crossover switches will be installed.
Tomorrow I'm hoping to get the wire stubs hooked up to the lower blocks.

Tuesday, December 24, 2019

NTA

Wednesday, December 25, 2019

Merry Christmas!

Thursday, December 26, 2019

I had a gap of time to do some under-the-layout wiring.
Here we go...

Look closely at the drawing and match the terminal plugs with the drawing.
Note: I took out the green wire and replaced it with an orange wire.

Now you can match up the terminal plugs to the drawing.
From left to right on the terminal block which corresponds to the drawing top to bottom.

See it?

Friday, December 27, 2019

I did some fall cleanup at church this morning and cut down some "trees".
Here they are getting ready to be transformed into models.

On Monday (see Week 283) I'll show you what these plants look like in the "wild".

First, I put them upside down to spray paint the bottom black/brown.

Then I put them right side up in a pile and started painting the tops green.

I bought three cans of paint today at ACE.
I used the lighter green. The darker green I will either return for the lighter or use it on another set of trees to mix with the current set. The final paint can I'll use to seal the deal.

Here are all the tops painted the light color green.

I like the way it looks now, but let's see what it looks like in place tomorrow...

Saturday, December 28, 2019

Today is tree day...

Check this out...

Here's the opening scene...a grove of trees near the old West Chicago station (with flash).

Same grove different view (no flash).

This is the same picture as the one above, with some minor changes.
What are they?

 Answers shown at the bottom of today's blog.

Same grove - back to original view (this time no flash).

The next series will show the progression of tree placement & planning.

Next, I laid out the tree optioins before me.
I will plant the small ones intermitant among the tall ones.

One my way...grove is growing...inventory is shrinking.

Another view of the progress.
Note the dead tree I included in this grove.

Since I was doing trees today I thought about adding some to the South Power District.
Here are some just above the Kedzie Avenue feeder alley.

And here I added some between the tracks and the pond.
I'm anxious to hear what you think when you see these in person.

Answer to question about what changed between pictures:
1. Removed drill
2. Removed glue bottle
3. Added tree to the left side of the grove
4. Added flash