Week 304

Sunday, May 24, 2020 thru Saturday, May 30, 2020

My goal this week:
Finish installation of lights in and around California Avenue Metra Maintenance Facility
Special Recognition: Dean Hatzis
Special Guest: Josiah Crockett

Sunday, May 24, 2020

Josiah starting to set up his layout.
We'll end up putting up the saw mill and an oval track.

While Josiah played, here's where I separated sand using different size screen wire into different containers based on the size of the sand. Very tedious job.

  Monday, May 25, 2020

Work on California Avenue Metra Maintenance Facility

I'm working on making a covering/awning for the office entrance.

Here's the BEFORE picture.

Here's the BETWEEN picture.
The support beams are in place temporarily until the glue sets.
See tomorrow for the AFTER picture.

Tuesday, May 26, 2020

Inside the facility you can see the electrical panel where I'll attach the wires coming from the outside (really from underneath).

Here you can see where I mounted the inside light.
Still need to finish the flooring and then add some details.

The AFTER picture from yesterday's project.

Wednesday, May 27, 2020

Getting ready for the next step.
Eventually I will be soldering.
More on that later...

I didn't realize at the time, but the wire going up the straw is in the wrong location.
This is where the corner of the building is located. The electrical panel is really where the other straw is located.
You'll see this change in future pictures.

While underground, I will go ahead and attach the yard feeder wires to the bus line.
In this picture the orange wires are already connected to the red bus line using the blue suitcase connector.
The white wires are still loose, but will eventually be stripped, tied together and attached to the black bus wire using the other blue suitcase connector.
More to come...

Thursday, May 28, 2020

No Train Activity

Friday, May 29, 2020

LOTS of activity today

2.5 hours worth

First, I replaced the light fixutre in the shop to a fixture I bought at the Science & Surplus store today.
It's a small 6V bulb in a box. You can see it leaning against the building wall.
I'm curious how this will turn out.

Here's the box installed.

Drone view.

After attaching the wires to the box, I had to make my way underground again.
First, I attached the white feeder wires for the yard leads to the black bus wire.
You may ask, "Why are there two blue suitcase connectors?"
Great question.
I had to redo the first one because the wires weren't stripped or twisted.
They fell out of the holder.
After stripping them and twisting them I used a new suitcase connector and reattached.
Now it's a snug fit. All good!

Next I connected the wires from the light box in the shop to the power supply to the electrical panel using the access tube (note the new straw location).
This is the picture that shows the new entry point into the building.

When I turned on the "juice" I was pleased to see the light come on!
If I correctly follow the plan it should light as expected, but it always feels good when your plans come together and the lights actually do come on as expected they should come on!
This picture is taken with flash.

Same picture withouth flash.

After more soldering and connecting, the other lights are now on.
Here the office entrance light and the interior light are shown.

Here you can see the lights from the front, the back, and the shop.

Trackside perspective - dock view.

Trackside perspective - office entrance view.

Series of Videos
Parts I, II, III

Part I - Under the table

Length: 00:00:26 sec.

Part II - Over the table

Length: 00:00:25 sec.

Part III - Around the Facility

Length: 00:00:22 sec.

Saturday, May 30, 2020

Working on the California Avenue Metra Maintenance Facility Parking Lot and sifting sand.

Preparing the footprint of the parking lot.

Cutting and fitting the "asphalt" in place.

Office entrance.

Taking shape...

View from the west.
Dock view.

View from the east.
Office view.

Almost finished.

One more section.

Wait for the weights.
Letting the glue set overnight.

Meanwhile, back to sifting sand.

The challenge now is to separate the different types of sand into containers.

Will I have enough containers after I finally sift all the sand on hand?

Week 303

Sunday, May 17, 2020 thru Saturday, May 23, 2020

My goal this week is to work on the lighting at the Metra California Avenue Maintenance Facility.
Thinking especially of you, Dean Hatzis!

Sunday, May 17, 2020

Before installing the lighting for this building I need to make sure it stays put!

Look closely and you can see four corner posts that will hold the shed in place.

With the two building removed, you can see the 8 corner posts in place.

Securing the building corners

Length: 00:00:33 sec.

QC on the secured building...

Length: 00:00:15 sec.

Monday, May 18, 2020

NTA

Tuesday, May 19, 2020

Happy Birthday Greeting to Carlos Baez for his birthday today!

Length: 00:00:30 sec.

I need to add the pads for the switch machines.
I've cut them out and now they're under the weights for the glue to hold in place.

I'm kit-bashing the canopy which will hold the light for the back dock at the California Ave. Metra Mainteance Facility.

I had to drill a hole in the center where the canopy will be installed.

Wednesday, May 20, 2020

NTA

Thursday, May 21, 2020

Last weekend we were on 3rd Street in Geneva and I noticed the RR tracks were being worked on at the Metra Station. Today I went to take a look at all what was happening...

Nice prototype photo of the crossing pads and the asphalt surroundings.

Looking east from the Geneva Metra station.

Back in the basement...

Tonight I'm going to mount the LED light and then install the canopy.

Just like in real life I have the support beams in place while the glue sets up overnight.

Back at Powder River Basin

Just making sure the switch machine pads are in the proper location.
Yes they are!

Friday, May 22, 2020

No Train Activity Today
James, Natalie, Josiah and Lissette came to visit this weekend so we'll be pretty busy with them.

Saturday, May 23, 2020

Josiah and I discovered how to work the flashlights.
We added flashlight tag to our train activities for the day.

Josiah playing with his trains talking about Locomotives

Length: 00:00:20 sec.

Week 302

Sunday, May 10, 2020 thru Saturday, May 16, 2020

Sunday, May 10, 2020

My goal this week is to finish the cork track bed for the Powder River Basin (PRB).

Let's see how I do this week.

I've got the cork cut out and laid out on the bridge going to the PRB.

Now it's time to start cutting out the cork for the two yards.

Here are the pieces laid out and getting ready for adhesive.

Before we glue, let's cut out a bit more cork...

Checking the track and the bend going into PRB.

Now it's time to start the gluing of the cork in place.

Once the glue is in place we need to put the weights in place and let it set overnight.

Monday, May 11, 2020

We continue to the gluing process down the line.

Same procedure.
Glue in place, fit cork, place board on cork, then the weights on top of the wood, wait at least 6 hours (preferably overnight).

Looking down the line.
I may put a series of these shots together to show the progressing of this project.

Lots of gluing today.
This is the final stage as we wait for the weights.

Tuesday, May 12, 2020

Poor centering job on this video. No conversation.

I tried to capture the westbound entry into PRB to the end of the line.

Length: 00:00:18 sec.

In this video I tried to capture the eastbound exit out of PRB.

Length: 00:00:16 sec.

A drone view of the construction of the PRB arrival and departure tracks and corresponding yard layout.

Overview of the entry into PRB.

More work on the departing yard track cork bed.

Wednesday, May 13, 2020

I had to do some minor repairs so the production process will take a bit of a hit, but I still think we're on track to meeting our goal this week of laying the cork track bed at PRB.

Thursday, May 14, 2020

Now it's time to lay the cork track bed for the arrival yard.

Lots of glue, boards, and weights.
And now...we wait.

Friday, May 15, 2020

I was up this morning from midnight until 1:30am mopping up rain water that seeped in over the entire wall at the PRB. I will show you some minor damage that the water caused to the newly installed yard cork bed.

After removing all the boards and weights we assess the damage.

Unfortunately some of the glue stuck to the wood so when I lifted the wood the cork came up with the board.
You can see two "holes" left by the cork that stayed glued on the board.

This is a better picture of the missing cork.

There's another section that had water leak on it, but it dried out with no worse for wear.

Saturday, May 16, 2020

Well, I did accomplish this week's goal:
To finish the cork track bed for the entire PRB.

Today we had a lot going on but I did try to trouble shoot the LNWI.
I failed again and have finally made the final decision to sell my LNWI on ebay to the hightest bidder.

This was a test LNWI sent to me by Phil Abernathy from Young Harris GA.
He was intrigued by my problem and sent me his LNWI that worked at his home.
We figured out it was my basement not either LNWI that caused the problem.
Still a major bummer, but I'll move on with the LocoNet manual hookups to the layout facia.

James told me I need to go "Old School" so I sent him this picture to show him I already am "Old School"

She's a beut!