Week 312

Sunday, July 19, 2020 thru Saturday, July 25, 2020

This Week's Goals:

1. Finish platform details in California Yard

2. Begin ballasting in California Yard

3. Place out buildings in California Yard

Sunday, July 19, 2020

Rainy day - I got a ton done on the RR...

Check this out:

Starting at the Maintenance Facility.
Preparing the work space for pouring "concrete".

I took this picture to show what powder I used for the "concrete".

After mixing with water to the consistency of pudding,
I poured the "concrete" into place.

Smoothed it out with a little water on the edge of the spatula.

I had a little left over mix and used it on the next project.

With the maintenance facility in place, time for the yard.

Two step process.
1. Fill in the bottom.
2. Finish off the top.

Making progress...

Just about finished.
Just need to tidy up a bit.

Back at the Maintenance Facility...
Need to remove the supports.

Supports removed and now the clean-up.

Supports removed and now we'll wait for "concrete" to set
overnight before cleaning up the mess.

I'm also going to install the mirrors here to make West Chicago
look twice as big!

Mirrors installed.

Another angle...

Monday, July 20, 2020

Train Day!
w/Rob Fair 6-8pm 2 hrs.

We completed Goal #2, but we have a long way to go...

Rob Fair begins work on California Yard.
Cleaning debris off the tracks.

Rob continues the tedious work...

My plan is to finish the Metra Commuter Coach Maintenance
Platform. Here I've started to put the finish coat of paint.

More progress. First I dab some paint.
Then I push it around with a brush.

Rob has finished the clean-up.
Now it's on to painting/staining the wood forms.

I finished the platform. Now it's time to put some "oil" spots
where the cars travel.

A closeup of the stained trim pieces.
The first section is almost finished. Still two more sections to go.

Making progress...

With the platform finished I moved on to ballasting.

Rob and I thought maybe it's too light. May need to add
some dark ballast. We'll stay with this for a bit and see if it sticks.

Looks like two sections are finished.

We wrap up the evening finishing the last of three sections.

Great work, Rob!
Sorry to strain your back with those poor working conditions.

Tuesday, July 21, 2020

Tuesdays are usually not train days, but today was different.

Look what happened...

SPECIAL GUESTS:
Henry & Ida Zielke

This is what happens when you see spider webs over the platform.

 SPECIAL GUESTS:
joining us were Charlie & Emily Zielke

Having a great time with Boppa and the trains!

After supper and 5-fold ministry I painted the California Yard platforms.

You can see what technique I used for painting.
Squirt a bit of paint on the platform and then move it around
with the brush.

Just a little more to go...

DONE!

GOAL #1 Accomplished!

Wednesday, July 22, 2020

SPECIAL GUESTS
Mom and Dad Berg
Unfortunately I didn't take pictures because I was too busy explaining everything.

Thursday, July 23, 2020

I spent about 30 minutes ballasting tonight.

Check this out...

BEFORE
ballasting.

AFTER
ballasting.

I picked up some motivation and kept moving down the line.
You can see I ran out of the mixed ballast and went with a cream-
colored ballast. Hopefully it won't look too out of place.

Once all the ballast was down it is time to glue it in place.

I used a mixture of 1/2 thinned glue; 1/2 water; 2 squirts liquid
detergent applied with a "Medicine Dropper".

It's a very tedious process, but also worth the effort.

A look from the other direction.

Friday, July 24, 2020

Worked today about 30 minutes.

Mainly worked on getting the switches free of ballast so they
can work properly again. Very tedious.

Saturday, July 25, 2020

Worked about 1 hour today.

More ballasting and cleaning up the switches.