Week 317

 Sunday, August 23, 2020 thru Saturday, August 29, 2020

This Week's Goals:

1. from 2 weeks ago...Finish ballasting South Power District

2. Install End of Train Device (EOTD) on intermodal car

3. Wire car lights on Milwaukee Ave. and Fulton St. in Chicago North

Sunday, August 23, 2020

No train activity today.

Monday, August 24, 2020

Train Day!

w/Rob Fair and Jordan Osborn (6-7:45pm 1.75 hrs.)

Did good tonight. Let's see what we did.

Rob Fair checks the lights on the cars to make sure they're all in working order.
This step is in preparation for Goal #3 this week.

Jordan Osborn pauses to say "Hey" as he works on updating our locomotive roster.

With the car lights all checked out, it's time to move on to the next project:
Installing the EOTD on the trailing intermodal car.

And FINALLY! We ran lots of trains tonight.

Check out these videos for a look at commuter and intermodal train running...

A Westbound Metra express flying by Oak Park/Lombard station.

Ground view.

Length: 00:00:31 sec.

An Eastbound Metra thru Oak Park/Lombard station.

Drone view.

Length: 00:00:29 sec.

Rob Fair installing EOTD at the workbench.

Length: 00:00:18 sec.

Westbound Intermodal departs Proviso Yard to begin westbound mainline journey.

Length: 00:00:22 sec.

Watching westbound intermodal at southend grade crossing at Western Avenue

Part 1

Length: 00:00:31 sec.

Watching westbound intermodal at southend grade crossing at Western Avenue

Part 2

Length: 00:00:19 sec.

Continuing our westbound trek - good look at EOTD

Length: 00:00:12 sec.

Westbound Intermodal continues journey between Elmhurst & Lombard

Part 1

Length: 00:00:30 sec.

Westbound Intermodal continues journey between Elmhurst & Lombard

Part 2

Length: 00:00:30 sec.

Westbound Intermodal thru Wheaton - "Showman"

Part 1

Length: 00:00:30 sec.

Westbound Intermodal thru Wheaton - "Showman"

Part 2

Length: 00:00:30 sec.

Last scene of westbound intermodal under the overpass at West Chicago

Length: 00:00:30 sec.

This will be our next project.
Two of the articulated pins snapped off so Rob and I are figuring out how to solve this problem.

One last look at the workbench.
It's been a very busy place as of lately.

Tuesday, August 25, 2020

No Train Activity today.

Wednesday, August 26, 2020

No train activity today.

Thursday, August 27, 2020

Hopefully I'll get a few minutes today to work on the RR.

Friday, August 28, 2020

I wanted to work on Goal #1 so I stopped by Wal-Mart to pick up some spray paint.

I tried painting the top layer in the bucket.
That's not going to work.

Special Guests:

Henry, Ida, and Charlie Zielke

but no pictures.

We were having too much fun to take time for pictures.

Saturday, August 29, 2020

Working on "pink lady" ballast...

Here's what I came up with to paint the ballast...

in the garage.

This was my first attempt.
I used a lighter sand mixture and got a lighter pink lady mixture.

I think this might be a little too light.

Then I tried a bit darker color sand mixture.

Here's how it looks after I've sprayed it with paint and put it back in the can.

This ballast is a little darker because of the darker color specks.

I needed to have the paper a little flatter, so I removed the tarp.
See the previous pictures with the tarp.

After painting...

Before painting.

 

Week 316

 Sunday, August 16, 2020 thru Saturday, August 22, 2020

This week's goal(s):

1. Finish ballasting the South Power District (from last week)

2. Order then install the last UP5 on the layout at Powder River Basin

3.

And on to this week...

Sunday, August 16, 2020

No train activity today.

One more day of watching our great grandkids.

Monday, August 17, 2020

Train Day!

with Rob Fair (6-7:45pm 1.75 hrs.) and Jordan Osborn (6:15-7:45pm 1.5 hrs.)

Tonight was very interesting. We moved from building to trouble-shooting.

Check this out...

Rob Fair inspects the track that we believe causes the Metra trains to derail.

Bringing in the test train.

Interesting close up view of the repair job.
Can you see the small rail that was cut to insert into the gap?

Dang! That wasn't it!
Rob Fair kept looking into what was the cause of the derailment.

Let's see some trouble-shooting action!

Length: 00:00:11 sec.

He found it was in the frog.
He had to file it down just a bit more to make operating thru the switch smooth.

Our next order of business was to replace this switch machine that stopped operating.
This too was quite interesting. We replaced it and the one we replaced it with didn't work, so we 
went back to the original switch machine and reinstalled it and it worked.
Go figure! Ugh!

Parting shots!
Great work tonight, Mr. Fair.
You proved your prowess tonight!

And Jordan can't be disturbed as he concentrates on the next project for our next session.

Tuesday, August 18, 2020

No train activity today.

Wednesday, August 19, 2020

No train activity today.

Jan's birthday!

Thursday, August 20, 2020

No train activity today.

Friday, August 21, 2020

Had some time to work on the RR.

But first, I had to go to B&G to pick up my UP5 which I ordered earlier this week.

Here's what I picked up at B&G Hobbies.
I will be installing this just below the UP5 shown here.

After marking the corners I cut out the gap.
Since this has several layers, I'll need to do a bit more cutting.

My blade wasn't long enough, so I had to drill out the holes and then I'll move the drill bit around
to make room for the UP5.

This view show the wall in the back of the Powder River Basin. This shows the thickness of the
wood I had to cut through to make room for the back of the UP5.

UP5 installed. Now to wire it up and clean up the work area.

Goal #2 Completed!

Saturday, August 22, 2020

Opening Day at Kuipers!

I'll be driving the train from 8:30am until 6:00pm today.

Week 315

Sunday, August 9, 2020 thru Saturday August 15, 2020

This week's goal(s):

1. To elevate West Chicago downtown

2. Secure 2x4 used to elevate West Chicago downtown

3. Finish ballast in the South Power District 

Goals set, let's see how we do...

Sunday, August 9, 2020

Worked from 1pm to 2pm (1 hr.)

Then Special Guests later in the evening.

See below:

Now before I start working on West Chicago downtown, I need to finally finish the old EJ&E line that makes the diamonds at West Chicago Turner Junction. I'll need to remove the downtown area and the template.

With the template removed I can put down the cork and then the stub line.

Here's a view from the ground. I like it. This line will disappear under West Chicago downtown. Not that accurate from the prototype, but you do what you can do when you model.

Here you can see the old EJ&E line and the buildups to support the elevated WeGo downtown.

Another view.

Instead of using plywood, I thought I'd try using 1 1/2" foam boards. Hopefully this will give me enough support to hold the downtown buildings. If not, I can always go back to plywood.

After using the template to cut the foam boards I placed it back on top of the boards.

SPECIAL GUESTS

Mom & Dad came down to see the progress. They are always impressed with what they see.
Dad just shakes his head and wonders how I do it.

Monday, August 10, 2020

Train Day!

w/Jordan Osborn 7-8pm (1 hr.)

Rob Fair has the night off.

Jordan Osborn prepares for the night session.

I plan on placing the supports in the proper position to allow a lift out in the middle.

Here you can see how each edge is supported by 2x4 bases. That will be enough support to hold the foam boards in place.

Here you can see the lift out section where the downtown area will sit.
I will be able to lift this section out to service the electrical part of downtown West Chicago.

Tuesday, August 11, 2020

No train activity today.

Wednesday, August 12, 2020

Special Guests

Cameron Passaglia and Carlos Baez stopped by for a visit today.
Jordan Osborn looks on in the background.

Group photo pose with social distancing in place.

Where's Cameron?

I don't know how he did it, but can you see the Monster truck?
Cameron back at work making things happen on the RR.

Thursday, August 13, 2020

No train activity today.

Friday, August 14, 2020

No train activity today.

Watching grandkids all weekend.

Saturday, August 15, 2020

No train activity today.

Still watching grandkids.

Week 314

Sunday, August 2, 2020 thru Saturday, August 8, 2020 

This week's goal:

1. Finish work on West Chicago Downtown footprint.

I'll be on vacation all week in northern WI.

Let's see how we do...

Sunday, August 2, 2020

No train activity today.

Monday, August 3, 2020

No train activity today.

Tuesday, August 4, 2020

Working on laying out the building for West Chicago downtown on paper.

Wednesday, August 5, 2020

A little more work on West Chicago downtown planning.

Thursday, August 6, 2020

I've been working on the West Chicago Downtown footprint at the Zielke Family cabins in northern WI.

Here's the work I've done so far...

I used the drawing with dimensions to figure out
where the buildings should be located in downtown
West Chicago.

Here's the building layout for downtown
West Chicago.

I flipped the picture so you can see another side.

Friday, August 7, 2020

No train activity today.

Traveling back from Cornucopia WI

Saturday, August 8, 2020

Wait until you see what I did today.

I'll start with the end result and work back to just one building.

Here is downtown West Chicago using mirrors to
make one square block look like four square blocks.

One (of four) street faces.

Two of four street faces.

The third of four street faces.

And finally, the fourth of four street faces.

Here's a drone view of the finished square block.

Less one building.

Less another building.

As you can see we're going back in history.

Still subtracting one building at a time.

Still going down by one...

Now there is six.

Five.

Four.

Three.

Two.

And then there was One.

I started with this one because this was the only footprint
I didn't have cut out to put in place like the other ones. 

I had to wait until I got home to see if it would fit. 

And it fit perfectly!
How often does that happen?