Week 323

 Sun, Oct. 4, 2020 thru Sat, Oct. 10, 2020

This week's goals:

1. Finish grove of trees and chain link fence

between Global 1 and California Ave. Metra Facility

2. Work on California Avenue entrance.

3. Work on California Avenue out buildings.

Sun, Oct. 4, 2020

Bringing out the coal train from Powder River Basin.

These next videos show the process and movement of cars

out of the Powder River Basin

Length: 00:00:30 sec.

This video shows the hook up to the back of the train

Length: 00:00:08 sec.

Here is the train leaving Powder River Basin

Length: 00:00:30 sec.

And finally, the train makes the crossover to left hand running.

Length: 00:00:33 sec.

Mon, Oct. 5, 2020

Train Day!

w/Rob Fair and Jordan Osborn

6-8pm 2 hours

 Rob Fair starting off tonight making
posts for the chain link fence.

Jordan Osborn greets the crew to start off the night.

My wife, Jan, thought she could sneak by
without making a cameo appearance.
No way, I had to capture the moment.
Although she made it very clear,
"I'm not here for the trains."

A rare shot of me working :)
Here I'm drilling holes for
the chain link fence posts.

Rob Fair has picked up the action and started 
installing the posts.

Rob Fair reacts to a spider on the layout.
I do have several of them that visit now and again.

Now Rob attaches the fence to the posts.
Looks good, Rob!

Meanwhile, back at the control tower, Jordan
and I make lists of Train Types and power units.

Here's the list that matches the power units with 
the train types.

Videos showing the Coal Train from Powder River Basin

delivering coal to the Melrose Park Power Station

Coming from the mainline to the spur line

Length: 00:00:30 sec.

Begin first leg into the yard at the Power Station

Length: 00:00:16 sec.

End first leg into the yard at the Power Station

Length: 00:00:30

Begin second leg into the yard at the Power Station

Length: 00:00:08 sec.

More work on the chain link fence.

Oops!

The very last thing we did was discover a switch stand too close to the fence post. We had to remove the fence post to get to the switch stand. We thought we glued the post to the switch stand. After further review and nail polish remover, I discovered the switch was stuck due to the ballast and not the glue from the fence post. After Rob and Jordan left for the night, I went back to fix the problem.

Tue, Oct. 6, 2020

No train activity today.

Wed, Oct. 7, 2020

No train activity today.

Thu, Oct. 8, 2020

Working on the RR...

Goal #3 California Ave. Metra Maintenance Facility outbuilding foundation

These are the outbuildings that need foundations
added to get them up to street level.

Step 1
Clear the area.

Step 2
Remove the shoulder from the road.

Step 3
Load the shoulder material into trucks.

Step 4
Haul the material away for later use.

Step 5
Cut out template for "foundation".
I'll be using styrene and an "asphalt" layer for the "foundation"

Fri, Oct. 9, 2020

Working on the RR this afternoon...

Step 6
Using the template, I cut out the "foundation" and
"asphalt" layers I will use to elevate the buildings.

Step 7
Here is the cut out piece of styrene that will bring
the buildings up to street level.

Step 8
I may or may not use the asphalt layer.
I need to see how it all fits together.

SPECIAL GUESTS

After dinner, Mom and Dad came down to check on the progress

After giving an update on the RR, I ran a train
while Mom and Dad counted the cars.

Dad still counting...

We had 31 cars on the train.
Mom and Dad ask good questions when the come 
and check out the layout additions.

Sat, Oct. 10, 2020

Work continues on the RR...

Step 9
Securing the styrene underlayment overnight.

Step 10
Putting the buildings back in place and making
determination if we need to add more layers.

See next week's blog (Week 324) for more progress.