Week 384

 Sun, Dec 5, 2021 thru Sat, Dec 11, 2021

Sun, Dec 5, 2021

No Train Activity today.

Mon, Dec 6, 2021

Train Day!

w/Rob Fair, Milt Feryance, Jordan Osborn

6-8pm 2 hrs.

Tonight's Train Order Board shows we'll be running Intermodal Train 2B out of Proviso Yard UP tracks 4 & 5 bound for Global 1. The Engineer & Conductor will be Milt Feryance. Watch and see how it is done...

Milt putting the Intermodal Train 2B together in Proviso UP Yard

Duration: 00:00:31 sec.

Meanwhile, Rob Fair works on the wiring for Crossover 2.5 under Central Control Tower.

Jordan Osborn being helpful by holding the light for Rob to see.

Watching the Intermodal Train 2B through the trees

Duration: 00:00:30

End of Train Device

Duration: 00:00:06 sec.

Around the Bend South Power District

Duration: 00:00:30 sec.

Another view of Rob working under the table at Central Control Tower

Intermodal Train 2B backing into Global 1

(this is a first experience for Train 2B)

Duration: 00:00:26 sec.

Testing out our wiring for the night. Yes, it does work.
So now, we're ready to do the install, but that will need to wait until next week.

Finishing tonight's run of Intermodal Train 2B. Taking the power and caboose back to the Engine Facility.

Shooting the breeze before calling it a night.

Rob Fair showing the working remote control switch machine.

Another angle. This will be mounted under the table, so this will probably be the last time you see this device above the table.

This is the wiring job Rob did for Crossover 2.5 at the Control Tower.

Tue, Dec 7, 2021

No train activity today.

Wed, Dec 8, 2021

Started out today early in the morning...

5:45-6:15am 30 min.

I bought this paint a few weeks ago and figured I needed to use it so I could put it away.

I painted the concrete wall and then scattered the "coal" on the base. I still see some pink spots coming through so I'll need to go back and do some black touch ups.

You can see the paint and brush ready to be applied to the pink wall.

Finished. It's a small detail, plus it looks a whole lot better than the pink.
BTW, this is a gray paint even though it looks blue.

I returned this evening for another 30 minutes from 7-7:30pm

This wiring job was only temporary to make sure we could get this to work.
After we got it working, I decided to re-route the wire under the table (see next picture).

All set. Much cleaner look.

Tonight and tomorrow, I'm going to redo the "Cars in Consists" sheets for the WB & EB Unit Coal Trains 2A. This sheet and the "cheat sheet" is for the WB Train.

And this one is for the EB train. More to come...

Thu, Dec 9, 2021

Hopefully I'll be able to finish up the paperwork for the WB/EB Unit Coal Train 2A

Let's see what happens. Check this out...

I took this morning off and worked from 9:15-11:15 on this project.

I made new signs for the Unit Coal Train 2A marking the front, middle & rear of the train.

This is the EB Train 2A ready for departure. As soon as the main power comes to hook up the train it will depart the Powder River Basin heading to the Melrose Park Power Plant.

These are the sheets I'm using to jot down my notes before I transfer them to the Train Cars in Consists report.

The incoming PRB Unit Coal Train 2A WB at this particular stage of yard operations.

Later tonight I finished the job...

9-9:15pm 15 min.

 

A video overview of the project

(I'm not sure why this got rotated, but I'll work on getting it back to how it should look)

Duration: 00:00:31 sec.

My final "cheat sheets".

Job is complete. You can see there are several gaps in the cars. Those are needed because I can only take so many cars at once to make up the outgoing train for the PRB West Yard.

Fri, Dec 10, 2021

I worked another hour from 7-8pm on the PRB paperwork.

Here's what I did...

I put the trains in order and recorded each move.

I drew a map of the final destinations of both the PRBEY and the PRBWY.
This is what the yards look like in detail when full of cars.

Tomorrow I plan to finish the step-by-step instructions to get to this point.

Sat, Dec 11, 2021

This morning I got up early and worked about 1 hour.

I finished Train 2A EB Train Cars in Consist report sheet.

I added the steps at the PRBWY putting the train together (steps 1-4).

I also finished the switching report for PRB West Yard prep. for Unit Coal Train 2A EB to MPPP

This took quite a while to figure this all out.
It's a 31 step process.
Now it's done and any more work to be done will be a tweak here or there.

This Train Cars in Consists report is for the PRBWY departure preparation.
I added the initial 3 steps to start the departure process.

This Train Cars in Consist report is for the Unit Coal Train 2A arrival and then switching into the PRBEY (Powder River Basin East Yard).

Time to switch gears. I'm going to install the under the table switch machines.

Demonstration of working switch machines.

Duration: 00:00:31 sec.

All the pieces wired up and ready for installation.

Oops! The wires were too short, so I had to redo the wiring with longer wires.

Cleaned up the tall table at Powder River Basin. I also found the March 2021 Trains magazine which highlighted the Powder River Basin. You can also see the diagram of the two yards at PRB.

A good view of the Powder River Basin West Yard with Unit Coal Train 2A EB ready to be put together for departure for a new crew.