Week 408

 Sun, May 22, 2022 thru Sat, May 28, 2022

Sun, May 22, 2022

Moved Train Day! to today

w/ Rob Fair (Jordan Osborn had family over tonight)

6-8pm 2 hours

If you recall from last week...

The inside lights at Crusome Casket Co. were dim.

Rob and I tackled that problem tonight.

Here we go...

Rob Fair is preparing to unsolder the wires to the
metal strip for the inside lights.

Rob took a picture of me working on
the "guts" of the Crusom Casket Co. building

We installed a new transformer and connected the
lights to new power cables.
Whaa Lhaa! Looking good!

Then I showed Rob the JMRI software on the computer.
It was a slow process, but we did get these two locomotives
added to the roster. I will add that picture to the blog
this week.

Here's Rob at the Control Tower with the computer
where we called up the JMRI software.

I almost forgot to take a picture of the new and
improved inside lighting at Crusome Casket Co.
You like?

I need to hire a window washer. Check out the
skylight on top of the two story building.
Completely covered by dirt and grime and guck.

One other thing you can see in this picture is the wires through the open sliding door.

I will need to clean up that mess soon too.

Mon, May 23, 2022

No train activity tonight.

Jan & I went to watch Katie Smiley at the IHSA Larkin High School Regional volleyball tournament where Katie is the Boys Volleyball Head Coach.

Tue, May 24, 2022

I worked about 1 hour tonight and here's what I did...

Scraping off the layer of cinder.

Preparing the glue for an extra base layer.

Base layer in place and waiting for weights.

Adding an entry "apron" for parking lot.

Weights in place and now we wait overnight.

Before I stop working on the RR, I will ballast
the spur that goes to the Crusome Casket Co.

Wed, May 25, 2022

I worked on the RR a little bit before dinner tonight...

This is a sheet of paper I will use as a pattern for
the next layer of "asphalt" for the Crusome Casket Co.
parking lot

I use tar paper for the "asphalt" and am getting ready
to cut out the "parking lot" using the pattern from the
previous photo.

Oops!
By the time I got the glue on I had to work fast to 
lay down the "asphalt" parking lot. I will show you
what it looks like tomorrow after the glue cures overnight.

OHHHHHHHH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

RAIN in the BASEMENT AGAIN!

UGH!

I filled the green bucket full of water
as I wrung out the towels full of water.

Video of the tragic event

Duration: 00:00:36 sec.

Finishing thoughts...

Duration: 00:00:12 sec.

Thu, May 26, 2022

I got up early this morning to remove all the weights.
Your wait is over - here's the finished "asphalt" layer.

Fri, May 27, 2022

Lots of work on the Crusome Casket Co.

After the "asphalt" was secured it is time to set up
the parking lot barriers.

Also taking time to change the outer areas from black
to gray.

Weathering continues on the brick face of the building

Adding sidewalks to access the building.

Painting the gutter.

And taping the parking lot lines.

The paint didn't "stick" as I expected even after
 a couple of coats.

Another view of the work in progress

Weathering complete with some small details to follow

Sat, May 28, 2022

Some more work done at Crusome Casket Co. Est. 1920

Finished the parking lot lines...

There's a doorway that needs to be clear. How about
some parking lot lines to keep cars from parking there.

I'm going to try to use some craft paint to see if
that will work.

It didn't work. The "asphalt" absorbed all the paint.
Let's try this art paint.

It was a little tricky removing the tape. I had to recut
the lines so as not to pull off all the paint.

Checking the dimensions of the lines for parallel parking.

Final look. Not bad.

Now to weather the parking lot and sidewalk.

That will be for next week 409...