Week 416

 Sun, Jul 17, 2022 thru Sat, Jul 23, 2022

Sun, Jul 17, 2022

Christian is finishing up the Unit Coal Train 2A run.

Backing in the train into the Melrose Park Power
Plant yard.

Christian running the train from Central Control Tower.

The yard is now full. Good work, Christian!

Now backing in the final cars.

My brother, Neal, checking out the operations.

Becca said she wanted to know where she could
play with the train "hands on".
I forgot to show her and she found her own figures
to play with today.

Later today, I worked on replacing the resistors
and adding extensions to pull through the 2" of foam board.

The new wiring for the one traffic signal.

In this picture I've circled the new resistors I installed.

What's on your workbench this week?
This is what it looks like when I'm soldering.

Mon, Jul 18, 2022

Train Day!

w/Rob Fair 6-8:15pm 2.25 hrs.

We ran one (Pennsylvania 4-8-2 K4) of Rob's new engines and we installed 1 traffic light.

Check this out...

Rob Fair checking the coupler height and air hose
clearance on his Pennsy coach cars.

Starting the test run...

Duration: 00:00.27 sec.

Going through Proviso Yard

Duration: 00:00.14 sec.

Approaching Melrose Park Station at Signal #4

Duration: 00:00.13 sec.

Signal #3 changing

Duration: 00:00.25 sec.

And finally, signal #2 changing

Duration: 00:00.28 sec.

Then we installed the traffic light.

At the intersection, one traffic light
installed.

Same traffic signal, different perspective.

We ended up making the following adjustments to the project.

1. We removed all the straws used as conduit.

1. We enlarged the four holes in the base plywood sheet.

2. We had to cover the resistor leads with shrink wrap.

3. We were able to pull the wires through 1 by 1.

4. The resistors reached the plywood opening with the extensions going beyond.

Tue, Jul 19, 2022

Tonight, I hope to add extensions and secure the shrink wrap on the two remaining traffic signals.

After I complete that step, I will test each LED again.

Getting ready to solder the ends of the wires.
One wire from the traffic signal (on the right).
The other from the end of the extender wire (on the left).

Setting up the wires to solder.

Applying liquid flux.

Solder complete.

Shrink wrap applied.

I retested all the lights and everything worked
exactly as planned. Now I'm ready to install the traffic lights.

I will try to add the extension wires to the third traffic signal tomorrow...

Wed, Jul 20, 2022

Jan helped me tonight pull the wires down through the layout.

Here's what I was able to accomplish tonight...

I  finished installing the wire extensions on the 
third traffic light signal.

We still need to push these wire through from the top
so I can pull them through the bottom.

Jan helped me tonight push the wires through.

Then, underneath, I pulled them through
the 3/4" hole I drilled.

Almost finished. I ordered the replacement signal because one yellow LED bulb didn't illuminate.

David Lu (owner of WeHonest) said I could also include anything from his store with the order.

So I ordered 25 RR worker figures. He is a great businessman!

I also finally updated the paperwork from Wed/Sun Special Guests.

Thu, Jul 21, 2022

I connected the overhead street lamps to the rest of the system.

Check this out...

Three of the four traffic signals installed.

Overhead LED lights wired up with the rest of the
lighting street system.

Next step will be to wire up the signals on a different
system so they will illuminate when the other traffic lights
are activated. That will happen once WeHonest sends
me the replacement part.

Fri, Jul 22, 2022

No train activity today.

Sat, Jul 23, 2022

No train activity today.