Week 442

 Sun, Jan 15, 2023 thru Sat, Jan 21, 2023

Sun, Jan 15, 2023

Working on the RR...getting ready for tomorrow's Train Day!

Since we've started working on the station
platforms, I thought I better get started
on the station platform signage.

I would also like to assign this project to Rob for
tomorrow. The guard rails took a beating during the
decoder installation. Maybe we can fix these.

This one too?
Maybe we can reinstall the fan fixtures on top of the
hood as well as fixing the guard rails.

Mon, Jan 16, 2023

I was up early this morning and decided to finish up the West Chicago Metra sign...

After I removed the wax paper, the sign is ready for black paint.
You can see the finger nail polish I'll be using in the background.

All finished, with the paint container in the foreground.

And installed.

This is the Outbound sign with the inbound sign on
the other side of the tracks.

Final step is to ballast and this project will be a wrap!

TRAIN DAY!

w/Rob Fair and Jordan Osborn

6-8pm 2 hrs.

AND

Special Guest: Mark McMahon

Rob will spend most of his night at the workbench
fixing the guard railings on some locomotives.

Jordan will take his position at Central Control Tower
and observe tonight's operations.

And H e r e ' s our Special Guest: Mark McMahon

We had a great visit updating Mark on the progress.

We did run a train too.
We took Commuter Train 1A back to
Chicago Terminal from Geneva.

One more look at everyone at tonight's session.

Rob did a fantastic job fixing the railings.
He had to completely rebuild a couple of the railings.

This locomotive has been missing parts since I 
bought it. Tonight it is finally put together!

Thanks so much, Rob!

Tue, Jan 17, 2023

No train activity today.

Wed, Jan 18, 2023

Not a lot of train activity today, but I did want to show you a "before" and "after" photo of Rob's work done on Monday's Train Day!

"BEFORE"

 

"AFTER"

Thu, Jan 19, 2023

No train activity today.

Fri, Jan 20, 2023

My brother, Neal, is in town from Vietnam for about 10 days.

His three kids came to my house today to spend some time with "Uncle Curt".

I thought this would be a great opportunity to build my train personnel.

So we studied the RULE BOOK / Job Descriptions...

Hard at work, taking the test to pass the Certificate of Completion.

Three new members of our Train Team.
Level 1 complete.

A little more light on the subjects please.

Then we had some fun.

We tried to jump...

...and take a picture in mid-air...

Oops...too late...

But so much fun...

One more try?

Just missed.

Sat, Jan 21, 2023

I'm not sure where this came from, but I decided to clean up the layout and remove all the vehicles from their present locations. I will be asking Jordan to organize the vehicles and then place them back in the order he chooses on the layout. Should be an interesting project.

Parking lot and heavy equipment gone at PRB - Clear.

Ready to be reorganized in this box.

Here are some of the vehicles from downtown Chicago
and some that were parked at the Maintenance Facility
at California Avenue.

Downtown streets have been cleared except for the
cars with lights - the wires keep them in place.

These are the cars from Interstates I-290 and I-294

Both Interstates are now - Clear.

West Chicago Station parking lot -  Clear.

Melrose Park Industrial Park - Clear.

Here are some of the vehicles from Melrose Park

Melrose Park downtown - Clear, except for the school bus.

Under the viaduct & the Grain Elevator - Clear.

Western Ave. - Clear.

Sacramento Avenue - Clear.

California Avenue Maintenance Facility Parking Lot - 
Clear.

More vehicles ready for re-org.