Week 500

Sun, Feb 25, 2024 thru Sat, Mar 2, 2024

Sun, Feb 25, 2024

Field Trip with Marcus & Jordan...

We went to Itasca and Elmhurst and had some train time...

First stop...

This shop was floor to ceiling wall to wall with stuff!

Next stop: Elmhurst Model RR Club

First look.

End of train device under the layout.

Marcus taking mental notes...

Their scene at the commuter station.

Chris Andrews who has been at my home to visit my
basement train layout. His son was running N scale trains
in the next room. I didn't get a picture of Josiah.
See Blog 438 of their visit to my layout.

Another great view of the many parts to this layout.

Chris's passenger train approaches depot.

More details...

Parting shot of Chris's passenger train.

EMRRC schedule of
Weekly Open Houses.

Mon, Feb 26, 2024

Up early to get ready for Train Day today!

Before moving locomotives back into storage positions.

Locomotives waiting to approach

One set in place on Track 4.

Whoa! That was fast. All in storage locations.

That took about 33 minutes.

Train Day!

w/Rob Fair 6-8pm 2 hrs.

Marcus Thorsen 6-7pm 1 hr.

Lots accomplished

Rob Fair will tackle the UP SW1500 #1064 tonight.

Checking out the pickups.

Meanwhile, Marcus and I work on the back wall.

How does that look?

Moving down the wall.

Making each section fit properly.

Looking good!

I like it! Nice work, Marcus!

Meanwhile, back at the workbench with Rob Fair and his SW1500 locomotive...

Still trouble-shooting the pick-up problems.
All wheels weren't spinning when testing the power.

Rob found the problem. It was a wire that was
disconnected from the post.

Rob resoldered the wire to the pickup post and 
then connected it back into the circuit board.

Check out the video in the weekly update to see this revamped loco in action!

Tue, Feb 27, 2024

No train activity today.

Wed, Feb 28, 2024

No train activity today.

Thu, Feb 29, 2024

Got up early to get some work done...

Took care of some paperwork.
Moving Unit Coal Train 2A previous runs to archive notebook.

Stopped by B& G Train World and bought a decoder
for the UP SW1500 #1064 diesel switcher.

Cost breakdown:

Item: $23.00

Tax: $1.96

Tip: $0.04

Total: $25.00

Fri, Mar 1, 2024

Fun day!

Start off at Tom Stover's with a training session

Local turn freight from Salt Lake City to Denver via
Breckinridge & Crest Hill.

Tom Stover, owner, operator, dispatcher, trainer.

Another engineer in training today, Duane...

...working the Denver yard.

To view Videos of this event see YouTube Weekly Update Season 2014 Blog 500

End up at home with my grandkids, Ida & Charlie, running trains.

Charlie taking a break from running Mixed Freight Train 5C
to view Ida getting ready to run the Commuter Train 1A.

Charlie keeping his eye on what's ahead...

And Ida, getting ready to change positions.
Her commuter train is just leaving the confines of Proviso Yard

To view Videos of this event see YouTube Weekly Update Season 2014 Blog 500

Sat, Mar 2, 2024

My job today will be to remove the shell, replace
the "dumb" decoder with this real Digitrax decoder.

Shell off. Now we need to get that "dumb" decoder
separated from the harness.

UGH! That was really difficult. I had to leave a few
times to get rejuvenated. But finally got it off.

New decoder installed and ready for a test drive
on the layout.

First I make sure the decoder operates properly
as installed using factory address "03".

I used my DCS51 to program the new address from
"03" to the engine number "1064".

Success! Thanks for holding the UT6, Ida 😊

Thanks for making my day Charlie and Ida!