Basement Train Layout: Week 513

Sun, May 26, 2024 thru Sat, Jun 1, 2024

Sun, May 26, 2024

Special Guests

The Johnson Family return for a 2nd visit.

Samuel ran the WB Commuter Train 1D.

The three amigos with Dad.

See Weekly Update YouTube video in Saturday's entry for action on today's visit.

Mon, May 27, 2024

Tonight we plan to run the final Commuter Train 1E.
EB from Geneva to Chicago Terminal and back.

To see the video of tonight's session, see Weekly Update in Saturday's entry below.

Marcus won't be able to come the next few Mondays,

but we are going to keep him busy by taking the work to him and

make progress even in his absence.

I was never very happy with this setup.
Too bulky.

After removing the panel...

I tested the wall placement.

I do like the poles, so I will keep one on each side.

We finished the night adding decals to two cab cars.

Rob cuts out the numbers we'll be using for this car.

Using this sheet as our guide.
It shows the original number with the new number
assigned to each commuter car in our fleet.

After cutting out the decal, Rob soaks it in water
for 10 seconds.

After waiting about a minute, rob applies the decal.

Once in place...

...he covers the decal with Micro Sol which helps
the decal adhere and shape to the object it is placed.

There you go!

Now with the decals in place I need to finish adding
the grab iron details.

We also added decals to this commuter cab.

These two cars belong to the same consist.

The numbers on this train all end in the digit "3" which

designates what track it will arrive at Chicago Terminal.

Tue, May 28, 2024

Detailing Cab car 8703 from last night.

And look what came in the mail today!
The new metal wheel sets for the commuter cars
from Walthers.

Wed, May 29, 2024

Still working on Commuter Cars.

Lots to do so let's keep at it!

I finished detailing this car after Rob added the
new decal numbers on Monday.

Check out the step grab irons at the bottom of the ladder.

I also replaced the metal wheels sets on two of the
cars (shown on the right) with the new 33" metal
wheelsets from Walthers (on the left).

These two cars are completed finished.
Video of these two units will be in the Weekly Update
video. See Saturday's entry at the bottom of this blog.

Now working on a third car.

Updating changes on the spreadsheet.

Making progress.

Just three more cars to go and all will have grab irons installed.

Hopefully I ordered enough wheels sets for the Walthers cars.

Thu, May 30, 2024

Finished detailing another Walther's Commuter Car.

This one is much easier since it's a coach so there's
no front end to do as I would for a cab.

On the layout and ready for the next run.

Only two more cars to go and I will have detailed 14 cars altogether.

My commuter car obsession will be coming to a close very soon.

Fri, May 31, 2024

Up early and used a different technique to "drill" the holes in the car for the grab irons.

Instead of using a #80 drill bit, I used an auger instead.

The holes are a little bigger, and I need to trim the grab irons, but I think this will work.

12 holes all together for the front of the cab car.

Each side gets 12 holes each. Four on the right.

Four on the top.

And four on the left.

I'm going to try one more change when installing the grab irons.

Instead of using glue, I'm going to fill the hole with paint and then stick in the grab irons using the paint as the adhesive. Hopefully this will work.

I was sloppy with the glue because I had a hard time getting a very small drop in the hole.

Let's give this new technique a try.

Well I didn't like the new idea. I did switch the drill and that worked much better. When you drilling 36 holes per car, the drill bit dulls pretty quick. I went through two drill bits.

The afternoon I finished detailed all the RTA Walthers Commuter Cars.