Week 533

Sun, Oct 13, 2024 thru Sat, Oct 19, 2024

 Sun, Oct 13, 2024

Working on Weekly Layout Update

See last week's (Week 532) Saturday's entry for link to YouTube Video

Mon, Oct 14, 2024

Train Day!

w/Rob Fair 6:30-8:15pm 1.75 hrs.

Marcus Thorsen 6:30-7:15pm .75 hrs.

Special Guests: Jim Geaman and his wife, Pat.

We got a late start, but the crew has finally arrived!

We had our first Monday night guests arrive tonight...

Jim & Pat Geaman

Jim is on our HOA board.

They attend Bethlehem Lutheran Church

and they live at 97 Whittington Crse

Pat rearranges the furniture on the back porch.

Here they are! Our Special Guests
Jim & Pat Geaman

Rob Fair finished up his intermodal project tonight!
Job well done, Rob!

We finished off tonight moving the Unit Coal Train 2A
from the PRB East Yard to the PRB West Yard.

Almost finished.

See Weekly Layout Update for some "action" shots

of tonight's activities.

Tue, Oct 15, 2024

A couple projects completed tonight.

Check this out:

I started at the Powder River Basin East Yard throat.

The cone shows where I need to elevate the track.

This section is elevated by a popsicle stick. 

See Weekly Update Video for the test run to see
if this fix will work. Spoiler Alert! It does!

Then I headed over to Oak Park Marion Street to
add trees to the parking lot islands.

I need to add one more tree in the middle of the
two in the foreground.

BEFORE...
...adding the middle tree.

AFTER...
...adding the middle tree.

Much better!

Wed, Oct 16, 2024

The long and winding road is getting a makeover tonight.

Starting off with a white boarder on the side of the road.

Adding a double yellow line down the middle.

Job is done!

Now to fill in this gap at the bridge.

Now to chisel out what isn't needed.

Ready for the rasp and the sandpaper before painting.

Thu, Oct 17, 2024

Working at the Industrial Park Bridge Abutment Project

Early morning work out:

Using a heavy-duty file to get the big stuff out...

Then a very coarse sandpaper for the next layer.

Pick out the main pieces that have sprayed all over the place.

Get out the vacuum and clean up the place.

Now we're ready for painting.

That's for later tonight...

But before we get to later tonight, 

I stopped by Duane Careb's home in Dell Web, South Elgin...

He has an amazing layout in his basement.

Check this out...

Duane Careb and his basement HO Scale layout.

The first scene you see when you enter the train room.

A look at the middle peninsula aka middle island.

Duane gave me an exceptional tour filling me in
with all the details of his model railroad.

At the JMRI screen which have plans for a larger
monitor.

The "guts" of the yard control panel.

The cover of the yard control panel.

Everything was so clean including his workbench.

Even some fine looking power tools in his work area.

One of the pictures on the wall showing the Durango
& Silverton steam engine #473. He has the same locomotive
as a model on his Durango & Silverton model RR.

Fri, Oct 18, 2024

Up early getting some work done on the RR...

I had to go a little deeper next to the retaining wall
so there would be room for the rocks to sit.
I also had to smooth out the roadway to add more
foam pieces to match the track level.

These are the foam pieces I cut to fit the elevation.

Here they are all glued in and working on the 
road fill between the tracks.

Close up of the same scene.

That took about 20 minutes.

Back for more...

Preparing the base for the roadway...

Roadway cut out and ready for placement.

Placement looks good. Ready to glue in place.

All set!

That took about 30 minutes.
I turned the monitor on about 7 minutes into the project.

Later tonight...more project progress...

Painting the abutment on the left side of the bridge

I think Marcus took my tube of Raw Umber so I'll
use what I have...

And like Marcus teachers, always use three colors.

I used two colors. Next I spread the glue.

On top of the glue I poured on the rocks.

I cleaned up the overflow and will let this dry overnight.

That took about 15 minutes.

Sat, Oct 19, 2024

Up early...more work at the Industrial Park sites...

Putting down the glue to prepare for the grass.

Spreading the glue.

Sprinkling the grass.

Back to the Long & Winding Road.
The tape is not sticking so I decided to lay some glue
across the top and spread it out. Hopefully that will
keep the tape from lifting from the "asphalt".

Also preparing the pink for Monday's Train Session.

This will be a grassy area.

I also decided to add the white line on the other
side of the road on the top side...

...and the lower side.

Another view.

I'm marking down .75 for this morning's time allotment.

Worked on filming, editing, uploading, publishing

Weekly Layout Update

Click here

to view YouTube video

Duration: 10:36 minutes

Description:

What is in the Mixed Bag? 1. Special Guests: Jim & Pat Geaman 2. Landscaping with Marcus - Part 6 3. Rob Fair highlight - finished Intermodal Project & moving Unit Coal Cars 4. Track repairs at Powder River Basin Wyoming 5. Adding trees to parking lot islands at Lombard/Oak Park 6. Visit to Duane Careb's HO scale layout in South Elgin IL 7. Back at my layout: New Road to Uptown 8. Bridge Abutment Project - rocks & grass 9. Long & Winding Road Project - road lines Thanks for watching!