Monday, January 14, 2019

Week 233

Week 233

Sunday, January 13, 2019 thru Saturday, January 19, 2019

Sunday, January 13, 2019
Train Show!
DuPage Co. Fairgrounds, Wheaton IL
I had a fun time and found some great finds.
Here's what I purchased:
2 piggy back semi-trailers $3x2=$6
1 hopper & 1 box car $15 total
1 blinking red LED $.25
1 Athearn Railbox $20
1 C44-9 UP $80
1 box Intermountain metal wheels sets $65
Entry Fee $7
Total: $193.25

The yellow sheet is a work order for next month's train show.
The owner of Windy City LED is going to solder wires to a chip board so I can install EOT device.
I took some time to inspect the three new cars I bought at the train show today.
Here they are on the test track ready to run the mainlines to check them for their performance.

What's on your workbench this week?
I added three tracks where the incline test track used to be.
Now I can have the next cars up and ready for inspection instead of laying them on the table in front of the keyboard.

Monday, January 14, 2019
Train Day!
6:15-7:45pm 1.5 hrs.
w/ Jordan Osborn
New C44-9 Locomotive bought at Train show yesterday.
Turns out it runs pretty poorly.
I will need to do a major overhaul in the repair shop.

Jordan Osborn checking over the paperwork for tonight.

We just added another locomotive to our DCC roster!
Decoder included!
Length: 00:00:07 sec.


Jordan Osborn very excited about finding another engine with DCC decoder inside.
In fact, it's one of his favorites - the CNW SD40-2 with Sound!

Here it is!
We thought it may be DCC equipped, but had no idea it actually included a decoder.
We quickly programmed it in and ran the test train.
See video a little later in this blog to watch and hear it in action.

Here's a still shot of the Test Train.

And here's a video of that same train.
Length: 00:00:26 sec.

Tuesday, January 15, 2019
No train activity today.

Wednesday, January 16, 2019
Train Day!
4-5:30pm 1.5 hrs Dean Hatzis
4:15-5pm 1.25 hrs. Jordan Osborn

After we finished our Train Day! greetings, we got to work...

Our goal tonight is to cut out the street levels for Milwaukee Ave. and W Fulton St.

Dean Hatzis in action...
Length: 00:00:18 sec.


Dean Hatzis already cut out the front section of the intersection of Milwaukee Ave. and W. Fulton St. in downtown Chicago.

Another action video of our activities tonight...
pulling out the section on this side of the tracks.
Length: 00:00:18 sec.


Here you can see Dean Hatzis lifting out the other section across the tracks.

Pulling out the cut out on the other side of the tracks:
Length: 00:00:25 sec.

Our goal for tonight is completed.
Both sections cut out with the sections lifted out.

Same photo different perspective.

Thursday, January 17, 2019
No train activity today.


Friday, January 18, 2019
I had the day off today, so I worked quite a bit on the RR:


I decided to do some work on the Kedzie Avenue East.

Here the top layer is installed and glued down.

And now for some finishing touches.
The partial wall...

Saturday, January 19, 2019
Continued to work on Kedzie Avenue East, but first the support legs under Lake Street.

Here's the support leg with top attachment ready for installation.

Installed.
The vertical leg on the right will come out and the horizontal cross beam will be moved over.
Not quite sure how we'll do the move, but when Dean comes on Wednesday we'll figure it out. 

Extended the partial wall all the way to the end of the station platform
I'll try to make progress on the filler and the top asphalt layer for the station platform tomorrow.

Sunday, January 6, 2019

Week 232

Week 232

Sunday, January 6, 2019 thru Saturday, January 12, 2019

Sunday, January 6, 2019
Today I updated my calendar log.
I was a month behind.
If I don't do a better job writing these things down I'll never "catch up".

I also spent some time at the workbench..
I am trying to figure out how to install the EOTD (End of Train Devices) or FRED.
I have two old ones, which I think I will keep the LED lights, but discard the battery units.
I have a blinking yellow LED I will use with the FRED that didn't come with the new purchase.
And finally, I'll shop for a blinking control board at the train show next Sunday.

And I also repaired the light at Melrose Park Station...
I went under the table and found one of the wires had slipped out of the twist cap.

It was an easy fix.
Just had to rewire and reinstall the twist cap.

Monday, January 7, 2019
TRAIN DAY!
w/Rob Fair & Jordan Osborn
6-7:45pm (1.75 hrs.)

We took a quite different route today.
Check this out...
Jordan Osborn getting ready to run some trains.

Rob Fair will be starting the Kedzie Avenue East section build out.
The tower sits too high in this setting.
We will be adjusting the tower down.

Jordan Osborn pulling the Excursion Train into the yard.

Rob Fair adjusts the earth to place the tower at Kedzie Avenue at the proper height.

Hooking up the "Twins" to the Unit Coal Train.

Rob Fair continues his work on the Kedzie Avenue Tower.

Checking out the CNW Unit Coal Train
Length: 00:00:11 sec.

Rob Fair gluing the steps back on.

Jordan Osborn taking care of the paperwork.

UP Coal Train approaching the South Power District
Length: 00:00:25 sec.

UP Unit Coal Train approaching and going through Crossover #3
Length: 00:00:29 sec.

UP Unit Coal Train heading westbound just past Lombard/Oak Park.

Finishing up the crossover at #3.

Rob Fair made great progress tonight.
I'm anxious to see how this turns out...

Tuesday, January 8, 2019
I wanted to get ready for tomorrow's Train Day so I did some work on East Kedzie Avenue Station.
Check this out...
First, I cut out the 2" pink foam board for the top section. Rob Fair already cut the bottom sections yesterday.

Then it was time to glue each section in place.
But first, I had to clean the surface.

Next comes the glue.

Then add the next layer and glue that.

And then the same thing to the next layer and glue that.

And finally the top layer and clamp it down to set through the day.
This should be good to go for the crew this afternoon.

Wednesday, January 9, 2019
Train Day!
w/Carlos Baez (1), Dean Hatzis (1.5), Josh Jones (1.5), Ed Nelson (1) & Jordan Osborn (1.5)
We met as a group from 4-5:30pm (1.5 hrs.). Some individuals came late or left early.

It was a great afternoon of getting re-acquainted and to get everyone "caught up" on progress.

The gang is almost all here!
Ed Nelson is still on his way, but it will be the first time since summer we'll be all together again.
WELCOME BACK EVERYONE!
l. to r. Jordan Osborn, Dean Hatzis, Carlos Baez, Josh Jones

Dean Hatzis just coming up after taking a look at the wiring underneath the railroad.
Carlos Baez enjoys the moment as Dean uses the pole to navigate back to the surface.

Josh Jones keeping an eye on the unit coal train running this afternoon.
Jordan takes hands off the throttle to work on his leaking pen.

Josh Jones shows Dean Hatzis some prototype videos taken at Geneva Station.

Welcome Ed Nelson. Notice hes' in a blur? He was avoiding getting in the photo.
Carlos Baez is troubleshooting why the locomotive stalls at the frog in the switch.

More work on the "frog".

Now Josh shares the video with Ed.

Time to call it a day.
Good work men!
l. to r. Ed Nelson, Josh Jones, Jordan Osborn, Dean Hatzis
And finally...
Carlos Baez added decoder and sound to this SD38-2 CNW locomotive.
Since everything worked as planned, he'll finish the second engine this week and we'll pair them up next Wednesday.
Length: 00:00:31 sec.

Thursday, January 10, 2019
No train activity today.

Friday, January 11, 2019
No train activity today.

Saturday, January 12, 2019
Some train activity today.
I had to get some work done today to get ready for the Train Days this week.

Here's a start...
First I sketched out where the downtown roads would go.
W Fulton Street is parallel to Lake Street and then Milwaukee Ave cuts on a diagonal between them.

In this photo you can see the piles of sawdust where I drilled the holes where the perimeter marks show how to cut out the top layer on Wednesday. I did find out that the support 1x4 is not directly under the crossover as I suspected, but is just east of the crossover. We'll need to move that 1x4 support so it is under the tracks.

Tuesday, December 25, 2018

Monday, December 10, 2018