Week 268

Sunday, September 15, 2019 thru Saturday, September 21, 2019

Sunday, September 15, 2019

NTA

Monday, September 16, 2019

Train Day!

Rob Fair came over to work on the RR from 6-8pm (2 hrs.)

We began the night under Chicago Downtown.
Rob Fair will cover up all exposed ends with liquid electric tape.

But first, we need to rewire the traffic signals to be switched on/off when the other city lights are off.

The last half hour we prepared the two engine facilities for power by drilling holes for the feeder wires.

Here are the holes in line at the UP Engine Facility.

Rob Fair drills the feeder wire holes at CNW Engine Facility.

These line up quite nicely.

Back at Chicago Downtown.
If you look closely you can see Rob Fair's work for the night.

All the exposed ends should be protected now by the liquid electrical tape.

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

NTA

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Train Day!

w/Jordan Osborn (4-5pm 1 hr.)

My goal tonight is to get started on wiring up the tracks in both engine facilities.
Here's the starting point.
No wires in any of the holes on top of the number mounts.

Jordan Osborn in his jovial mood.

Here are the labels in place.

Jordan Osborn brought over a gift from his dad tonight.
He sent 12 LED lamps. Here you can see three of them we plan to use in the high rises to see how they look.

Jordan Osborn moving his cars around to different locations on the layout.

I'm working toward my goal.
With the labels now in place I can begin the wiring.
You can see in this photo I already completed tracks 1-3 for the UP Engine Facility.

Thursday, September 19, 2019

I worked a few minutes tonight on the wiring.
The UP Engine Facility is finished.
I have tracks 1 and 6 started on the UP side.

Friday, September 20, 2019

All the wires are connected to the switch plates on the facia.

Now I need to connect the wires to the tracks at the CNW Engine Facility.

I put the colors in alphabetical order to make sure they match up on the switch panel.
BLUE, BLACK, GREEN, RED, WHITE, YELLOW

Here's a bitter look at all six colors.

And this is what it looks like underneath the table for the CNW Engine Facility.

And the underneath the table view of the UP Engine Facility.

This is a view of the wires coming into the switch panel.

The final steps in splitting up the unit coal train at Proviso Yard.

Length: 00:00:17 sec.

Once the wiring is complete, I put the engines back in place.

Engine placement at the UP Engine Facility.

I finished off the day with train operations.
I split the Unit Coal train and put most on the CNW yard track and the rest on the UP yard track.

The Metra is waiting at the Geneva station to return to Chicago.

My Train Order Board shows the BLUE assignments are complete.
Now I'm ready for the RED assignments.

One more bird's eye view of the UP Engine Facility.

Saturday, September 21, 2019

I reported for train duty at Kuipers Farmview RR this morning and this is the view that greeted me when I arrived.

When I got home after working until 3pm at Kuipers Jan gave me this in the mail.
It was my lucky day!
TRAINS magazine also came in the mail.
Yes, it was my lucky day!

Week 267

Sunday, September 8, 2019 thru Saturday, September 14, 2019

Sunday, September 8, 2019

Today I started wiring up the traffic signals.
Here you can see the right side is wired up.

Monday, September 9, 2019

This is a close up of the top side all wired up.

Another close up of the right side.

I inserted the switch wire to hoop up my 3V battery tester.

A picture guide to wire the circuit board correctly.
Let's hope I get it right...

I will finish the traffic light wiring on Chicago Downtown North.
Rob Fair will work on the traffic light wiring for Chicago Downtown South.

The head lamp came in very handy tonight.

Jordan Osborn stopped by for a cameo appearance.

Taking shape.
Rob Fair does good work.

Adding some finishing touches.

Getting ready to insert the traffic wires from Chicago Downtown South.

Here's an overview of our finished product.

Length: 00:00:28 sec.

Rob Fair taking a final look before we close up shop for the night.

I'll send this picture to my supplier to show him the bottom light is not illuminated like the top two are illuminated.

Different traffic light, but same results.
Not good.

And finally, a traffic signal missing the yellow wire.
Not good.

Tuesday, September 10, 2019

NTA

Wednesday, September 11, 2019

Just me today for Train day!

Jordan & Cam couldn't make it.

I finished wiring up the traffic signal lights.

It's the single light on Canal St. and Adams.

There it is!

Thursday, September 12, 2019

Tonight I finished wiring up the bus stop street lights.

One more look at the wiring from the back.

Friday, September 13, 2019

NTA
sleepover at Zielke home

Saturday, September 14, 2019

NTA
Visited Crockett family in Chicago for Natalie's birthday tomorrow.

Week 266

Sunday, September 1, 2019 thru Saturday, September 7, 2019

Sunday, September 1, 2019
NTA

Monday, September 2, 2019

Labor Day Holiday

Train Time this morning 1.5 hrs.

If you look closely you can see where I'm wiring the red (+) side of the wires.

Here I have connected all the black (-) ends of the wires.

And here's what it looks like when I turn the lights on.

Another view.

Train Day!

w/Rob Fair & Jordan Osborn

6-8pm 2 hrs.

Rob Fair preparing for the evening projects.

Tonight our goal is to wire up Chicago Downtown South street lamps.

Rob applies flux and then solder to connect the wires.

It's pretty tedious work.

Jordan Osborn stopped by to give a hand.

Wah Lah!
How's it look?

With flash...

Without flash.

I like the "without flash" better.

Tuesday, September 3, 2019

I wanted to take a picture of the final wiring of the street lamps by Rob Fair last night.

An overview of the lighting progress so far with electrical wiring at Union Station

Length: 00:00:43 sec.

Wednesday, September 4, 2019

Train Day!

with Jordan Osborn and Cam Passaglia

4-5:30pm 1.5 hrs.

Rob Fair dropped off this Train Simulator game on Monday.

Acting goofy.

Getting down to business.

Jordan Osborn giving his expert opinion and knowledge of the game.
He took care of installing and getting it up and running.

As Cameron Passaglia looks on, Jordan tweeks the controls to get the train running on the Train Simulator game.

Here's a closeup of the what is on display on the monitor.

Back to Chicago Downtown South...I'm working on getting these signals to link up.

I had to replace the left hand traffic signals because the previous signals showed RED on the bottom, but should be RED on top.

Thursday, September 5, 2019

NTA

Friday, September 6, 2019

I ordered a new circuit board which I think will accomplish what we want.
The other circuit board only controlled one way.

This should be a good place to mount the circuit board.
This should be very interesting.

The wires for the traffic lights from Chicago Downtown South will travel through this straw on their way to the circuit board underneath Chicago Downtown North. 

Saturday, September 7, 2019

NTA...
except for driving the train at 
Kuipers Family Farm 
from 8:30am - 6pm on the 
Kuipers Farmview RR