Friday, November 17, 2017

Week 172

Week 172

Sunday, November 12, 2017 thru Saturday, November 19, 2017

Sunday, November 12, 2017
Jordan stopped by to run trains today.
I shored up the retaining wall at Kedzie Avenue alley.
I should've gotten before and after pictures, but I settled with AFTER pictures here.
 And the base of the walls in the underpass.
I also "nailed" down the bottoms of the underpass.
Much better.
As I look at the two pictures, I need to go back and paint the heads of the spikes I drove in to secure the wall to the base. They look like little black dots.

Monday, November 13, 2017
Train Day Cancelled!
Rob Fair and I both had a rough weekend as far as our health is concerned, so we're taking today off.
Rob sent me a text this morning and said he was going to be in bed all day today.
Get better, Rob!

Tuesday, November 14, 2017
No train activity today.

Wednesday, November 15, 2017
Train Day!
No train activity today either.

Thursday, November 16, 2017
No train activity today.
What's going on?
I thought you'd never ask.
I've been nursing a sore back and trying to stay out of commission as much as possible.
UGH!

Friday, November 17, 2017
Lord of Life Men's Retreat this weekend.

Saturday, November 18, 2017
Lord of Life Men's Retreat this weekend.

Monday, November 6, 2017

Week 171

Week 171

Sunday, November 5, 2017 thru Saturday, November 11, 2017

Sunday, November 5, 2017
No Train Activity Today

Monday, November 6, 2017
Train Day!
Rob Fair and Jordan Osborn joined me tonight from 6-7:30pm

And here's what we did...
Tonight we're going to work on the utility poles and wires in the alley at Kedzie Avenue.

Rob Fair is positioning the poles and preparing to secure them to the scenery.

Poles in place, now we're ready for the cables..

Looks pretty messy again, but we know that's what happens when we're working.

Here how the cables look on the top level.

We started the bottom level and now it's time to call it a night.
Great work tonight, men!

Tuesday, November 7, 2017
I did a little bit of work on the utility lines we started last night:

I glued the cables from the lower utility pole to the upper utility pole in foreground.

Wednesday, November 8, 2017
TRAIN DAY!
Jordan Osborn and I worked together from 4:15 to 5:30pm this afternoon.
Tonight I added the power box to the utility cables in foreground.

This picture shows the cables now attached to the power box.
In the previous picture the cables were not attached. 

I asked Jordan to hold up the background board to get this shot of the wires.

I've been wanting to put down the safety lines at the station stop.
Here is Elmhurst in process.

Geneva in process.

Geneva finished.
I don't think I'll do the center platform.
Not enough room.

Jordan Osborn deep into his paperwork.

Thursday, November 9, 2017
No train activity today.

Friday, November 10, 2017
No train activity today.

Saturday, November 11, 2017
No train activity today.

Wednesday, November 1, 2017

Week 170

Week 170

Sunday, October 29, 2017 thru Saturday, November 4, 2017

Sunday, October 29, 2017
No train activity today.

Monday, October 30, 2017
Special Event at Concordia Chicago
 going with Brian Zielke meeting Cody Schrepferman

Tuesday, October 31, 2017
Happy Halloween!

Wednesday, November 1, 2017
Happy All Saints Day!
Jordan Osborn and I worked today from 4-5:30pm

Here's what we did...


Jordan Osborn found some old paperwork and was merging them into our current database.

I decided to work on Western Avenue tonight.
I put the railings in place and...

...worked on the random stone wall.
You can see the job in the concrete railing behind Elmhurst station.

Here's another good shot of the concrete railing.
But I'm also making a template to cut out the random stone wall.

Here's the new cut random stone wall in place.
Next I will glue in place.

Once glued I noticed it started to curl so I had to...

...tack in the edges with small RR spikes.
If you look closely you can see them.
I actually like the look.

The last step will be to paint the stone wall white.

Thursday, November 2, 2017
Kuiper's Family Farm Employee Dinner

Friday, November 3, 2017
This morning I did a little more work on Western Avenue
Actually, mainly just cleaning up.

I'm always amazed by how many tools a simple project can require.

Here's the finished concrete fence.
Turned out nice, don't you think.
This afternoon I had some expected guests, but some unexpected results.
Check this out!!!

Jordan Osborn and Josh Jones stopped by this afternoon.
We decided to put Josh to work.
He did a great job as you will see in these next photos.

First he taped off the edges in preparation for white-washing the random stone walls.


After Josh taped off the edges, he white-washed the stone wall.

We pulled some "Gray Stone" paint from the shelf to paint the trim above the wall.

To get the right perspective Josh had to be agile and mobile.

You can see the white-washed wall here and half way through the trim above.

"I'm not so sure I agree with you on that point." says, Jordan.

"So, whaddyathink?"
Yes, I think it looks just great!

Josh taking a break from a job well done.
Jordan making plans on the phone for what's coming next.

Saturday, November 4, 2017
C24/7 Father's Arms Ministries Fundraiser
6:30-11:30pm

Monday, October 23, 2017

Week 169

Week 169

Sunday, October 22, 2017 thru Saturday, October 28, 2017

Sunday, October 22, 2017
I continued to work on the alley scene off Kedzie Avenue

Here's the progress I made...

From last week...
I continued with painting the glue to the surface where the weeds would grow.

Next I sprinkled on the Blended Turf.

And then detail weathered the alley.

Monday, October 23, 2017
Train Day with Rob Fair and Jordan Osborn

I couldn't believe how much we accomplished tonight.

Check this out!

Rob Fair working on reconnecting Kedzie Avenue Station.
Will we be able to get this all finished tonight?

Jordan Osborn going over plans for our next Train Show.

Side Bar: What dimensions will be needed for the 294 over pass?
Here's where it will go.

Jordan Osborn at Central Control Tower.

Checking the calendar for correct dates.

Meanwhile, back at Rob Fair's project.
Clamping the walls back together.

Rob Fair has it all together.
Now we need to make sure the lights are working properly.

We had to go back to Week 142 to reference Carlos Baez original work on the lighting of Kedzie Avenue Station.

Oops, I moved. We're working on the building in the upside down mode.

We had to attach the roof first and then the lights.

Now doesn't that look way better?
I'll try to find a similar picture so you can contrast the BEFORE and AFTER shots.

The new and improved Kedzie Avenue Station.
Lights, Camera, Action!

I'm very much satisfied with this outcome.
It's what I was looking for in the correction from the original.

Tuesday, October 24, 2017
No train activity today.

Wednesday, October 25, 2017
Train Day!
Jordan wanted to stay home with Mom today.
It's okay.

At first I was going to weather the parking lot behind the buildings, so I cleared the lot and filled Western Avenue. I had to take this picture for Jordan so he could see the traffic jam first hand.

After I sent this picture to Jordan, he sent a message back to me, "Awesome"
I decided last minute NOT to weather, instead...
I made today, Kedzie Avenue Day
I have several Google Map shots of Kedzie and I took those pictures along side the model.

Let me know what you think.
Is the tower too tall?


The model is definitely too tall compared to the prototype.
I do like the adjusted building height though.
I think it's just right.
Thanks for all your hard work, Rob Fair!

Still need the chain link fence and the utility poles.

If the track were straight on the model, this would be a great comparison shot.

Another shot where we need the chain link fence and utility poles.

Not sure if I'll put the ads on the overpass.

Brick wall a bit too wide, but I'm not changing it!
We need to add the blue Metra sign.

Tower too high - by one floor.
All we'd need to do is cut out the third floor and I think it would be fine.

Looking west.

Need to make the stairwell darker on the model.

I need to paint the ceiling white.

Thursday, October 26, 2017

HEY CARLOS!
I have an idea about what to put on the south end of the retention pond.
It will match what's on the other side.
What do you think?

Here's the concrete barrier seen from the Elmhurst Train Depot side.

What's on your workbench?
This is what my workbench looked like after I finished the concrete sections shown above.
Friday, October 27, 2017
Only updating the blog today.

Saturday, October 28, 2017
My plan was to drive the Train at Kuipers today.
NOPE! It was cancelled due to weather.

So I worked downstairs before we (Jan, Ben, & me) left for Chicago to see Natalie & James and kids.

Here's what I did this morning...

First, I cut up the paper clips to use for the chain link fence posts.

You can see on the far right the first post is in place.
I will pre-drill the holes with the drilling apparatus shown on the road.

Now the rest of the fence posts are installed.

The chain link fences are 1/2" tall.
I used the edge of the table to make nice clean cuts.

Hard to see from a distance, but the chain link fence is half complete.

Same progress difference view.

Finished.

The blue tape is holding the added piece I will use as a template to cut a new fascia board.
I also cut a template for the board that angles as you keep going around the fascia.