January 27

Sunday January 27, 2008 6:00 am Lethbridge, Alberta

It is +2 C with a low forecast of -28 C. Sunrise 8:11 Sunset 17:16 Hours of daylight: 9:05

5:10 PM

A. Morning Musings

It is pleasant at the moment, but the cold weather will arrive today, with the temperature dropping to -28 throughout the day.

My head is still around the additions to my model train layout. I will likely spend much of the day in the basement, cleaning up around the entire room. At the moment I have stuff lying on top of stuff all over the place. I think I will also take care of the wiring. I should be able to complete the power wiring with only the addition of the two MRC auto reverse modules to be attached. I am not sure when I will be able to buy these. But in principle I should be able to run the mainline route so long as I avoid the reversing loops. This will also require that I build the base for the two steel double track bridges. I think this will be relatively easy, if my idea works. A couple of saw cuts to a 2 x 4 to obtain two pieces of exactly the right length. Then two more saw cuts at a precise angle on a 1 x 6 piece of pine (the actual base) and then to place all three pieces in the proper place. C'est tout. I hope. I will also make a quick trip over town to see about buying a package of foam roadbed and four pieces of connector track. If all of these different activities come to fruition, I may be able to run diesel locomotive CN 6700 around the outside perimeter mainline before the end of the day. Hope springs eternal.

Learning Category	Planned Activities for Today	Time
Literature	Continue reading "The Gum Thief" by Coupland	1 hr
Model Trains	Wire the newly added track in Jasper and Pine Ridge; set up steel bridges	5 hr

B. Actual Learning Activities

5:15 PM

The weather forecast is spot on. I drove over town at noon to buy a few more tracks for my model train. It was +3 C when I left and -10 C when I returned 40 minutes later. It is -19 C at the moment with a wind chill temperature (taking the wind into account) of -29 C.

Here are two photos taken a few minutes ago from our living room window:

Since I had the material I needed to continue working on the model train layout, I spent the afternoon completing all of the power wiring for the entire layout. I have also set up the connector track for the two remaining reversing loops. All that remains is to attach the MRC reverse loop modules.

Best of all, I have set up the two steel bridges on a platform that seems stable and that can be easily removed if I want regular access to the room. The track for the mainline loop has been completely laid around the entire room. It is ready for a slow test to see if a locomotive had any difficulties over any section of the new layout. I will give this a try after dinner.

7:15 PM

Yes! I ran CN 6700 around the outside perimeter 4 times without a hitch. This has been the original goal since I began modifying the layout about a week ago. Here are some photos of the inaugaural run.


View of Jasper with 2 steel bridges in foreground	Bridges plus track behind cabinet

CN 6700 in Coaldale yard, backing up to mainline track	CN 6700 leaving Coaldale after blessing from a Buddha

Leaving Coaldale, entering location for future high level bridge	half way across site of future high level bridge

leaving high level bridge site, entering area behind cabinet	entering Lennox from behind cabinet

leaving Lennox, entering steel bridges	entering steel bridge

leaving bridges, entering Jasper	leaving Jasper, entering Black Diamond

This is a great moment! Let me savour the feeling. There is still a lot of detail work to be done, but the basic mainline effort is essentially done.

8:30 PM

It is -21 C (wind chill factor -33 C) and dropping. Overnight low is forecast at -28 C (wind chill about -40 C).