Saturday, January 28
8:00 am
It is -3 °C, with a high forecast of +2 °C.
From the Environment Canada website:
Today Mainly cloudy. Wind west 30 km/h gusting to 50. High plus 2.
Today Cloudy. Becoming partly cloudy this evening. Wind southwest 40 km/h gusting to 60. Temperature rising to 7 by morning.
Normals: Max. -1 °C Min. -13 °C.
1:00 PM Model Trains
I have spent the morning in the train room. I have tested all of the mainline track and the trains are running smoothly. I have decided to stop ballasting as I have the sections finished that make a difference to the appearance. I then played around with an idea to place a small tunnel on the layout. I now have the understructure complete, but will need to do a little reading on building scenery before I continue.
It has been a very satisfying few days. I have learned how to apply ballast and how to build a superelevated curve. I even learned what the term superelevated means.
Now to continue assembling the viaduct. And to get back to running some operational trains.
2:45 PM Geocaching
Always nice to find a new cache. This one was within walking distance. The cache was rated as a 1.5 for terrain, but with the wind and low temperatures it felt more like a 2.5 by the time I arrived there. I have now found 6 caches in 2012, and my total for the month of January is 8. My grand total is 1212.
- GC3425Y - E
The cache is only available for "Premium" members of geocaching.com, and thus I am not including a link to the website.
8:00 PM Model Trains
The trains are running again! I have just completed the operations for 11:00 am of Session 2.
This involved forming the consist for Train #401, a through freight train, that then left Coaldale heading west to Distillery Row. After two outer mainline loops, passing Train #101 on Valemount siding, the train pulled into Coaldale siding where it will wait for Train #600.
The consist for Train #600, a local freight, was formed in Jasper, and then left Jasper heading east to Coaldale. While completing two outer mainline loops it passed Train #401 on Coaldale siding and Train #101 on Valemount siding.
Three minor problems, at least I hope they are minor problems, were noticed during this session. There is a quick short behind Distillery Row, there is a loss of power in a section of track in the Coaldale yard, and the locomotive derails inside the new tunnel while travelling from the outer mainline to the inner mainline.
Not withstanding these annoyances, it was a real delight to get back into operational running. Keeping track of the various switch settings keeps me on my toes. And I love the logic in forming the consist for a train before it heads out onto the mainline.