Sunday, January 29
8:20 am
It is +9 °C, with a high forecast of +10 °C.
From the Environment Canada website:
Today Cloudy. Wind west 60 km/h gusting to 80. High 10.
Tonight Partly cloudy. 60 percent chance of showers before morning. Wind west 60 km/h gusting to 80 becoming southwest 30 this evening. Low plus 4.
Normals: Max. 0 °C Min. -12 °C.
8:40 am Musings
With the wind howling outside, and it being a Sunday, this is a good time for a few minutes to collect my thoughts.
Model Trains are my main interest at the moment. I have my layout back in operational mode and am enjoying running the trains again. There are a few minor problems that I hope to address the morning. I will begin by removing the superelevating wire from one of my curves that is now inside what will become a tunnel. I really don't want any problems with derailings once the tunnel is finished. Then I will run my track cleaning car around all of the track. At the moment I am not sure what is causing the problem with a section of dead track in the Coaldale yard. I will try to take a few photos of the trains today.
Literature is also on the agenda. Stephenson's "REAMDE" novel is a delight. I will take a break from the trains at some time and continue with this read.
Outdoor activities don't make much sense, so Geocaching and Birding are on hold.
2:00 PM Model Trains
It took about an hour this morning to correct the three problems that I had noticed yesterday. All three were variations on the same theme - a minor problem with the track bed that caused a temporary short when a locomotive ran over it.
I then completed running three trains for the 12:00 PM schedule for Session 2.
Train #101, the passenger train, completed 4 circuits of the outer mainline at a high speed before pulling into the Valemount siding. It is fun to watch this train high-balling around the layout.
Here is a photo to Train #100 as it is about to pull out of the siding and enter the mainline track:
Then Train #401 completed two loops of the outer mainline before entering the Coaldale siding.
Finally Train #600 completed a mainline route before finally stopping at the Black Diamond siding where it dropped off an empty Australian Iron & Steel hopper car at Mercoal Mines.
Here is a photo of Train #600 entering the inner mainline reversing loop on its way to Black Diamond siding.
January 29, 8:00 PM Literature
I am now at the half-way point in this story. The last couple of hundred pages have been amazing. Hopefully the pace will slow down a tiny bit so I can catch my breath.