Gibbon, Cozad & Western - "The 100th Meridian Line"

[C855B]

Well, first floor bid came in today. About 50% more than I figured. Robyn's OK with it - "We're already way past what we can sell it for" (as if we'll sell it while we're alive) - but I'm holding out hope that one of the other two contractors bidding can do better than $6/sq.ft. Yikes.

Today's bid was from the subcontractor redoing the driveway apron. It was gravel down to the curb cut, and every time it rained hard the apron would rut-up pretty badly. I'd spend 15-30 minutes each time shoveling gravel out of the gutter and throwing it back, but it was hard work and a losing battle. Not much N scale train fun in that. A funny - I ran to city hall to get a permit since after the forms were measured it was enough concrete to warrant a permit, and the clerk didn't quite know which form to use - building permit, or excavation, which wasn't her department. She called the city manager, who summoned me into his office... and after pleasantries he told me to "eh - just do it." The job foreman, who normally works in a neighboring city, was astounded, saying that by the second shovelful somebody from the city would be at the site to ask "what are you doing?", demanding permits and inspections.

Aside from supervising the sub, we spent most of the day running network cables into spots about to be covered by insulation. Lots of time on the lift. The original game plan was to have minimal hardwired network and rely mostly on WiFi, but between the ZigBee light controls and a 2.4GHz point-to-point link from a local utility pointed "over" (yeah, right) our building, WiFi spectrum is crowded. So the TV, railcam, security cams, JMRI server(s) and anything else on the layout needing an Ethernet drop will have copper to the switches.

While up on the lift I pinpointed the last of the roof leaks for the roofing guy to look at tomorrow.

With all this work on the building I have had zero time for modeling. There are three projects on the bench I would dearly love to finish - 2 of James Norris' DD35 kits, a pair of his pre-2005 UP water tenders (possibly to be scuttled for the Kato versions, which are post-conversion and "too modern" for my era), and a batch of Con-Cor U50s being detailed. Biggest bug with carving out time for modeling is what would be my downtime happens to be while everyone else is asleep. Not conducive for sawing, filing and airbrush compressor noises emanating from the next room. Need to clear off a safe modeling spot in the building pretty soon, I think.

[mcjaco]

I just ran Cat5e at home from the family room (where the gateway is) to the basement office.  Total PITA since it's all finished.  You'll be glad you ran that stuff now.  I never trust WiFi connections anymore.  We have almost no signal upstairs in the bedrooms, which is only thirty feet from the gateway....Too much "stuff" in the way of the signal.

[C855B]

Yeah, WiFi is unbelievably vulnerable. Even warming lunch in the microwave will trash the network at home (same frequency band, BTW).

But, yep, CAT5e everywhere. Ran some more yesterday. Since "now's the time" like you said, I'm doing double runs to each drop, and a quadruple run to where I expect to have the layout systems. That was one of the more subtle things I learned from the tour of the Greeley layout underpinnings - there were multiple computers in places I didn't expect. In thinking about it, I probably ought to run two more pair between the server closet and layout drop. Easy now, a major b!tch later.

Speaking of running wires in finished places, before we completed the studio I ran a string between the likely run point in the attic and the network outlet box. Insulation and paneling went over it. Yesterday's work proved the planning, in spades - easy peasy, pulled right through. I s'pose I was cheating in the planning, if you want to call job experience "cheating". We left pulls in every fiber conduit we ran, and made sure that pulling new fiber also pulled a replacement string with it. I need to do the same with a 110V conduit going in for the lighting, at least between the breaker panel and first junction box.

[davefoxx]

Yeah, WiFi is unbelievably vulnerable. Even warming lunch in the microwave will trash the network at home (same frequency band, BTW).

We bought a new Panasonic microwave oven in 2012 when we bought our house.  It was the first time that I had ever seen this WiFi connectivity problem, but everything east of the microwave oven (I'm not kidding) would lose the WiFi connection while the oven was running.  Unfortunately, that microwave oven died last year , but, on the bright side, the new microwave oven doesn't cause this problem.

DFF

[reinhardtjh]

Aside from supervising the sub, we spent most of the day running network cables into spots about to be covered by insulation. Lots of time on the lift. The original game plan was to have minimal hardwired network and rely mostly on WiFi, but between the ZigBee light controls and a 2.4GHz point-to-point link from a local utility pointed "over" (yeah, right) our building, WiFi spectrum is crowded. So the TV, railcam, security cams, JMRI server(s) and anything else on the layout needing an Ethernet drop will have copper to the switches.

Yeah, WiFi is unbelievably vulnerable. Even warming lunch in the microwave will trash the network at home (same frequency band, BTW).

That's something to keep in mind when it comes time to pick a DCC system (if you haven't already).  While I am a Digitrax fan, there are known interactions with their Duplex radio systems which use the 2.4GHz spectrum.  Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, microwaves can interfere with the radios - seemingly at random.  The radio systems does have the ability to specify which channel is the base so a lot of the problems can be side-stepped, but sometimes not all of them.

[C855B]

Good thought, John. Thanks. Yes, the plan is to use Digitrax, but at the moment the wireless side of the integration is likely to be around JMRI and WiFi throttles. So, yes, it will still be in-band, but better coordinated within the context of any computer network activity rather than raw collision detection between differing network protocols on a similar channel hop scheme (oops... sorry... I'm an old RF guy).

Besides, believe it or not, I have some control over the "local utility" with their link over my head. The link is from a local ISP (remember, small town) who provides service via 2.4GHz point-to-point bridges. The link I can see is to our local history museum (why they didn't make it invisible is beyond me), and... and... and... I am president of the museum. Plus, I maintain our computers. All I have to do is move the museum's network to a 5.8GHz bridge - they're a block away - off of my commercial drop, tell the ISP "Thank you, it's been fun," and the problem is solved. I have other incentives to do so, since the 2.4GHz bridge was a neat solution... 10 years ago. Not so much now for the same reasons we're talking about here, with the network performance a frequent issue for the director and the volunteers who make the place run. IOW, I have my finger on the "off" switch already.

[C855B]

Latest additions to the layout building - driveway apron and mailbox:

[MVW]

Superb!

Jim

[C855B]

Thanks! Plus... I have a lantern to fit the mounting fork on top. It'll go on the stand for special occasions... (that is, when I can keep an eye on it!).

[wm-webb]

A little farther north we call that snowplow bait. 

[Specter3]

Mike

That is just awesome! Snowplows or not, it fits really well.

[C855B]

Eh. I'm not worried about plows. For one thing, the city doesn't plow this street, for another, they'd have to work real hard to jump the curb with the plow. Besides, the city guys know there would be heck to pay, since the city maintenance yard is our neighbor and they've watched every bloody inch of progress for the past two years (and even helped me with some of it!).

Today was more deconstruction, the last bit of old walls coming down. I had to laugh out loud on uncovering this:



I couldn't believe that they'd actually go through the trouble of using that warped stud. They couldn't and didn't nail anything to it, it was just "there". Maybe it was a joke intentionally left for the poor sucker (...me...) tearing down the wall when its time came.

And yet more pressure to start layout construction arrived today. A drop-ship direct from Micro Engineering, 22 scale miles of Code 40 and 55 flex:

[C855B]

Due for an update, I s'pose.

Local railfans have noticed the new mailbox post. Positive comments so far. They're finally figuring out I'm serious.

Much, much progress... uh... in progress. The driveway apron put in two weeks ago is 'da bomb'. We had some kick-butt storms this week, and for the first time the gravel stayed in the drive. I'm still pushing some of the aggregate backfill around to catch low spots, but as far as I am concerned this was money well spent and future hard work averted.

Speaking of lots o' rain, NO MORE LEAKS. Ever since we did the new roof there has been a battle with leaks. Even after replacing the ridge cap a few weeks ago, there was one remaining annoying leak right over the location for Yermo yard. Up on the lift during a heavy rain, I pinpointed the leak from the bottom, and with that info the contractor found the offender. With this we are finally high and dry, and we can move forward on hanging the supports for the ceiling grid.

Getting close to pouring concrete in the west half of the layout room. Contractor came by with his transit a couple of days ago and is working up the numbers. It is getting complicated - of course - because the asphalt is uneven and the floor in the east half slopes a couple of inches from north to south. Because of the unevenness we will have to dig out some or most of the asphalt, as there are locations that will be too thin otherwise.

Concrete pour and asphalt excavation dictates removal of part of the north wall for equipment and concrete chute access. That works out OK, since there were several panels needing to be replaced or at least patched to cover the two soon-to-be-former window locations. Oh... those windows... once we deconstructed the interior walls, I couldn't believe (...well, maybe I could...) the hack job to install the windows. The girts were simply cut, no reinforcement, and the windows were nailed - not screwed - to 2x2s behind the metal as clamps. No wonder they both leaked. No amount of caulk was going to fix that crap.

Oh... BTW... the railcam has to come down when we do the wall opening. So it will be offline once concrete pour preparation begins, and then the location will not be accessible with the lift until the concrete cures. That is playing footsie with the weather, so it may be down for weeks or even months if the weather turns on us like it did last year.

The HVAC intake needed to be modified, and the mod was finished this week. Because of the beginning state of construction at the time, the HVAC contractor sort of left me holding the bag on the return ducting. Doing it this way saved a couple of K-bucks. Leaving the intake opening "raw" into the filter media box was fine for running the A/C, but it was inefficient for heating since the airflow was in the wrong place. Also, the 4" media filters we spec'ed for dust control aren't cheap, and we were replacing them much too often for my taste. The building is still pretty dusty, and the construction activity doesn't help that. Soooooo... I built ductwork out of blue foam to reroute the intake, and added a 1" filter grille (HVAC guy's idea) for a pre-filter using much (much, much) cheaper "standard" filters to catch the bulk of the dust, which lets the "good" filter deal with the fine particulates without being prematurely clogged. The end result may not be HEPA, but is as close as we're going to get without spending megabucks.

Big cleanup this past week, primarily to get more of the stored materials out of the way of the new concrete. We are also faced with rearranging what was already moved to give the concrete crew elbow room for screeding and running their floats. I'm trying to put some of this off to leave room for running the lift for installation of ceiling supports, which would in turn help our cause by reducing the piles of stored materials.

I discovered a big mistake on the new observation platform. The original design, with a deck and catwalk along a wall, depended on a "reverse box" design, with the walkway and deck supported by 2x12s along each side and 2-bys laid sideways at the bottom, forming a box. Normal deck construction has the "people surface" on top of this box, but we don't have the headroom for it. Anyway, I ran the joists for the cantilevered balcony "conventionally", and then only last week realized I violated the original plan. Oops. Recoverable, just more work to do. This doesn't yet consider needing to cut through the bottom chord of the roof trusses for doors through that portion of the attic to get to the deck. Running rough calculations I think I have something that will work, with a second chord at door height and reinforcing a couple of ties to redistribute the forces.

Generally, standing by on the concrete job has stymied a lot of work. I still need to build studwalls for the west half so we can complete wall insulation, and with cold weather fast approaching I'm gritting my teeth whether we can beat the misery we had last year. However, I have conduit for layout lighting to run, so I can still be kept busy if (or, rather, when) the contractor delays the start of work on the new floor.

[C855B]

Super-quick update: contractor starts work on the new floor next Monday. Railcam has to come down today being it's the only rain-free day forecast for a week.

[C855B]

Setting up the forms and keyways for pouring the new floor:



The uneven asphalt became a minor issue, handled by breaking out a small area that was too high (kid with jackhammer). Tomorrow they tamp the excavation and remove a few wall panels on the west (left) wall for the concrete chute. Two pours, planned for Thursday and Friday.

Since they're working on wall panels anyway, the two windows you see will be removed and the panels replaced with solid leftovers saved from the façade rework two years ago. The one on the left is below where the railcam was mounted. I had to take it down because that particular panel couldn't be removed with the camera bracket attached.

While this is going on I've been sitting around the building doing little more than watching. We had to compress all the supplies and tools to give them enough elbow room, and I can't get to any of my stuff without being in their way. I did use the time today to setup a second WiFi network to give "the Internet of things" a dedicated external IP.

Our excitement is refreshed since everything continues to unfold pretty much per the vision. It's going to be tough waiting the week for the concrete to fully cure to where I can run the lift on it and erect the new studwalls. There are certainly other things to do, but this is the critical path to getting insulation finished. Crossing fingers we get enough done before the cold hits.