June 2Alvar and Jeff wired all the S-Yard blocks to the “Layout Feeder Panel #5” (LF5), located in the BK helix area. There are a total of 13 blocks which will be operational by Sys3 - the 8 main tracks, the turning loop, reversing track, and three ladder blocks. The LF5 is also ready for new BK tracks as they appear (and as blocks become available in Sys3 once our new cards are debugged). Bill, Malcolm, and John P. worked on Berkmannville. JP layed more track on the cutoff, all the way to the first switch into the BK station. Bill placed more ties in place and began to fill the gaps between tracks in the yard-section of BK with wood puddy. Malcolm continued to cut more ties, since there is lots of track to build, and began planning the continuation of BK towards GC. The first step is to make space for it, so he began to compress all of our buildings boxes. John Shriver did tons of work on the streets of Gifford City. He first layed out all the sidewalks down the large curve on the east side of GC, past the carbarn, and all the way to the bridge. The only missing sidewalk is the area infront of the GC Station, which Andy and JS will have to work out together. He also flattened down the section of pavement he layed down a week ago. Alvar continued to work on the green building roof details. He sanded the large radome and installed a few other details on it. The small radome cone needed another layer of plaster. Jeff and Alvar discussed Tetris-on-the-Green-Building, and found some C source code for Tetris, which may enable us to have the building ready to play with this Summer! Ed and Bill both brought in more Coke products, helping to overflow more our already overflowed stock after JP and Alvar bough 49 cases last week :-) Its all for sale at $0.50 outside the clubroom! Ed also helped to refill the Coke Machine, and supervised all of our work. June 6Work occurred on diverse fronts this evening. Neglected for a long time, the Club’s car fleet received attention from two sources. Malcolm Laughlin started a computerized inventory, and Andy Miller worked on six freight cars. Andy also paved the Caveat Emptor driveway. John Purbrick and Brandon Gunn, visiting from Wentworth, did more trackwork in Berkmannville, including construction of a switch. John McNamara did some work on the roundhouse office. June 20Track has reached Berkmannville! John Purbrick and Brandon Gunn worked on the first switch, which will probably be complete by the time you read this. At the other end of the layout, John Shriver and Andy Miller agreed on a pavement arrangement for the area in front of Gifford City station. John’s pavement is marching forward and looks great. Andy also worked on a parking lot for the fire station he has been building, in addition to cleaning the A/C filters and filling the Coke machine. Let’s hear it for hot weather! The “WECO cabinet” has been removed, leaving behind a legacy of cut-off milk cartons full of random screws, nuts, and other hardware. John McNamara worked on sorting and condensing these and placed some in the drawers under System2. James Knight continued his work on code for System3. June 23Progress continued in all fronts: Alvar worked on the installation of the Sys3 Block Cards in S-Yard, so that Sys3 can start to be debugged. James continued working on the code, so that once the hardware is in, the software is ready. Jeff continued the installation of power lines in S-Yard, so that we can plug in the necessary power supplies. On the other track side of things, JP built a second switch into BK, and put down a couple more feet of ballast. Bill continued to add ties to the end of the BK track. Malcolm continued with the planning of what will happen next, after BK. Ed worked on the pavement around the roundhouse. June 27 [[pictures]](/old/progress/reports/2001/6/../../../images79ff.tcl?year=2001&month=6&day=27)There was progress tonight at both ends of the layout and in the middle! In Gifford City, John Shriver completed the paving in front of Gifford City Station. Completed pavement now stretches the full length of the main street, all the way from the downtown trolley loop to the Whatahack River. At the opposite end of the layout, Ed Drozd installed ties in Berkmannville, while John Purbrick and Branden Gunn worked on ballast, switches, and rail. Stephano Curtarolo continued to work on ballast later in the evening. The Berkmannville switch count is now almost two. Ed Drozd and John McNamara discussed ground cover behind the roundhouse and in the process discovered that while most of the foundation was black, some was brick-colored and some was concrete. Black being the majority color, John painted the remainder black. Malcolm Laughlin, a usual denizen of Berkmannville, instead devoted his attentions to the Club’s car inventory and found 45% in need of attention, primarily involving coupler problems. Alvar Saenz_Otero arrived and he and Branden connected all the S-Yard tracks to the System3 Block Cards. Then, they ran the main communications wire for System3 from the IMP to S-Yard, leaving the rest of the wire ready for installation below GC once Sys3 is debugged. Alvar also installed the ‘Recycling’ sing again, which is now next to the Coke Machine (instead of behind it).