Summer has returned. It was 110 and last night it was only 82 for a low. With this comes insulated cold drink containers, underwear operations and makeing sure you dont drop sweat onto your favorite weathered car.
Last nite I was out working on the layout, doing some much wanted scenery work after installing my new roads. Well, I had to turn off the fan to do this. I learned that you dont try and sprinkle Fine Ground Foam while a fan is blowing. (Ya, you can add that to my top “10 things I Learned the Hardway in Model Railroading” list)
So, after awhile I am starting to sweat, little beads here and there. Afterawhile, “Man, I got to get a towel”. Stuff is dripping off onto my flip flops. I finish up, clean up and after admiring my work, i check out the tempature gauge on the wall… 92 degrees and its 1030 at night. Yup, its Summer Modeling again. Good thing though, my glue dries in like 45 seconds. Guess you guys will be seeing alot more of me now on the board.
We’re currently going through a cool spell here in the east, but NJ summers can get so warm and sticky that it would make garage modeling really unpleasant. Still, it’s nothing like 110 - dry or humid. Do you notice much expansion or contraction in your benchwork between the temperature extremes of Winter & Summer?
Think cool thoughts. I’ll raise a cold one for you.
I feel your - well, it isn’t exactly pain. More like working in a sauna.
Here in Sin City the midnight temp is only 90 degrees, after a daytime high of 106. As a concession to reality, my layout work schedule has shifted to the hours of sunrise to active discomfort (which occurred at 10 yesterday morning.) Happily for all concerned, the expansion gaps I left during construction have proven adequate; not quite closed when I ran a coal unit at 5 PM yesterday. OTOH, the doorknob (which is never in direct sunlight) was uncomfortably hot too the touch!
Ah, the glories of modeling in the desert Southwest. At least we don’t have to ride the deck plates of our steam locos through this stuff!
Low 50’s this morning driving to work in Massachusetts. I think I turned on the AC in the train room once this year so far.
Glad to see you’re getting layout time, though. I thought it was going to be another thread about yardwork and vacations, and not seeing the inside of your trainroom for a month. That happens too.
Keep cool. I’ve got to look around for some “cup” holders to put on my fascia once I get the rest of the scenery down and no longer have a convenient pink flat spot to rest cans of my favorite beverage between sips.
My sister inlaw lives in Hendersen NV. I don’t feel bad for her at all. Sure, it’s 110 there right now. It’s like 92 in Wisconsin where I live. The difference is, she laughs when it’s 10 below here and 60 there! Is that, “it’s a dry heat” something you hear often?
I feel ya. Here in Michigan it was about 87 yesterday with 100% Humidity. Which doesn’t really bother me except when there is no breeze like yesterday. I work with my GF on a horsefarm Usually we will feed them in the morning, then excersize them and then we might go riding for a little while. Yesterday we feed them, gave the 2 blacks ones a bath and left. She’s not as used to the heat like I am and she almost passed out on the way home. Since it got warm I havn’t touched my layout. And this time of the year Is a bad one to be trying to run a fan and shape Pink foam with a files.
Here in Central California we’re having the usual “June gloom” weather, which means it stays overcast until about 10-11 a.m., then clears up and the mercury goes up to about 70-75 degrees. That’s all fine and good, but my biggest beef is with my employer… I work in an IT department, and except for the awfully noisy server room, the building is not air conditioned. During the summer months, it’s normal to see the temperature in my office go up to about 88-90 degrees with windows open and fans blowing. A big reason why I changed my schedule to 6 a.m. till 3 p.m., so that I can leave by the time the afternoon sun really beats against my window.
Oh yeah! I had to go back through my track work and add gaps in about 8 places. It’s been in the mid 90’s in Tn. with no rain for 2 months. The dust is what’s killing me. I can work on the layout for a few hours in the mourning and then knock off till the sun goes down. I hung a box fan in the doorway to suck the hot air out and the plastic grill work on it melted and warped.[:O]
In the summer, I hang out in the cool basement, where my layout is. So more train work is starting to happen. Last week we had a good storm and had water in the basement. The only thing that got ruined was some boxes of old Tyco/LifeLike cars/engines I had set aside to sell.
I am starting to not like the hot bicycle rides on the way home though. I just switched to riding my bicycle to/from work (10 miles one way) to save on gas money. I figure the money saved on gas can be used for trains.[;)]
Aaaahhh…who says you can’t experience the fun of thermal buckling in scale model railroading. Remember, Canazar, you’re one up on me. I don’t have fans installed yet.
Maybe it’s time to AC the garage. A 110 window unit in the wall will help a lot. I put one in my trainroom which is a converted garage and it keeps it a pleasent 73 degrees in the room even in the heat of the afternoon. Heat? You ain’t seen heat until you get in this part of southeast Texas!..Especially when its 100 outside and the humidity is 78%…chuck
I feel for you guys, honestly. For me, you fellas are backwards. My layout is in the basement, and aside from chronic humidity, it stays very pleasant most of the year. It is finished as of 15 months ago. My problem comes when I fire up the wood stove to begin winter warming. The stove is literally (I’m not fibbing!) 17" from one corner of the layout. I know this because it is one full inch under the code’s mins. [:-^] Anyway, would you believe that it gets about as uncomfortable, under 10 halogen bulbs and with the stove creaking away, for me as it does for you?
Finishing a layout space is costly, but it adds so much to the ability to enjoy the hobby.
Thanks guys. Good to be back ob board. Unfortunatly, I am renting ad there really inst anything more I can do, that I all ready haent done. Just the way it is going to be for me. All in all its not too bad. This morning I went out there and it was only 80, which is pretty good with a fan on. I think it stays about 10 degrees cooler at the peak then outside. So, if it hits 110, its 100 in there. There alot garages here in AZ that get HOTTER inside then outside.
All in all, isnt too bad considering it is only 2 months out of the year it gets really, hot. What is a drag though, I work in shop that is hot. Yesterday, it averaged 92, and thats cool. By, mid July, I have to turn off the water in the evap cooler cause of the humidity. It will run in the 105-115 range in there all day. So comeing home, and going back out in it, gets hard.
Holy Cow! That sucks. Did you have them nailed down or secured or were they just laid out?
Get some darn fans man! That hapoen this past week?
I guess that is one thing that I have been lucky. My benchwork moves around quite abit, but it wasbuilt very cheap and fast. My wife and I are renting a house that at the time, only planned on being here for a 1-2 years. So, I didnt bother doing things right, just fast. But we are going into a 3rd year with no end in site. Go figure.
My track work is very cheap and I skimped. All I did was pin the track, through the cork, into the foam and left it. but, I think what happens now is that all just “floats” around so to speak. Considering, my track work runs very, very well.
Hah! The Carbon Black & Smokey Pile RR. Truthfully, I check often to see if the corner closest to the stove is too warm to touch, and it is only warm, never hot to the touch.
It must have been hell in those big steamers come August in the south. In the cabs, with the backhead right there. Wheww!! Coming from the north, I don’t mind the cold…you can always add a layer or stomp around to get the blood flowing, but what do you do when you can’t cool yourself to a safe temp and you are just past noon in a yard switching job?
Maybe John can take some comfort that when he is running his big steam he feels just like the operators did back then. [;)]
wow. i feel sorry for all of you. i am north of the border on the west coast and we have rain! rainrainrain! i think someone has cut off the sunlight north of the border. i wish i had some sun right now [sigh]…
is it hot enough to fry a wheelset on the sidewalk?
