How are you guys coping with your current weather?

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

The T.V. News here in the U.K. shows a sorry picture of the current weather pattern in vast parts of the U.S.

I know you get far more snow in some parts than we ever get here in the U.K. in a normal winter but what we’re seeing looks far worse than normal.

How is it affecting the rail systems. Over here it is a sad joke when we get 2’’ of snow and everything grinds to a halt.

I guess if you’re stuck in you perhaps can get some modelling done

Lets pray that the weather soon improves for you all

Regards Colin Cambridge U.K.

2

Chicago Metra canceled 20+ trains last night and this morning due to the cold about -20 C.

3

Wish I could say that I was hunkering in the basement, working on my trains. But we got our big snow over the weekend, so the roads are all plowed and salted. The power outage in East Moline missed affecting my office. And my car is in a garage so I don’t have problems getting it started in the morning.

All of which means; it’s just another work week!

4

-1° F here this morning, wind chill of -20° . Schools closed but otherwise life goes on. Just carrying more firewood and adding another layer of clothing.

Just gives me more excuses to go hide down the basement where the trains & the stove are! [:D]

5

I’m in Massachusetts. Yesterday, it was 56 degrees F, and today will be about 16 for a high. Neither is normal, but wacky temperatures and wild weather swings are something we’ve come to expect here. So far, we’ve kept our power and the house has stayed warm. The snow we’ve had has come on weekends, so there was little impact and it got cleared quickly, and it’s been followed by enough warm weather that most roofs and driveways are completely clear of snow.

A typical response of our government, though, is for the Governor to get on the media and tell everyone to stay off the roads and take public transportation. This is usually followed by an announcement that the subways and commuter rail would be shutting down early for the duration of the storm.

6

Its -8 here with wind chill of -41…

I have not heard a NS train this morning.

As for me…I’m hunked down inside and haven’t stepped nary a foot outside since Sunday…I shall stay warm in my “bunker” another 24 hours when the temptures will start warming up until then I have no reasons to venture forth into the deep freeze…

7

You ask how we deal with it? VERY carefully.

It is -9F here now, and the high will be 7F. the wind chill factor makes it -26 below 0 F.

A passenger train is stuck in snow drifts about 5 foot high outside Chicago, Illinois.

Other train routes have been cancelled.

Air traffic in some areas has been cancelled and in some cases halted all together, In one case at least, the DE-ICER stuff itself FROZE!

WE have the water dripping to keep pipes form freezing, Hot water will actually freeze before cold water does!

We have set our thermostat up 5 F degrees higher than normal. We have an electric heater heating the bathroom to avoid forzen pipes again. Electic heater under the kitchen sink too.

The sun is out now, and the high will be 7 degrees F. Right now it is -9 degrees F. WE are WARM compared to the MID-WEST USA!

We dress with multiple layers of clothes- t-shirt, fannel shirt, Microfleece shirt, Micro fleece line coat on top {4 layers at least}, and long john underwear under pants and underwear{making it 3 layers at least}! Scarf for the neck, scarf for the face, and hats and gloves- two pair a knited pair and a leather fuzz-lined top glove.

If the car starts, I need warm up and slow starting when driving til all the fluids warm up.

THAT is how we deal with the cold!

THe UK may not be as cold, or get as much sn*w, but I have heard you guys are getting worse than normal for you, too.

SO, prayers for those who are OUT in the cold!

[8-|]

8

Things aren’t too bad here in the western US near Reno Nevada 23 degrees right now high expected about 51. We got hit hard with the cold in early December. The one morning Reno was -11 and Winnemucca was -26. Had about 10 days of bitterly cold. Not sure how much snow has fallen in the Sierras so far, just a few inches here in the valleys. I live about 90 minutes from Donner Pass and there the average seasonal snowfall there is around 250". I think UP deals with things quite well, I haven’t heard anything about them using rotary plows in a number of years.

Mark H

9

I recognize that it is nothing compared with the much of the rest of the nation (and the first 18 years of my life were in snow country), but this morning’s temperature of 18 degrees has set an all-time low for North Myrtle Beach, SC. The old record was broken by 3 degrees. It is not supposed to get above freezing all day today, and that is unusual.

There is a small cross-over to modeling, as I am at a step where I need to spray-paint some things. This is a “rattle can” project and I normally spray things out in the back yard. With the wind and the cold, that spray paint step will likely need to wait for another day. It is supposed to be nearly 70 degrees by Saturday…

Bill

10

It is 3 degrees here with a windchill of -21.Already been out for my monthly visit to the lab.I’m staying in the rest of the day trying to stay warm.I’m used to this weather as I have lived in Michigan most of my almost 69 years.

11

Southeastern Wisconsin, temp. is -13, wind chill of -30 or -40 something, about 12" of snow on the ground, lots of blowing and drifting. It’s the 2rd day of this, started to drop Sunday pm. I’m in and out, as usual, used to work in this stuff, grinding concrete walls, as it was too cold to pour outside. I’m spending most of my time in my basement, where it’s always warm and sunny, and trains are running (I sure love this retirement thing!) Getting lots of detail work done.

Chatter on my scanner, which is in the window on my second floor office seams normal. I get CN’s Waukesha sub, WSOR in and out of Milwaukee, UP’s Adams sub. I seen in the news that Amtrak is having some trouble in the Chicago area, and Amtrak’s Hiawatha Service, which runs back and forth from Chicago to Milwaukee, about 5 or more times a day, is cutting down on some runs, which has some local commuters up in arms.

The sun is shining, and by Friday they are saying 34 degrees!

Thats all from here!

Mike.

12

I am in southeast Michigan, and it is -13 degrees F, and with the wind chill it feels like -36 degrees F. Very cold, but I continue model railroading and progress on my layout. Stay warm and safe.

13

I think most of us are staying inside as much as possible. It’s a good time to work on model railroads and try not to think about our next heating bill.

As for the railroads, winter weather can cause ice to form in switch points, and workers sometimes have to break the ice. Trains are delayed when they can not go through the switches. Some switches are equiped with heaters to keep the points free of ice.

14

Yesterday schools were closed because the temperature was in the 40’s and raining on the snowpack on the roads, washing off the sand about as fast as they put it on. As a school bus driver with a lot of dirt roads I was very glad to get the call at 5:20 for no school.

This AM it is 0, had school, no problems. As Mr B said this up and down temperature thing isn’t normal, but becoming more frequent. Really screws up the roads, mud, frozen, mud, frozen, makes for some nasty ruts.

The other part of my life is feeding a few beef cattle. Yesterday where there had been packed snow was pretty icy. Otherwise things were OK. Problem is the critters got wet, then the temperature drop and wind overnight. That’s much harder on them than the cold, as they are out all the time and have good coats. In most weather they don’t use the shelter, cold rain with wind they do.

Today I will go out and start the tractor, it’s on a timer to the block heater for 3 hours. While it warms up the motor oil and hydraulics (15-30 min) I will come back in and put coveralls on over everything else (pants, longies, t-shirt, shirt, vest and jacket). If it were a little warmer I’d forgo the coveralls or jacket, depending on what I was going to do later. If it were colder or windier, I’d go for the insulated coveralls. Todays knit hat will cover all but my eyes (and fog up my glasses) and due to the wind I’ll put something wind proof over it. Lined rubber boots and heavy mittens that flip back so my fingers can grab the strings to remove them from the large bales. Last will be the ear muffs for sound protection, but they also hold hats on in the wind and protect the ears.

I should bring in a little firewood after feeding, if I’m not frozen by then. The workbench is next to the wood stove in the cellar, so a good place to think

15

Two Amtrak trains are stuck in a snowdrift in Mendota, Illinois, and others around the Chicago area have been cancelled.

But out here in Arizona the skies are clear and daily temperatures are in the 60’s F (20 degrees C) or warmer, depending on where you are.

16

A heck of a lot better than Amtrak is doing.

Charlie

17

The temp near Niagara Falls, NY is around 3 degrees F. the winds are blowing around 40 mph but we did not get any snow last night. However, if you travel just south of Buffalo they could get up to 2 plus feet of snow.

18

The Long Island Rail Road brought in extra crews to deal with possible rail breaks due to the cold

19

Sunshine today here in the Maritimes, now it’s snowing, now it’s sunny etc etc etc, 2 feet of snow(60cm) with 2.5 inches of carbon hardened ice and more snow on top, Oh, and it melted yesterday and now everything is solid ice, Now that Canadaland is metric, I cannot understand American weathercasters referring to negative numbers, is that negative below 32 degrees or negative below zero which means nothing in F., and if a temperature is negative, then is 17F. positive??? Even I can understand Celsius numbers, it’s either above or below freezing.

At any rate when it’s really, really really cold and windy, it’s cold in C. or F. And please, no more hot water thrown in the air, it really works, stop it !

20

Train room is on third floor. Is heated.

Cat house is outside my window, is heated, but still very cold. I brought the old cat (18yrs) inside, because I can no longer climb up the ladder to clean the cat poop. At least here in my office I can see it and clean it up without a problem.

My office is a bit chilly, as it has no heat source other than the computers and servers. If it gets up to 30 degrees outside, I’ll have to turn on the air conditioning. Below 30 a little vent does just fine. Below -10 the vent can be uncomfortable since it cannot be closed off to the wind drafts. What the Heck… If I can not work at my computer, I can always go up to the train room.

We have our own power generator, so outages are not an issue for us. We have coal heat, so frozen coal can be a problem. There can be 15 tons of coal in the bin, but if it will not fall down into the auger what good is it? I have long advocated heating the coal tank, but our maint dept is more frugal than that, so forzen coal bridges remain a fact of life.

PS: The younger cat is still in the outdoor cat house. She at least can find the litter box.

ROAR