Well just finished buttoning up my layout and the layout room for the pending Hurricane down here in the Keys. Third one this season. Be glad to move back up to the mainland at the end of the year. The good news is the Keys have a bullet proof power plant apparently. After one Trop storm and two hurricanes so far this year we have yet to loose power (knock on wood). The power poles down here are made of re-enforced concrete and are about three ft in diameter at the base and slim as they go up. They are twice the height of normal poles and they don’t have any trees growing any where near them. Good idea I think. I’ll check back in as the day progresses. Haven’t had a day time Hurricane in a while that will make it a little easier. I left out some rolling stock to work on so at least I can get something accomplished.
Terry
Hang On Terry, this one could be a bad one, the Gulf waters are very warm right now, over 80F and that will really fuel the hurricane growth.
Hope “Rita” does not do to much harm, i have been watching it develop for a while on the web, hot on Ritas trail is huricane “Philippe” which is forcast to go north well away from the east coast, have a look at this site http://satellite.ehabich.info/index.html click on “NEXT” to scrole through the different earth views then click on the image to enlarge it
*** thanks for the concern. Our house is on 11 ft stilts and has a ramp up to the front deck. My wife and I just spent a while getting our Harley up on the Front deck. Couple of close calls but we did it. Should be a real challenge getting down with gravitiy complicating things. They are talking maybe up to 6 foot surge so we should be good. Didn’t want to see the Harley under water tomorrow.
Steve thanks also for the website. We watch the NOAA site closely. www.nhc.noaa.gov/ It has a 3 and 5 day prediction map. Yes Philippe should not be a concern for us here in Florida anyway.
Think I will go install some Kadee couplers.
Terry
I hope it goes well for you, Terry. Keep safe!!!
Same here fellow model railroader. The Keys are a great place to live-until hurricane season.
Since I was a kid, I’ve had this crazy desire to build a concrete structure say twenty feet high with a plexiglass dome on top on a beach, and sit out a catagory five hurricane just to see what it’s like with camera in hand filming it all… Now someone might say that I have a death wish or need to talk to a shrink, but I’m talking about a structure that could actually withstand the storm.
Oh well. I’ve heard of people doing worse.
Tracklayer
You really have to hand it to the designers of the Power system down here in the Middle Keys. Trees are dropping all around us and the roads are several feet under sea water and yet we have yet to have even a power fluxuation. The main (only) highway in and out of the keys is breached in at least 9 places so far just in Marathon alone. Sure glad I am a cronic water buyer. Everytime we go shopping I pick up a case of bottled water. Once the storm has passed it looks like it will be several days before the roads will be repaired and passable for the folks that evacuated. It is so weird sitting here surfing (the internet) and looking out the window as a Hurricane rages outside. When we lived in Pensacola we would loose power soon after the winds picked up. Just thought I would give a hands on perspective of RITA for those of you who are having perhaps a less than exciting day at work. Just heard RITA is now a cat 2. It has passed Marathon in the middle keys and will pass Key West in the next several hours or so. Have a great day!
Terry
Good luck.
I do hope that you pull through, and your power remains on so even though your roof is gone, (Hopefully not) you will still be able to run trains. Sorry if that’s a bit mean or anything.
Those power poles sound like a great idea, as long as they can bend a little.
Good luck again,
Trainboy
After visiting the keys this summer, (it was great) I have a new perspective on what these Hurricanes can do. Hope you and your family stay safe.
John
Tks for everyones concerns.
Trainboy - So far the roof has held. I noticed the H16-44 in your title. Interestingly I just purchased my first Atlas loco - a NYC H16-44. Nice running loco and probably will get more Atlas Loco’s in the future. Plan on putting sound in this one as soon as I get the chance. I think the H15/16 -44 loco looks like one mean, tough loco. I like the cabless lines. Take care.
Terry
Rita is now a CAT2 hurricane, you will feel the north wall of the eye for about another hour Terry, hang in there…literally.
I’ve seen houses like that before. I thought they looked pretty neat.[:D] That should help you out a little against the hurricane by keeping the flooding out.[:)][:)]
Atlas, you can’t go wrong!
How’s the house now?
trainboy
Well my wife and I spent the day outdoors cleaning up after RITA. Our house is apparently build over an old indian burial ground or something of that sort. It is a wooden A frame syle on stilts. The entire front is glass. ANyway we had T-mobile cell service when we got here and the phones would not work in or around the house. We had to walk down to the corner to make a call. Weird. Numerous houses and trailers in Marathon which is a very small town were completely flooded out. The atlantic ocean came across the road and spilled into the Gulf of Mexico in many places less than a mile from our house. Now back to the weird part. We (at our house) got very little rain during the entire hurricane. We never even had standing water anywhere around us. We got lots of wind and that was about it. During Katrina you could look out our window and see nothing but water including two feet deep under the house. And yet RITA flooded houses just a half mile from us from so much rain and surge! We are just lucky I guess. It is interesting how each Hurricane has its very own personality. Thank you to everyone who showed concern for my wife and I.
Trainboy - Atlas question? - How good are the Atlas Switchers? I have several LL P2K but am always looking for more.
Terry
Glad to hear ya’ll came thru ok. That’s a blessing.
Hey Terry, glad you came through with flying colours, you were lucky with the water
Sorry, I’ve never seen one. I do love the P2K switchers, and have 2 of them.
If anyone else knows, I would also like to know.
trainboy
Glad you came through all right, hows the LHS?
Boy, you folks are getting a s**t kicking this year, Terry. I am happy your property survived, and that you can breath again. How’s the missus holding up?
Hi, Terry. Very happy you made it through yet another storm.
Short story: (or as short as I can make it!): I and my family grew up in New Jersey. We had some pretty good winters and a hurricane once (in the 1950’s). My sister went to college in Ohio, where they have pretty good winters, too. Then she studied in Austria for a year, and those winters are pretty good! She finally got tired of winter weather and went to U of Okla for graduate work. Then she decided to go to medical school, also at OU, but she did part of her residency in St. Louis (back to the winters, again) and the rest in Pensacola, FL. When she went into practice, she stayed in Florida, about 60 miles north of Tampa. After about 10 years, she decided to move to Louisiana and set up practice about 50 miles south of Lafayette. She was there for about 10 years. Two years ago, she decided that she wanted to practice where she could be closer to our Mother, so she moved to Southern Illinois near St. Louis. After Mom passed away, she decided to retire.
For months, she has complained about living in this area and she has always complained about winter weather, and about how much she HATES it!! She has been foloowing very closely the weather reports for the last three weeks.
I talked with her today. She said, “Maybe living here isn’t so bad. I was thinking of retiring to Florida or Louisiana, but I don’t think that’s a good idea. Maybe snow isn’t so bad after all.”
True story.
Glad you are okay.
Darrell, chillingly quiet…for now