Tropical Storm. Power's out....Was a little nervous.....It's modeling time!

[AntonioFP45]

We got hit by Frances. Since she was a tropical storm most houses are still standing, fortunately. Was a little scary looking out our windows and watching the wind blow a steady 45 mph and then gust every 20 seconds or so to 60mph! Was raining sideways! A lot of debris and trees down. Power in my subdivision was out for 43 hours! Telephones kaputsky! We stayed on top of the news with a little $1.00 radio that worked flawlessly the whole time!

Instead of constantly worrying, I made good use of the time! After doing what we could for our home I looked at my dusty rolling stock and decided: Hey! Time for a bath!

I CAREFULLY put all of my freight cars in a box. Took them to the sink and put soapy warm water in a pan. I got an old soft bristle toothbrush and one-by-one I took each car and gently scrubbed the roof and ends (I avoided the trucks and couplers). I then took the "spritzer" on the sink and rinsed off the roofs and ends. I gently towel dried the cars. What a difference! Even with weathering the cars looked new!

Next, I wrote up a new inventory sheet (hand written as there was no power, will re-type it on the computer). For each car I listed: Manufacturer, type of car, KD Equipped(Yes, No, or -1), Metal Wheelsets (Yes or No), and special notes (needs brake wheel, trucks need weathering, Body falls off chassis, Roofwalk Removed-Need to fill in holes & repaint roof), etc. I had no idea that I had so many MDC/Roundhouse cars! I thought 95% of my freight cars were Athearn BBs. I was mistaken! [:0][8)][:p][:D]

(Last railroad inventory I did was 1989.......Shame on me! Since then I had sold, traded, and purchased rolling stock and locomotives. )

Next: Rivorossi Passenger Cars. Installed McHenry couplers. Cut the skirts off of a Seaboard Observation Car. Took patience scribing the same line over & over. Spent about 5 minutes on each skirt. I then sanded the bottom edges where I broke off the skirts. Looked good! Took off the factory wheel sets and replaced them with P2K wheelsets.

Afterwards I took the underframes of two Rivorossi passenger cars, filled the cavities up with birdshot and drowned them in Elmer's glue. [8D][;)]

I didn't do this straight through. I'd take 15 to 20 minute breaks here and there. I was going to do more, but for 2 nights things were dark with no power and candles only illuminate so much. We kept the battery powered lantern on standby in case a real emergency occurred. [:0][:p]

We went to sleep early. Woke up at about 3:30 a.m to hear the a/c running and see the kitchen light on. Power was back! Something we take for granted can have a big impact when you lose it, especially for many hours. Said a prayer of thanks and tuned into the news. [:D]

To sum it up, when you're stuck at home with hours on your hands push yourself and start "messing with those trains or layout". After a few minutes the urge really gets you going!

Well, hopefully we'll be missed by Ivan!!

God Bless and thanks for your concern!

[dave9999]

Antonio,
Glad to hear that you kept yourself occupied. And that you are OK. Back in '95 when
hurricane Erin hit here, we lost power for a week. Lots of grilling and cooking on the
Coleman campstove. And I'll never forget trying to sleep with no A/C. The heat and
humidity was terrible. I don't know how people survived before central A/C! Dave

[AntonioFP45]

QUOTE: Originally posted by dave9999

Antonio,
Glad to hear that you kept yourself occupied. And that you are OK. Back in '95 when
hurricane Erin hit here, we lost power for a week. Lots of grilling and cooking on the
Coleman campstove. And I'll never forget trying to sleep with no A/C. The heat and
humidity was terrible. I don't know how people survived before central A/C! Dave

Hey Dave, cool flag logo!

10-4 and that humidity! As of this writing, there's a chance Hurricane Ivan may be headed towards Florida. This time I'm going to do what several of my neighbors did and buy a portable generator. This way at least we can keep the refrigerator/freezer running, run a couple of fans, and have a few lights.

Praying for the best!

[Noah Hofrichter]

Aggro, glad to here you made out okay, was wondering about you. By the way, I'll have to try that inventory list, it's a good way to remember all the repairs needed!!

Noah

[dave9999]

QUOTE: Originally posted by AntonioFP45

QUOTE: Originally posted by dave9999

Antonio,
Glad to hear that you kept yourself occupied. And that you are OK. Back in '95 when
hurricane Erin hit here, we lost power for a week. Lots of grilling and cooking on the
Coleman campstove. And I'll never forget trying to sleep with no A/C. The heat and
humidity was terrible. I don't know how people survived before central A/C! Dave

Hey Dave, cool flag logo!

10-4 and that humidity! As of this writing, there's a chance Hurricane Ivan may be headed towards Florida. This time I'm going to do what several of my neighbors did and buy a portable generator. This way at least we can keep the refrigerator/freezer running, run a couple of fans, and have a few lights.

Praying for the best!

Antonio,
Better start generator shopping now!! As a matter of fact, I was in Lowes today
and they were saying that all of their generators have been sent to South Florida.
People snatch them up quickly.

I just got home from work and checked the projected path of Ivan, and it could
be headed this way as well.

I don't want anyone to have to deal with this thing, but I sure would hate to see South Florida take another hit. Y'all have had enough.

Good luck and we will be praying for this storm to just go away and leave the
Sunshine State alone! Dave

[AntonioFP45]

Dave,

Thanks for the heads up regarding the generator. I'll be checking for them asap.

Hope the inventory idea works for you. I was surprised at what I actually had as well as the repairs needed that I jotted down. I can never complain that I have nothing to do!

I'm looking forward to the end of this storm season!

We're praying for the best!

[fec153]

Antonio and Dave9999- know how you feel. Emeraldisle had it worse than me this
time. Andrew was my wicked time. People along the St.johns river are now being
flooded as we E eachother. In case u don't know, the St.johns flows NORTH,not
south. Fla. is weird. Take precautions and be safe.
Phil

[tomwatkins]

Antonio and all in Florida,
I'm glad you made it through Ok. Frances turned out to be another bad one. Hopefully Ivan will go somewhere else. Back out to sea sounds good. I lived in Florida for most of my life, before I moved to the mountains in North Georgia. I don't miss those things at all. Sounds like you found good ways to stay busy and occupied though.

Take Care,
Tom

[Junctionfan]

BEWARE OF IVAN THE TERRIBLE

It seems to be a really bad hurricane, this one. For so far the weather people think it will hit the U.S if it does around next weekend or week. Hope you guys can hold on till the hurricane season is over. I don't recall there being so many storms, one after the other like that.

Stay Safe

Andrew

[Anonymous]

Hi Antonio,

I came across your question that you posted awhile back about the show "In the Heat of the night" and the Amtrak train shown in the theme song. The answer is Amtrak: The City of New Orleans. "In the heat of the night" was filmed in 1988 plot and a few show about 8 where filmed in Hammond, Louisiana. The railroad line that runs through here is Illinois Central-Canadian National railroad. Amtrak make a stop in "sparta." lol.

I have a few pictures taken by some railroad hobbiest back in April 6, 2004 of the Amtrak: City of New Orleans before it wreck and they show the train coming throught Hammond, La http://www.freewebs.com/madison_view/disastersofmadisoncounty.htm

Glad to have answered you question
Sincerely
Micah Gober of Madison, Mississippi