Getting the first blow of the season and I was about to turn on the fireplace and fire up the layout. Then I checked the outage map and red dots are appearing before my eyes, maybe I won't tempt fate.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
A twig has fallen. Oh, the humanity!
What do the red dots mean? (Aside from stop)
Never seen them used in Pennsylvania.
maxman What do the red dots mean? (Aside from stop) Never seen them used in Pennsylvania.
Power outages, they were popping up before my eyes as the storm moved in. If you click on the dots, it zooms in and shows you down to the house and how big the area is that is without power.
What am I missing here?
How is running trains with the possibility of a power outage tempting fate?
-Kevin
Living the dream.
When my power goes out, the generator kicks in.
Run trains, keep the water hot for showers and the refrigerator running to keep the beer cold. Yes, I've run trains off generator power. Gotta test these things, ya' know.
Problem solved.
Actually, I bought the generator in 1994 as I recall after a four-day outage. It was the best insurance ever as there hasn't been too many power outages since then.
Cheers, Ed
SeeYou190 What am I missing here? How is running trains with the possibility of a power outage tempting fate? -Kevin
Rich
Alton Junction
gmpullmanActually, I bought the generator in 1994 as I recall after a four-day outage. It was the best insurance ever as there hasn't been too many power outages since then.
Same here.
I bought a whole-house 20Kw generator after Hurricane Charley, then we did not have a significant power outage for about fifteen years.
I got rid of the generator because it was becoming obsolete and maintenance costs were increasing.
Then... Hurricane Irma... no power.
So we went to Atlanta.
gmpullman Yes, I've run trains off generator power.
I don't recall ever running trains on my generator. I did brew a pot of coffee once. My wife has referred to that as the most expensive pot of coffee ever.
At college, we had frequent power dropouts, mostly because our ancient dorm was grossly underpowered. Being MIT, everybody immediately went around and unplugged the refrigerators, because we knew that when the power came back, the resulting surge drain on the old wiring would trip all the breakers.
We weren't allowed to have hot plates or even 1-cup immersion heaters. Guys actually heated up hot dogs by pushing them between the blades of our steam heat radiators.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
MisterBeasleyGuys actually heated up hot dogs by pushing them between the blades of our steam heat radiators.
The only time I ever lived where there was a steam heat radiator was the dorm at Vanderbilt in Nashville.
I learned about Rad-Dogs there.
We cannot make those in Florida.
I guess the part of the story I left out is that over the last fifteen years or so that I have had a layout up and running, is the number of times I have headed into the trainroom to pass the time during some stormy weather only to have the power go out as soon as I did or shortly after. This has been a standing joke in our house. The kids use to run and block the door when they heard me say "to the trainroom"! Even though the power going out was not really an issue.
We have full power backup and enough gas to take us through the winter. Water and food are never a problem. The steaks are often sound asleep on the front lawn in the morning if the freezer becomes empty. We don't have to leave the joint unless we want to.
My apologies for the lack of context in my statement.
Remember the warnings that the Gods of Hawaii would punish those who dared to take parts of the Islands home with them? Happened to us. Unbeknown to me, the ex-wife put rocks in her luggage as we returned home. After a couple of days, we noticed a bad odor in the basement but couldn't figure it out.
Turns out, when the house had been built the outlet where the fridge was plugged in was connected to the circuit in the heating equipment room. Because it was summer, I had turned off the power to that room just to be on the safe side.
Fortunately, it was primarily a beer fridge, but we did lose all the meat in the freezer.