V8VegaI'v started watching UTube model trains vidos at night and i like all layouts but critisize to myself things I don't like. Do you do that?
Not really. I might think to myself "Well, I probably would have done it differently," but it's all good. I'm pretty easy as far as layouts go, I don't think there's any real right or wrong as long as the layout builder's happy.
Good morning. Slept till 9. Muffin and a few cups of coffee. Got ready for the day and then, call from Aucrite rep. [she is in WI. Cold and snowing. Working from home she said. Excellent customer services] Had to do some tweaking on new weather station. Put it up today as no RAIN [until tonight] Sun is in and out and 52 degrees. Possible freezing rain north of us near the VA line. Had a tornado in one coastal county near Wilmington.
Stay warm and well.
God bless TCA 05-58541 Benefactor Member of the NRA, Member of the American Legion, Retired Boss Hog of Roseyville , KC&D Qualified
Well it just keeps snowing on top of snow. Nothing is melting so it is sure is piling up on The North Bluff. Sitting at 9 degrees right now. I did see that MikeC and those south and east of us got a lot of snow yesterday!
Fife, CN should be a good stock to get now that the pipeling has got the boot. "The Alberta government has signed contracts with Canadian National and Canadian Pacific to lease 4,400 rail cars to take oilsands crude to American and international markets." Money makes money!
Not a whole lot of snow but plenty when you got a driveway that is 1/2 mile long.
On the deck.
Joined 1-21-2011 TCA 13-68614
Kev, From The North Bluff Above Marseilles IL.
Afternoon folks - been hunkered down with the disaster in Texess...1.2M of 3.7M customers of our transmission provider have been without power since around yesterday morning. A map in the paper this am noted nearly every single ZIP code in Dallas area.suburbs had 1000+ outages. Lotsa failures of people and machines. Had the same issue, but not as widespread just 10 years ago. Utility regulator ERCOT committed to resolve it - obviously not - totally avoidable but for corrupt politicians and businessmen....we have lots of both here....
There events are fairly regular here - not like 100 year events - but when you keep building 10's of thousands of high density apartment/condos and do not add any power generation - you run outta power at some point.
Hit -2 this am at the airport. It was a balmy +1 here at the house. Using my ski gear when I have to go outside. Quite comfortable!
Our power stayed on (lucky) but a lot of neighbors and friends did not. Had to chuckle at some friends who eliminated their fireplaces (wood and gas) and equiped with candles/lights/plants. Firewood became scarce as hens teeth Sat/Sun. Daughter and SIL lost their power yesterday morning. Toughed it out until this morning and they came over when the temp in their apartment hit 40...
Regards, Roy
Roy, my friend in Springtown TX. told me yesterday that their power is being turned on and off in one hour times. His water has froze twice so far.
At least here we are ready for this crap here. But long spells make it way worse. They say above freezing for us by Sunday. Hang in there!
Good afternoon all,
Snow finally stopped and sun came out. Shoveled once this morning to clear a path and this afternoon to widen it. Neighbor did the alley again for us. I hope everyone has a good day.
Keep on training,
Mike C. from Indiana
Happy Mardi Gras everyone! No snow here in East TN, which makes me sad. I hope you all stay safe and warm.
34 and sunny. Guessers are now trying to say we will get some glaze and then turn to rain Folks north of us ice. This is the doom and gloom station. Always drama in their news. We'll see.Eye Dr. for semi annual. Then nothing.Really feel it for those in the deep freeze and especially those with no power. We have some above us with no power for two days. Puke Energy now saying bringing in out of state crews. Well, about time.Have a safe and good day. Stay warm.
Mornin' boys. Partly sunny and 16 on top of Allegany Mountain. Visiting with FifeMom, so Dad can go shopping. Brought her 3 bags of birdie seed, so her "kids" can stock up before the big front moves in overnight.
Bathroom remod got a slow start, as I only got all the doodads off the walls. Lots of shoddy drywall work to try and correct. Will try and prep and mud the walls and ceiling over the next couple days. Plus, I can use the excess mud on the new scenery section in the train room. Ain't I smart?
Still cold here but we are used to it by now. They say Sunday it may be above freezing.
Well I did okay. Got by and around getting kitchen and bathroom cabinet knobs for 14 years till today. Finally caved in to wifey and now she is happy. So when she told me this morning she had a knob job for me I thought humm, well 29 knobs later,,,, I am done.
I did not know Texas is the only state in the lower 48 with their own power grid. Seems that is a large part of the issue from what I have seen They can't get power from elsewere?
Good evening all,
Much more shoveling tonight along the street where the plows have piled it up and packed it down. Ugh. Finally cleared a spot for one vehicle to park. If plows come thru again, I will chase them down and have them reclear what I shoveled out. Been 15+ years since we have had this much snow and I do not miss it one bit. Global warming......right..... Work was a bear today as well. Ugh. I hope everyone has a good day.
KRM I did not know Texas is the only state in the lower 48 with their own power grid. Seems that is a large part of the issue from what I have seen They can't get power from elsewere?
Texas' power grid is networked with Oklahoma and Louisiana, but the problem right now is the whole area's been slammed and no-one has any excess power to sell.
There's an interesting discussion on the "Trains" magazine Forum under "General Discussion" about the Texas power problem if anyone wants to look in. Lots of good entrys from the participants, they actually know what they're talking about!
Mornin' boys. Snohizo and 23 along the Patterson Creek cut-off. Waiting for courier to call, for work related matter. Not looking forward to traveling into town.
Grandmom back home. She enjoyed her time with the new grandson. They got new carpet in 3 rooms yesterday. It's one of those great smells, isn't it?
Good morning all!
Still have power! Temps moderating to teens and 20's. One more day and we start to climb outta da freezer!
All doing well here. We have 6 at the house. Daughter and SIL apartment has power now but the complex cut the water and will bring it on carefully to make sure any broken pipes do not cause a lot of damage.
Sister and her husband in Houston got their power back yesterday afternoon.
33 and very light rain. Had a strong pour down earlier for about 5 minutes. Had some icing in pines next door. Just got out of virtual Human Services Regional Networks meeting [I'm chair]. Need to look outside.
Listen to this. State Health Plan for employees changed from United Health Care [had for years] to Humana. Vision Ins. and Dental Ins. is United Health Care. Went to eye DR. Usually do exam and glasses at same visit. Can't do now. Have to make two visits or double co-pay. STUPID Going back at 1 to do glasses.
CBS news really blasted Texas power grid. Didn't winterize. 25% solar and wind [now not working]. Natural gas plants but coal backup which didn't go on line. Even without storm, not enough power to go around.
Hope all stay warm and safe.
V8VegaNaturally ABC TV news came up with as much negative as they could about Rush Limbaugh.
No surprise. Even though the man's dead they still fear him, which would have delighted him.
The AP storys (among others) I've read about Rush are editorials, not obituarys or biographys.
For an honest appraisal of the man check the conservative press or Fox News.
By the way, I haven't listened to Rush in years. At one point around 2010 or so I lost all interest in political talk radio, like someone flipped a switch in my head. But I'll say this much, in all the years I listened to him he never lied to me. That speaks volumes, as far as I'm concerned.
DJSpanky If I have nothing good to say about someone who passed, then I don't post and denigrate that person because I didn't like them, didn't agree with their opinions or whatever.
Thanks Spank. Some days I wonder if the world's running out of adults. You just proved they're not extinct.
For the life of me I just can not understand people who do this. There are a lot of people that have passed that I did absolutely not agree with on almost anything but I would not do that kind of stuff.
Remember the Veterans. Past, present and future.
www.sd3r.org
Proud New Member Of The NRA
Got a litttle bit more snow. Did shovel some more as well. City in its wisdom a few years ago mandated these big bins on wheels. Fine when the weather is good, not so fine when the shovel path is not big enough to let them roll thru. Spent over 3 hours with coworker and others trying to resolve a software problem created by a certain agency's requirements and our internal mechanism for obtaining said software. It is a real SNAFU. I hope everyone has a good day.
Mornin' boys. Weather is clearing out of the Alleghanies, and heading for New Jersey. Woke up to 4 deer at the bird feeder. Took a quick vid for Wifey, who tends to miss the wildlife.
Did meet up with the lab courier, who managed to strike a guardrail out on I68 during his rounds. Came home to shovel drive, and now my lower back is a bit stiff. Getting older, and fatter.
Did chisel and scrape out the bad spots on the bathroom remod, but after sanding, was too pooped to apply drywall mud.
Good morning. Slept till 8. Was 32 when I got up and light rain. Must have had a good shower before I got up. we have 1.57 on the weather station. 34 and warming. still some ice in the neighbor's pine trees. Nothing else has ice. Getting ready to go get 2nd shot.Today Show showing the horrible things in Texas. Houses solid blocks of ice inside due to water pipes. Sad. Some people in charge of power grid need to pay.
Buckeye, Happy Birthday [we guess]. As usual, presents in the mail. According to guessers, we are headed for warmer and DRY weather. Have a great day. Stay well and warm.
Afternoon all!
Snowhizo starting to melt. Daughter and SIL informed by their apartment mngt that water should be back on by 3-4 pm today. We should be back to just the 3 of us, down from 6 + dog, tonight. Missus looking forward to "normal" here at the hacienda...
Buckeye - Happy B-Day?
Still feeling a bit better or at least level each day. Its slow but its a blessing!
Son did an excursion and streets are clearing - but the melt will freeze tonight around 6-7 pm into something treacherous.
Shelves at the grocery stores are bare...glad we stocked up well in advance.
Re the Texas grid and power outages. Ignore what you hear on the news or the internet. A lot of it is oversimplified, being penned by unknowledgeable dummies, and trying to pin any one item is impossible.
The short reality it is the power generation companies failed miserably. This is not in the news in any significant way. Every single generator in TX - wind, solar, gas, coal, and nuclear experienced partial loss or complete loss of capacity due to the extreme cold.
Why - because our "open" market is a joke and the scheme forces generators to skimp. The governor is trying to pin it all on ERCOT, which is a non-profit umbrella shell that attempts to coordinate all the independent power generators for the energy they push into the TX grid (the grid in N Texess is operated by ONCOR). A tough job since each generator does not really know from year-to-year how many customers will sign up with them. Why is the governor blaming ERCOT - cause ERCOT does not really lobby and provide contributions to politicians campaigns. If the politicians attack the generating companies, then they will reduce political contributions.
It is always about money in politicians/business people's pockets.
A secondary issue is ONCOR rarely implement rolling blackouts. The substation switchgear operated by ONCOR rarely gets exercised, is aging (some is over 50 yrs old), and guess what? - failed in the cold temps (we all know extreme cold or heat causes failures not normally seen). So they tried rolling blackouts - the switchgear switched off an area - and then it would not reconnect. If you watched the news - even though almost every single generation capability/plant experienced some level of failure - due to inability to reconnect portions of the grid - ERCOT was telling generators to SHED significant load (in one case Wed night - 64 MegaWs!) as there was no place for it to go. Coupled with other equipment and line failures in neighborhoods (ah - alot more aging equipment), the diaster was compounded even if your neighborhood as a whole was not blacked out).
Further - these extreme cold events are regular here, not rare. About every 5-10 years. In the past, prior to 2011 (the last really big cold snap) and prior to our corrupt "open" market scheme - we did not experience this level of issue. The state has overbuilt residential/business and no significant generation added. It takes 10 years to build new gas generation. A bit less for solar and wind. There will be no solution forthcoming.
The solutions/legislation attemped after the 2011 mess was made toothless (ah - the crooked politcians/lobbyists) by changing rules into suggestions.
So the politicians will squeal and everyone will forget until the next time as usual.
Hello there, Roy.....continued Prayers. Glad you're doing ok with the cold. Don't watch news much but saw some crazy stuff in Texas. Got about 7 inches of snohio Monday into Tuesday with 1/4 inch of ice on top of it. Then 4 more Wednesday night to this morning. Just enough to keep it interesting. Whole clan spent a couple hours sledding and snowmobiling Tuesday. Probably do it again soon. Not much progress again on kitchen, dealing with the snohio. Did get the cabinet removed ready for the dishwasher and scrubbed most of the cabinets. Hope the dishwasher shows soon. Watching a bit of TV, off to bed soon. Prayers for those in need and the end of this pandemic.
Banks, Proud member of the OTTS TCA 12-67310
Mornin' boys. Blustery 22 along the Patterson Creek cut-off. All my girls are among us this weekend, as well as the three grandsons. Curly-top already has the toy baskets scattered on the den floor (and that's where they'll be til tomorrow night). We'll run trains several times, to be sure.
Good morning from the Valley. Thank you Roy for remembering. We can always count on you.I had a wonderful day spending time at the Roundhouse taking photos of the Chief Mechanic ultrasonic testing the boiler thickness on No. 19 for the 15 year FRA inspection. Afterwards I roamed the 18 stall roundhouse and back shop taking more photos. The facility manager and I discussed the checking situation in the wood trusses.
Celebrating 18 years on the CTT Forum.
Buckeye Riveter......... OTTS Charter Member, a Roseyville Raider and a member of the CTT Forum since 2004..
Jelloway Creek, OH - ELV 1,100 - Home of the Baltimore, Ohio & Wabash RR
TCA 09-64284
Buckeye - Make a suggestion that the museum offer up scrap pieces of #19 for fundraising. I would certainly buy a little piece of movie history. Oh, and happy birthday.
40 and sunny. Strong breeze. Wind chill is lower. Slept till 9. Coffee and a chocolate iced cream filled from Krispy Kreme. Sat and watched TV [home improvement shows] with Wifey. Now to get moving. Feel fine now after 2nd shot. Yesterday about an hour after, I felt a little dizzy "off center". Got better as time pasted. Went in Train Box and ran Lionel diesel that Mike Reagan fixed. Then set up aux water tender for N&W J he had put Legacy control board in. Makes back coupler and backup light work.
Actually I was informed I needed to drive Miss Daisy.
Enjoy your day.
Spank, we live in Virginia, about 18 miles west of Richmond. Anything you need to know just ask, we'll answer as best we can.
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