"Green" Model Railroading

[selector]

Should have bought oil futures... how ironic would that be?

Lee 

Gold might have been a good guess, too.

-Crandell

[selector]

For those modeling the transition era and earlier, auto junk yards were the "original" recyclers!!  Paper has been recycled for many years - I remember the boy scouts/cub scouts "paper drives" from my childhood in the '50's.  Rubber was recycled big time during WWII.  Of course - those in the transition era and later could model a chemical factory with a green/blue/orange/ purple/ plaid river running by - the colors being downstream from the plant - and don't forget to make the "street side" pristine!!

Actually, the original recyclers were the people that stripped the pyrimids and Greek and Roman buildings of their stone and marble to build other structures.

We probably should include grave robbers right up there, too.

[Flyboy41]

BTW, the CSX ad states that it takes One Gallon of fuel to move One Ton of freight 493 miles...

Yeah, that was it! Hadn't seen the ad in a while.

Maybe Malibu should start selling hybrid vehicles for our layouts? I wouldn't mind having a model of the hydrogen fuel cell locos they're experimenting with.
(keeping it on topic...)

 

Didn't GE come out with a hybrid locomotive demonstrator? I thought I saw it and it looked pretty cool. On my future big layout I plan on having a recycling plant and possibly a "clean" coal power plant. There's a TV commercial produced by the coal industry that has a rendering of a clean coal plant. It looks awesome and easy to model. 

[loathar]

BTW, the CSX ad states that it takes One Gallon of fuel to move One Ton of freight 493 miles...

Yeah, that was it! Hadn't seen the ad in a while.

Maybe Malibu should start selling hybrid vehicles for our layouts? I wouldn't mind having a model of the hydrogen fuel cell locos they're experimenting with.
(keeping it on topic...)

[lvanhen]

How about this for recycling - GOLD!!  They say that even the Pharoh's gold is in jewlry being worn today - make something valuable & it always gets re-used!!

[wm3798]

Here's the CSX advert...

That should clear it up...

Lee 

[Jimmydieselfan]

The green on my layout is the lush forested hills of West Virginia, which my railroad has been assigned the task of hauling to the sea, one hopper car at time...

BTW, the CSX ad states that it takes One Gallon of fuel to move One Ton of freight 493 miles...

If you figure a typical diesel truck has a 100 gallon tank, a capacity of 20 tons, and a range of 300 miles, that translates to about 60 miles per ton/gallon for said truck.

Lee 

I'm pretty sure it's one gallon to move one ton 423 miles. 

An easier way too see this is a 5000 ton train uses 5000 gallons of fuel to go 423 miles.

 

[HEdward]

. . . the Kyoto farce, . . .by the tree hugging fruit loops.  . . .a certian algore jr claimed would save the planet. . .The latest green lunacy. . .and other hippie hang outs.  . . . Smelly, unwashed protesters

Wow, am I in a model train forum?

As a looney,froot loop, green, smelly, unwashed, hippy who loves trees and voted for Mr Gore I'd like to (again) suggest that we stick to model trains.  Take this other nonsense to Rush Limbaugh's site or something.

 Doug

 

Actually Doug, I was a charter member of the WABC radio//Hannity forums and my original Global Warming post was the first to go to over ten pages.  It got heavily quoted on radio/tv and outright stolen from in a certian newspaper.  I only stand for truth.  Ethanol burns a hydro-carbon and contributes CO2 to the atmosphere just like gasoline so there is nothing green about it.  I love trees, but I also earn my money and don't need some VP to come along in 1993 and pass a retro-active tax increase on ALL working people.  BTW-Rush's site, last I was there, didn't have a forum and you sour hippies really need to lighten up.

[HEdward]

I can only imagine where this thread is going to go!

You know, Dave, Brazil is the worlds largest grower of sugar cane and their ethanol - they have, for practical purposes, been almost gasoline-free for better than twenty years - is distilled from what is left over after pure sugar has been refined. Neither humans nor livestock eat sugar cane; such cannot be said of corn.

... Kyoto farce...  ...tree hugging fruit loops...  ...green lunacy... ...hippie...  ...Smelly, unwashed protesters...

I'm one of those crazy hybrid car owners...  laughing all the way to the bank when I make my twice-monthly trip to the gas station to fill my tank at less than $35 a pop. 

HIPPIE!!!!

[Cornboy]

. . . the Kyoto farce, . . .by the tree hugging fruit loops.  . . .a certian algore jr claimed would save the planet. . .The latest green lunacy. . .and other hippie hang outs.  . . . Smelly, unwashed protesters

Wow, am I in a model train forum?

As a looney,froot loop, green, smelly, unwashed, hippy who loves trees and voted for Mr Gore I'd like to (again) suggest that we stick to model trains.  Take this other nonsense to Rush Limbaugh's site or something.

 Doug

 

[wm3798]

Should have bought oil futures... how ironic would that be?

Lee 

[Dave Vollmer]

Oh, thanks, Dave... Now I hate you.

M. T. Pockets 

Yeah, well...  Most of the money ended up in the stock market...  How'd that work out for me, you ask?

[wm3798]

Oh, thanks, Dave... Now I hate you.

M. T. Pockets 

[Dave Vollmer]

Are you on your way to the bank to make your $500 monthly payment?

Lee 

Nope!  Bought my Prius with cash in January 2006...  Seems I sold my house in Florida in 2005 for more than twice what I paid for it in 2002!  Oh yeah, and the kids' college accounts are taken care of.  The housing boom was fun while it lasted!

[wm3798]

Are you on your way to the bank to make your $500 monthly payment?

Lee 

[Dave Vollmer]

I can only imagine where this thread is going to go!

You know, Dave, Brazil is the worlds largest grower of sugar cane and their ethanol - they have, for practical purposes, been almost gasoline-free for better than twenty years - is distilled from what is left over after pure sugar has been refined. Neither humans nor livestock eat sugar cane; such cannot be said of corn.

... Kyoto farce...  ...tree hugging fruit loops...  ...green lunacy... ...hippie...  ...Smelly, unwashed protesters...

I'm one of those crazy hybrid car owners...  laughing all the way to the bank when I make my twice-monthly trip to the gas station to fill my tank at less than $35 a pop. 

[wm3798]

The green on my layout is the lush forested hills of West Virginia, which my railroad has been assigned the task of hauling to the sea, one hopper car at time...

BTW, the CSX ad states that it takes One Gallon of fuel to move One Ton of freight 493 miles...

If you figure a typical diesel truck has a 100 gallon tank, a capacity of 20 tons, and a range of 300 miles, that translates to about 60 miles per ton/gallon for said truck.

Lee 

[HEdward]

Be green, change the date of your railroad to March 17th of whatever year.  If you've been modeling the autumn or winter, too bad for you.   Main Street needs a St. Patricks Day Parade.

[HEdward]

I can only imagine where this thread is going to go!

You know, Dave, Brazil is the worlds largest grower of sugar cane and their ethanol - they have, for practical purposes, been almost gasoline-free for better than twenty years - is distilled from what is left over after pure sugar has been refined. Neither humans nor livestock eat sugar cane; such cannot be said of corn.

Brazil, which by the way is exempt from the terms of the Kyoto farce, grows cane by first clear cutting large areas of the Amazon JUNGLE.  This area has always been called the "lungs of the Earth" by the tree hugging fruit loops.  Oddly, it is only when an American President visits Brazil that the eco-terrorist types show up down there.  China, now number one in not only coal burning, but in every type of pollution, is likewise exempt from the terms of the agreement that a certian algore jr claimed would save the planet. 

The latest green lunacy, mandating cleaner running locomotives on the railroads.  As always, to make them run efficiently has been the goal of the builder and the operators from the start.  So anti-pollution devices, that invariably cut fuel economy, will soon be showing up on your fleet.  If not visibly, then a sticker on the loco informing the world that it has been brought up to compliance.

Green layout features could include solar panels on roofs of the art store, second hand books seller and other hippie hang outs.  A small windmill on every home.  Smelly, unwashed protesters in front of your heavy industry.  Scratching the word, "hybrid" on the automobiles in your autoracks.  Lastly, change the sign on your model Exxon station to read, 9.79.9 a gallon for Diesel.  that should make your green visitors so very very proud of you.

[mononguy63]

Railroading has always been a heavy user of one of the most-recycled materials out there - steel. Steel was being recycled long before recycling became fashionable. It's not at all inconceivable that a little bit of an old ten-wheeler that once pulled settlers across the frontier now resides in my washing machine or that old beater parked in my driveway.

[MAbruce]

And here I thought that this topic was going to be about modeling the BN.

[WP 3020]

 I plan to include a few industries on Ntrak and onetrak modules. One will be for the converting of vegetation destroying things into nutrition enriching products. Another will be for the process of converting things that "caused global warming" into soil enrichment for worms, bugs and daisies (along with plots of land dedicated to the displaying of plaques and monuments indicating just how long the things spent "causing global warming"). If you haven't figured it out, the first industry is a slaughter house and second is a mortuary with a cemetery.

 When working on construction sites, or other places, I have always kept an eye out for things headed to the dump or burn pile that could be useful. Ask permission, be safe and don't make it tough for the next guy. The next guy could be you. Just try your best to keep your hobby fun and relaxing for yourself and others involved in it as well. As I have said before,"Some day in the future, this generation might be looked back upon as doing crazy and idiotic things. But alas we didn't do it for not, because Just like people thousands of years before us, who scared off a mighty dragon trying to swallow the Sun... Oh, that was just a natural cycle of nature called a solar eclipse." Conserving energy and being more efficient isn't bad or idiotic thing if you just be wise, think it through and be practical about it.

[John Busby]

Technically, the only way to be a green model railroader would be to NOT be a model railroader at all since our hobby is unnecessary and could be deemed a waste of natural resources and energy.
Wonder how many barrels of oil our hobby uses up world wide every year?

R.T.-I bet Al would know what a phosphate mine looked like...

But how much stuff do we recycle and reuse two and three times?

Or are we just lazy and go and buy our foam and new stuff every time we re build our railways

How much would be just land fill if we did not use it, our hobby is a little bit greener than is implied.

How many of us have used what would otherwise just be rubish a fair few of us I would wager. 

I have some trains that where made before I was born and have been through two of my layouts and at least one of some one elses hardly a waste of resourses.

regards John Busby

[John Busby]

Hi Packer

Easy one gallon of fuel will move a 5000 ton train one mile.

They have boffins to do the maths that would be beyond any one who does not have a university degree.

Besides you are looking at about four trucks off the roads for every loaded freight car.

Eighty cars about the length of a train in my area thats a lot of trucks off the road

regards John Busby

[Baghdad firefighter]

 With out trying to get to political I want to build some type of recycling plant/center on my layout also after reading about Bio diesel I'm looking at buying a set up for my home and thought it would be a good idea for my layout.

I do not know much about ethanol. But I'm for any thing that helps the American farmer. We have the greatest country in the world but we are putting our farmers out on the street. I have see farms both large and small up north and down south shut down and now are neighborhoods for city yuppies. Sorry this is a sore subject for me. We can feed the world but our farmers are loosing there farms.    

[tstage]

My New York Central depot is two-toned green.  Does that count?

Tom 

[loathar]

For those modeling the transition era and earlier, auto junk yards were the "original" recyclers!!  Paper has been recycled for many years - I remember the boy scouts/cub scouts "paper drives" from my childhood in the '50's.  Rubber was recycled big time during WWII.  Of course - those in the transition era and later could model a chemical factory with a green/blue/orange/ purple/ plaid river running by - the colors being downstream from the plant - and don't forget to make the "street side" pristine!!

Actually, the original recyclers were the people that stripped the pyrimids and Greek and Roman buildings of their stone and marble to build other structures.

[loathar]

Technically, the only way to be a green model railroader would be to NOT be a model railroader at all since our hobby is unnecessary and could be deemed a waste of natural resources and energy.
Wonder how many barrels of oil our hobby uses up world wide every year?

R.T.-I bet Al would know what a phosphate mine looked like...

[lvanhen]

For those modeling the transition era and earlier, auto junk yards were the "original" recyclers!!  Paper has been recycled for many years - I remember the boy scouts/cub scouts "paper drives" from my childhood in the '50's.  Rubber was recycled big time during WWII.  Of course - those in the transition era and later could model a chemical factory with a green/blue/orange/ purple/ plaid river running by - the colors being downstream from the plant - and don't forget to make the "street side" pristine!!

[R. T. POTEET]

With a huge shot of luck I'll be a billionaire in green industry .

I didn't know Al Gore was on the forum??

The only "green" in my train world is ground foam.
I believe the CSX commercial says 500 tons/gallon/mile.(not 5000)
Glad somebody else brought up the point about the not so green ethanol...

Just to set the record straight....

http://www.snopes.com/quotes/internet.asp

 

  Of course he is; he invented the internet after all, where else would he be ? 

I have never had any doubt whatsoever that Al Gore could never have invented the internet!

Al G: Is that a tobacco plant over there?

Chauffer: No Mr V.P. That's a cement plant!