The T.V. News here in the U.K. shows a sorry picture of the current weather pattern in vast parts of the U.S.
I know you get far more snow in some parts than we ever get here in the U.K. in a normal winter but what we're seeing looks far worse than normal.
How is it affecting the rail systems. Over here it is a sad joke when we get 2'' of snow and everything grinds to a halt.
I guess if you're stuck in you perhaps can get some modelling done
Lets pray that the weather soon improves for you all
Regards Colin Cambridge U.K.
Wish I could say that I was hunkering in the basement, working on my trains. But we got our big snow over the weekend, so the roads are all plowed and salted. The power outage in East Moline missed affecting my office. And my car is in a garage so I don't have problems getting it started in the morning.
All of which means; it's just another work week!
I have figured out what is wrong with my brain! On the left side nothing works right, and on the right side there is nothing left!
-1° F here this morning, wind chill of -20° . Schools closed but otherwise life goes on. Just carrying more firewood and adding another layer of clothing.
Just gives me more excuses to go hide down the basement where the trains & the stove are!
Karl
NCE über alles!
I'm in Massachusetts. Yesterday, it was 56 degrees F, and today will be about 16 for a high. Neither is normal, but wacky temperatures and wild weather swings are something we've come to expect here. So far, we've kept our power and the house has stayed warm. The snow we've had has come on weekends, so there was little impact and it got cleared quickly, and it's been followed by enough warm weather that most roofs and driveways are completely clear of snow.
A typical response of our government, though, is for the Governor to get on the media and tell everyone to stay off the roads and take public transportation. This is usually followed by an announcement that the subways and commuter rail would be shutting down early for the duration of the storm.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Its -8 here with wind chill of -41..
I have not heard a NS train this morning.
As for me..I'm hunked down inside and haven't stepped nary a foot outside since Sunday..I shall stay warm in my "bunker" another 24 hours when the temptures will start warming up until then I have no reasons to venture forth into the deep freeze..
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
You ask how we deal with it? VERY carefully.
It is -9F here now, and the high will be 7F. the wind chill factor makes it -26 below 0 F.
A passenger train is stuck in snow drifts about 5 foot high outside Chicago, Illinois.
Other train routes have been cancelled.
Air traffic in some areas has been cancelled and in some cases halted all together, In one case at least, the DE-ICER stuff itself FROZE!
WE have the water dripping to keep pipes form freezing, Hot water will actually freeze before cold water does!
We have set our thermostat up 5 F degrees higher than normal. We have an electric heater heating the bathroom to avoid forzen pipes again. Electic heater under the kitchen sink too.
The sun is out now, and the high will be 7 degrees F. Right now it is -9 degrees F. WE are WARM compared to the MID-WEST USA!
We dress with multiple layers of clothes- t-shirt, fannel shirt, Microfleece shirt, Micro fleece line coat on top {4 layers at least}, and long john underwear under pants and underwear{making it 3 layers at least}! Scarf for the neck, scarf for the face, and hats and gloves- two pair a knited pair and a leather fuzz-lined top glove.
If the car starts, I need warm up and slow starting when driving til all the fluids warm up.
THAT is how we deal with the cold!
THe UK may not be as cold, or get as much sn*w, but I have heard you guys are getting worse than normal for you, too.
SO, prayers for those who are OUT in the cold!
-G .
Just my thoughts, ideas, opinions and experiences. Others may vary.
HO and N Scale.
After long and careful thought, they have convinced me. I have come to the conclusion that they are right. The aliens did it.
Things aren't too bad here in the western US near Reno Nevada 23 degrees right now high expected about 51. We got hit hard with the cold in early December. The one morning Reno was -11 and Winnemucca was -26. Had about 10 days of bitterly cold. Not sure how much snow has fallen in the Sierras so far, just a few inches here in the valleys. I live about 90 minutes from Donner Pass and there the average seasonal snowfall there is around 250". I think UP deals with things quite well, I haven't heard anything about them using rotary plows in a number of years.
Mark H
Modeling in HO...Reading and Conrail together in an alternate history.
I recognize that it is nothing compared with the much of the rest of the nation (and the first 18 years of my life were in snow country), but this morning's temperature of 18 degrees has set an all-time low for North Myrtle Beach, SC. The old record was broken by 3 degrees. It is not supposed to get above freezing all day today, and that is unusual.
There is a small cross-over to modeling, as I am at a step where I need to spray-paint some things. This is a "rattle can" project and I normally spray things out in the back yard. With the wind and the cold, that spray paint step will likely need to wait for another day. It is supposed to be nearly 70 degrees by Saturday....
Bill
It is 3 degrees here with a windchill of -21.Already been out for my monthly visit to the lab.I'm staying in the rest of the day trying to stay warm.I'm used to this weather as I have lived in Michigan most of my almost 69 years.
Southeastern Wisconsin, temp. is -13, wind chill of -30 or -40 something, about 12" of snow on the ground, lots of blowing and drifting. It's the 2rd day of this, started to drop Sunday pm. I'm in and out, as usual, used to work in this stuff, grinding concrete walls, as it was too cold to pour outside. I'm spending most of my time in my basement, where it's always warm and sunny, and trains are running (I sure love this retirement thing!) Getting lots of detail work done.
Chatter on my scanner, which is in the window on my second floor office seams normal. I get CN's Waukesha sub, WSOR in and out of Milwaukee, UP's Adams sub. I seen in the news that Amtrak is having some trouble in the Chicago area, and Amtrak's Hiawatha Service, which runs back and forth from Chicago to Milwaukee, about 5 or more times a day, is cutting down on some runs, which has some local commuters up in arms.
The sun is shining, and by Friday they are saying 34 degrees!
Thats all from here!
Mike.
My You Tube
I am in southeast Michigan, and it is -13 degrees F, and with the wind chill it feels like -36 degrees F. Very cold, but I continue model railroading and progress on my layout. Stay warm and safe.
My Layout Photos- http://s1293.photobucket.com/user/ajwarshal/library/
I think most of us are staying inside as much as possible. It's a good time to work on model railroads and try not to think about our next heating bill.
As for the railroads, winter weather can cause ice to form in switch points, and workers sometimes have to break the ice. Trains are delayed when they can not go through the switches. Some switches are equiped with heaters to keep the points free of ice.
GARRY
HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR
EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU
Yesterday schools were closed because the temperature was in the 40's and raining on the snowpack on the roads, washing off the sand about as fast as they put it on. As a school bus driver with a lot of dirt roads I was very glad to get the call at 5:20 for no school.
This AM it is 0, had school, no problems. As Mr B said this up and down temperature thing isn't normal, but becoming more frequent. Really screws up the roads, mud, frozen, mud, frozen, makes for some nasty ruts.
The other part of my life is feeding a few beef cattle. Yesterday where there had been packed snow was pretty icy. Otherwise things were OK. Problem is the critters got wet, then the temperature drop and wind overnight. That's much harder on them than the cold, as they are out all the time and have good coats. In most weather they don't use the shelter, cold rain with wind they do.
Today I will go out and start the tractor, it's on a timer to the block heater for 3 hours. While it warms up the motor oil and hydraulics (15-30 min) I will come back in and put coveralls on over everything else (pants, longies, t-shirt, shirt, vest and jacket). If it were a little warmer I'd forgo the coveralls or jacket, depending on what I was going to do later. If it were colder or windier, I'd go for the insulated coveralls. Todays knit hat will cover all but my eyes (and fog up my glasses) and due to the wind I'll put something wind proof over it. Lined rubber boots and heavy mittens that flip back so my fingers can grab the strings to remove them from the large bales. Last will be the ear muffs for sound protection, but they also hold hats on in the wind and protect the ears.
I should bring in a little firewood after feeding, if I'm not frozen by then. The workbench is next to the wood stove in the cellar, so a good place to think about spending the day until PM bus time. Currently working on a balky turnout.
Have seen it much colder, not bad when it's calm, but when the wind picks up the chill factor can be brutal. Spent a year at Thule AB, Greenland, went out at wind chill -180. Sure wish I still had the outfit that I wore that day, toasty, but foggy glasses were a real problem.
Timer should have the tractor warmed enough to start, so off to work.
Best of luck to all of you that are having weather that is super abnormal for your area.
Richard
Two Amtrak trains are stuck in a snowdrift in Mendota, Illinois, and others around the Chicago area have been cancelled.
But out here in Arizona the skies are clear and daily temperatures are in the 60's F (20 degrees C) or warmer, depending on where you are.
A heck of a lot better than Amtrak is doing.
Charlie
The temp near Niagara Falls, NY is around 3 degrees F. the winds are blowing around 40 mph but we did not get any snow last night. However, if you travel just south of Buffalo they could get up to 2 plus feet of snow.
The Long Island Rail Road brought in extra crews to deal with possible rail breaks due to the cold
Joe Staten Island West
Sunshine today here in the Maritimes, now it's snowing, now it's sunny etc etc etc, 2 feet of snow(60cm) with 2.5 inches of carbon hardened ice and more snow on top, Oh, and it melted yesterday and now everything is solid ice, Now that Canadaland is metric, I cannot understand American weathercasters referring to negative numbers, is that negative below 32 degrees or negative below zero which means nothing in F., and if a temperature is negative, then is 17F. positive??? Even I can understand Celsius numbers, it's either above or below freezing.
At any rate when it's really, really really cold and windy, it's cold in C. or F. And please, no more hot water thrown in the air, it really works, stop it !
Train room is on third floor. Is heated.
Cat house is outside my window, is heated, but still very cold. I brought the old cat (18yrs) inside, because I can no longer climb up the ladder to clean the cat poop. At least here in my office I can see it and clean it up without a problem.
My office is a bit chilly, as it has no heat source other than the computers and servers. If it gets up to 30 degrees outside, I'll have to turn on the air conditioning. Below 30 a little vent does just fine. Below -10 the vent can be uncomfortable since it cannot be closed off to the wind drafts. What the Heck.... If I can not work at my computer, I can always go up to the train room.
We have our own power generator, so outages are not an issue for us. We have coal heat, so frozen coal can be a problem. There can be 15 tons of coal in the bin, but if it will not fall down into the auger what good is it? I have long advocated heating the coal tank, but our maint dept is more frugal than that, so forzen coal bridges remain a fact of life.
PS: The younger cat is still in the outdoor cat house. She at least can find the litter box.
ROAR
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
Colin, by staying in out of it..
Marlon
See pictures of the Clinton-Golden Valley RR
CPPedler,
Here in the ''Burbs'' of ''Chiberia'' it is 2 from -9 yesterday, by the way that was three Amtrak trains stranded. Most air flights that were cancelled, were due to icy fuel.
Wind Chill Warning in effect from 5:00 am EST on January 7, 2014/ through 12:00 PM CST on January 07, 2014....Wind chill warning remains in effect until noon CST /1 PM EST/ today...* dangerously cold and potentially life threatening wind chills will occur this morning.* Wind chills...30 to 35 below zero through mid morning.* Frost bite and hypothermia can occur in a matter of minutes.* Temperatures...9 to 15 below zero through mid morning.Precautionary/preparedness actions...A wind chill warning means the wind will combine with very cold air to create dangerously low wind chill values. This will result in frost bite and lead to hypothermia or death if precautions are not taken. Bring pets indoors.Need I say more?
Frank
A reliable source tells me the BNSF rotary snow plow is headed for Galesburg/Mendota IL to clear the line for Amtrak and other trains. There are some cuts on that former CB&Q line that I can imagine would likely fill with fine snow given the cold and high winds -- a fine snow mixed with fine dirt from the farm fields can become almost rock-like.
I wonder when the last domestic rotary snow plow was built in this country.
The highest temp we recorded at our house yesterday was -11 F, which is about -24 C, and the winds were very strong. I went out a few times to fill bird feeders, get the paper, get the mail. But apart from that I sat down at the workbench and attended to projects that have sat there for a while, including a Roco 6-axle flat car in an attractive, if perhaps not totally prototypical, New York Central paint scheme. I think the actual prototype for the car is DODX. It should not be too difficult to add KD couplers (famous last words). I think it is a nice looking car, just a little different from the run of the mill flatcars on my layout.
Oddest event of the afternoon - a tiny detail part (rear view mirror for a truck model) in tweezers went flying beyond the workbench, where it got caught in a spider's web of all things. When I went to retrieve the part, the rather formidable spider appeared and looked ready to fight me over it! I try to have a peace treaty with the basement spiders (except on the layout) on the theory that if they aren't starving to death they are doing more good than harm. But this guy crossed the line so it was his (more likely, her) last afternoon.
Dave Nelson
Last week on the Maine mid-coast, temps were single didgets or below zero F which froze eveything solid. I had to wear my boots with the ice grippers al week when I was walking the dog just to be sure I kept upright. The prior weekend we had rain that turned to sleet and freezing rain - coated everything causing a lot of power outages inland. After the storm, it warmed for a day and they had to close the Penobscot Narrows bridge, near Bucksport, because chunks of the size of basketballs were falling off the cables. 2 cars were hit so bad they were totaled and many were damaged. The closure required a 50 mile detour up through Bangor and back
Last saturday we started the day with cold temps then a low pressure system passed to the west of us, putting us on the warm side of the storm. Heavy rain overnight melted a lot of snow and ice, and sunday went almost to 50F. I finally cleared the last of the deck of ice. Temps droped back to around 15F Monday morning but the sun was out. Like MrB and Cowman said, a weather roller coaster! Fair and cold for the rest of the week, but more freezing rain expected for Saturday.
George In Midcoast Maine, 'bout halfway up the Rockland branch
Was -23F yesterday (air temperature, not wind chill) when we left for work yesterday in St.Paul Minnesota. Governor Dayton announced over the weekend that all state schools would be closed Monday and Tuesday due to the dangerous temperatures - but I guess it's OK for us state workers to try to make it in. Last I checked, it was up to 2F.
Really, if you're not out in the wind, it isn't that bad. In the winter here when it's really cold it's because of a high pressure cell, so the sky is perfectly clear and sunny - and it's dry. When it's below zero, the humidity can get as low as in a desert.
Heartland Division CB&QIt's a good time to work on model railroads and try not to think about our next heating bill.
"A good time" and "our next heating bill" don't belong in the same sentence. The oil man left my place about 30 minutes ago. Let's see: 222 gallons at $4.249/gallon. There goes this month's hobby money.
Sunday morning going to my clubs show the road I had to go on was closed due to ice. Had to detour 15 miles. Went home from the show worried about black ice on the roads.
Monday morning I walked my dog wearing Jeans and a T shirt, 56 degrees. Later that day I couldn't walk on my driveway as the ice was 1/2" thick
Today I went and paid my school tax and worked on the layout at my towns museum. 8 degrees now
The last three days my woodstove and my wood pellet stove were on high and never shut down.
Tomorrow it may get up to 12 degrees. Wednesdays are meeting nights at the club, An hours drive away.
The weather doesn't bother me. A tornado might but not the temperature
In my part of southeast Michigan it got a few degrees above zero today according to my outdoor thermometer. Last night's low was -12. I've spent some time in the basement this afternoon in the train room and realized I was getting pretty darn cold. While the basement is finished, insulated and heated it does have two walkout entrances in rooms on either side of the train room. There's some amount of glass that lets the cold seep in. I'm thinking it's an evening for some upstairs activities.
At least the snow stopped Monday. We got about a foot from the storm.
George V.