The north San Francisco bay area region suffered a major earthquake early this morning. We were jolted from a sound sleep at 3:20AM. The 6.0 shaker was centered as the crow flies about 15 miles SW of my home. City of Napa seems to have suffered the brunt of the damage and injuries.
Amtrak service is suspended for the day.
We're fortunate, cursory check shows no damage to our home. On the layout a couple cars rolled off an unprotected spur.
regards, Peter
The only time I experienced an earthquake was during a visit to Japan in 1988 - an experience I certainly can do without. Chances for an earthquake in my neck of the woods are close to nil, and I am glad for that.
Thank goodness you didn´t suffer any major harm or damage! Our thoughts are with the folks of the city of Napa or anybody else suffering losses!
Did Sonoma take any damage? I have some fond memories of what was then called the Sonoma Gaslight Railroad, a 1:4 scale outdoor operation, there. Hope it wasn't damaged.
Having spent two long tours in Mainland Japan I'm somewhat familiar with earthquakes. One took place in the evening while I was in the Base Library. Nice little jolt, which really startled a young lady who had obviously just arrived.
"What was that?!" she blurted, to which I replied, "Just an earthquake. Nothing serious."
The look she gave me was potentially lethal.
Later I learned that, at a point nearer the epicenter, a JNR catenary motor had been bounced sideways, ending up with every wheel about 200mm off the rails and the pantographs still in contact with the catenary, which remained standing, undamaged and hot.
Chuck
Cheers, the Bear.
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
Chuck,
Hope the local news reports are correct in saying that the city of Sonoma suffered little quake damage. It is now being reported that yesterday's quake is in the serious category, not major, though I would guess the category of quake would have little meaning to those injured.
I'm guessing the outdoor Sonoma railroad you speak of is the one at "Traintown"? Along with the railroad there are also a few amusement rides. I remember taking my grandsons to Traintown years ago for an afternoon of fun.
The local shortline railway is the California Northern, don't know if their line between Fairfield/Suisun and Napa suffered any damage. Also, don't know if the Napa tourist railway called the "Wine Train" was harmed.
Peter,
Glad to hear the imemdiate family and friends are OK. They said a billion in damages in the local paper. Sounds serious enough, but could have been far worse. Course you can always move somewhere else, but most all those places have their own regional disasters pending. We've got tornados here, but I've only caught a glimpse a time or two. Perched on the edge of the danger zone for the New Madrid Fault, so could get quakey here, I suppose. I've actually felt one we had here about 20 years ago. Life goes on. Here's to this being all the natural disaster you're due for awhile.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
As quakes go, not that bad but downtown Napa is a mess which is a shame as they were making alot progress in redoing the city (hey I have been in California most of my life and earthquakes do not scare me as they last so short a time, now major storms are another thing!) . Most of the damaged buildings are salvable but one whole historic block may not be. I was walking those very streets not long ago in the exact spots some of the brick rain hit, now that gives one a weird feeling.
The truly unfortunate thing about earthquakes is that the historical buildings always take the greatest hits. That's the biggest reason you don't see many old masonry buildings in California. The saddest part is that few of these buildings are actually knocked down by the quakes. The quakes usually just cause enough damage to make the buildings unstable and/or too costly to repair. Thus, these buildings usually have to be demolished. From a model railroader's point of view, this means that very few of the brick building kits available would be appropriate on a California themed layout, especially a modern layout.
Hornblower
mlehmanGlad to hear the imemdiate family and friends are OK.
Thanks Mike,
Ma Nature continues to expose our frailty when she unloads on us. Even so there is much that can be done in preparedness.
A Napa acquaintance had a hutch topple over during yesterday's shaker, lots of treasured china and crystal broken, but fortunately no one hurt. Earthquake country or not it's prudent to fasten top heavy objects to the wall in some secure manner. I covered an open train display case with a piece of plexiglass for just such an eventuality, though the cover was a multi-tasker at the time in keeping the treasured models away from curious little hands.
Sir MadogThank goodness you didn´t suffer any major harm or damage! Our thoughts are with the folks of the city of Napa or anybody else suffering losses!
Sir Madog,
Thanks for your concern. Parts of Napa are still digging out and cleaning up, but with resilient energy. The 18 mi. standard gauge tourist railway between Napa and St. Helena called the Napa Valley Wine Train resumes service today.