Natural gas costs are expected to jump nearly 71 percent

[Javern]

Natural gas costs are expected to jump nearly 71 percent in the Midwest this winter the result of hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico and increased consumer demands according to energy companies.

WHAT does this have to do with model railroading?? I happen to heat my train room with natural gas.....perhaps its time to install a wood stove or shut it down in the winter and work on it in the summer, opposite of what I do now

[grayfox1119]

Natural gas will not rise more than 25% this winter, but that is enough to bust many budgets, or cause more people to look for alternatives to heat their homes. Here in the Northeast, we are also looking at a colder and snowier winter than normal, so I have 3 cords of wood stacked ready as well as 3 tons of wood pellets for the Pellet burning stove. I am not waiting to see what might happen.
I want to run the trains in the winter, that is when there is nothing much to do outside, I'm sure not going to shut down operations at THAT time !! No way Jose !!

[Leon Silverman]

Your statement implies that your trainroom is independently heated and not tied into the whole house heating system. A wood stove cannot be started and shut down quickly. You might prefer turning the heat on only when you occupy the train room. My train room is a separate garage that has been insulated and drywalled. My 36,000 BTU propane heater heats the room (13.5 x 22) up (above 80 degrees) in only ten minutes. If your room is exposed to the outside, you might consider adding an insulating wall to its' outside to reduce heat loss. if the walls are uninsulated, but hollow, you might consider adding blown in insulation.

[csmith9474]

These are the times that make me glad that I live in base housing.

[Anonymous]

I guess I will have to be a little creative and run off my own.

Old Fart.

[Anonymous]

I expect at least 30% increase this winter. We have levelized billing so it should not hurt too much right away.

[csmith9474]

QUOTE: Originally posted by locomotive3

I guess I will have to be a little creative and run off my own.

Old Fart.

LOL @ Loco 3[(-D][(-D][bow][:O][:o)]

[Anonymous]

I heat my House, Shop, Garage and TOY room with an outside wood boiler. Baseboard, three zones in house, one each for the others. From now until this time next year (2006) I will burn about 35 cord of wood. (face cord) I will keep doing this as long as I can stand and stuff wood in the burner. Train room is always warm and dry, Dry even in summer, INSULATION is the KEY. Try sprayed on insulation, It's the Trains CHOO CHOO !!!!!!!!

[waltersrails]

Where are you getting your information?
If your going to post give us the source if you don't mind.

[1shado1]

QUOTE: Originally posted by grayfox1119

Natural gas will not rise more than 25% this winter

Perhaps where YOU are. But here in Wisconsin the power company has already told us to expect gas bills 40%+ higher this year than last year. Never thought I'd hear myself say that someone expecting a 25% increase is lucky![:D]

Jeff

[1shado1]

QUOTE: Originally posted by waltersrails

Where are you getting your information?
If your going to post give us the source if you don't mind.

Don't know if Javern knows the exact source, as I know I don't (I'm pretty sure it wasn't Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny though). [:D] But I have heard the exact same thing in various reports on various radio stations in the last few days.

Jeff

[Anonymous]

I think it's time for some intervention on this whole fossil fuel rip off we are all getting. What other market can raise prices because soemone may stub their toe. Even a rumor of a storm, war injuries etc, raises prices of oil, gas or all these other fuels. When I had a business, if I tried this kind of crap, they would have laughed and gone to a different competitor, unfortunately, you have an aslmost price fixing situation with gas, and are locked in to your utility company. What makes it worse, is the oil companies are reporting record profits, and utilities are allowed to make a certian % profit no matter what.

I am burning over this garbage [soapbox][soapbox]

[#oops] Sorry...

[rexhea]

I have heard it on both national and local news. Locally (Alabama), they are predicting at least 20% on the wholeside which could translate to double at retail.

David: I heard a pelican peed on a Gulf shore oil platform and raised the price of gas a nickel/gal. [(-D]

REX

[Javern]

I read it in USA Today

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/2005-09-08-energy-costs_x.htm

[JohnT14808]

Yes, gas prices will go up, but so will everything else as well. We have stopped going out to eat the once or twice a month we USED to go, because we have to go pretty far to get into town, so just getting there is not worth it. We have stopped making that quick trip to the market. I do all the shopping at Costco now on the way home and we try to leave my wife's car parked.
The County increased taxes County wide in March, so that's biting us now (second half is due the end of October.) The holidays and all the attendant expenses are just around the corner. It's going to be an inexpensive Christmas.
The school levy is coming due in February, right when it is going to be coldest and gas prices will be up, up, up then as well.
And, of course, going to the RR club house after work on Thursdays may have to quit as well, but we'll see how things go in the next few weeks before we cross THAT bridge.

[waltersrails]

Thanks

I could not agree more dthurman.

[grayfox1119]

Come on guys, the native Americans lived in tents all winter in the open, what a bunch of whimps, and they didn't pay one dime for gas or oil.!!

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by grayfox1119

Come on guys, the native Americans lived in tents all winter in the open, what a bunch of whimps, and they didn't pay one dime for gas or oil.!!

Can we see a picture of your wigwam? [:p][:p][:D]

[accord1959]

Just put in a high efficiency furnace in June, I expect to see a savings.

[cspmo]

QUOTE: Originally posted by waltersrails

Thanks

I could not agree more dthurman.

[#ditto]

If everone in the country would refuse to pay there bills, how long would prices stay that high?

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by rexhea

I have heard it on both national and local news. Locally (Alabama), they are predicting at least 20% on the wholeside which could translate to double at retail.

David: I heard a pelican peed on a Gulf shore oil platform and raised the price of gas a nickel/gal. [(-D]

REX

Actually the bird passed gas and the Company lost profits attempting to capture it after the pipe men could not work due to the noxious effects of the gas.

[Anonymous]

No matter how you heat your home, you WILL be paying more this coming winter season. If you cut your own wood to fuel wood stoves, you'll be paying more for the gas for your power saw. If you heat with gas, propane, or oil, you'll be paying more for that fuel. If you heat with coal, you'll be paying for the cost of getting that coal to you. And if you heat with electricity, you can be sure that the power companies will be passing their costs along to you.

And, of course, the costs of everything else will be similarly affected, from the price of food items to the cost of heating the stores you shop in, including shipping costs for those trains you buy on eBay or elsewhere.

What impact that will have on anyone's hobby budget depends solely on how well-off the individual happens to be; how well he/she has saved in advance for situations like this; and how much faith he or she has in the future prospects for a leveling-off of fuel prices. I, for one, figure we're in for a long term of $3 a gallon gas (at minimum), along with significantly increased prices on just about every consumer-related product and service. And this doesn't even take into account the increased costs you'll find for plywood and other lumber products when you want to expand that existing train layout. With the increased need for such products along the Gulf Coast, and the anticipated long-term shortage of supply, you can be quite sure that you'll be paying a king's ransom for such items.

[TBat55]

I wonder if a train with hoppers full of rocks could slow down a storm surge if the tracks were along the shore in an arc. Derail, yes, but better than nothing (and moveable).

[Anonymous]

Due to the gas prices and shortages expected to come of Rita, Sonny Perdue has asked schools to close on Monday and Tuesday. That means more MR time!!!

[Anonymous]

OK need a show of hands, how many of us want an oil refinery built in your neighborhood to increase the refining capacity, increasing supply, and lower costs? Part B: Who wnts to blame this latest disaster on poor *** and "W"? 3: Can we blame this all on the "liberals"? 4: Who hasn't seen the adds for the SUV's and trucks yet?
5: Who knows where Jerry Falwell is to lead us out of this mess?
Will

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Overdurff

OK need a show of hands, how many of us want an oil refinery built in your neighborhood to increase the refining capacity, increasing supply, and lower costs? Part B: Who wnts to blame this latest disaster on poor *** and "W"? 3: Can we blame this all on the "liberals"? 4: Who hasn't seen the adds for the SUV's and trucks yet?
5: Who knows where Jerry Falwell is to lead us out of this mess?
Will

I wouldn't have a problem with more industry in our town. As for in my backyard, if I was able to reap the profist, sure.

It borders on ridiculous to blame Bush and the right for not signing the Kyoto (sp) agreement. even if we had, the effects of change would take years/decades/ a century to see the gain.

I do blame the lunitic liberal fringe (not all liberals) for the senseless laws and lawsuits they have created on stopping our need for more fossil fuel drilling and refining. They (the fringe) are the ones that stopped the improvements to the levees in NO so I do blame them for some of man's results of natural disatsters. As for who is to blame for the recent rash of huriccanes, I point to the planet, we have no control, unless you buy into Richard C Hoagland and the Russians controlling our weather [alien], of course he sees bases on Mars, ancient civilization on the dark side of the mood, go figure...

As for the SUV's I for one can't afford one, let alone the gas. I see red and blue state people driving them.

I actually blame all this fuel pricing mess on greedy people and the what's in it for me mentality that seems to have taken over our world.

Better stop, getting close to banned subjects...

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by TBat55

I wonder if a train with hoppers full of rocks could slow down a storm surge if the tracks were along the shore in an arc. Derail, yes, but better than nothing (and moveable).

Railcars 14 feet give or take a few feet.

A full hurricane fed surge can reach close to 40+ feet ON TOP of tide and wave.

They DO use loaded hoppers welded to rail as wind breaks on western railroads in locations that tends to create "rivers" of wind that is dangerous to cross.

[Anonymous]

I agree. Once the oil companies get used to us paying the big bucks, do yall really think they're going to be so easy to cut prices again?

QUOTE: Originally posted by Allan Miller

No matter how you heat your home, you WILL be paying more this coming winter season. If you cut your own wood to fuel wood stoves, you'll be paying more for the gas for your power saw. If you heat with gas, propane, or oil, you'll be paying more for that fuel. If you heat with coal, you'll be paying for the cost of getting that coal to you. And if you heat with electricity, you can be sure that the power companies will be passing their costs along to you.

And, of course, the costs of everything else will be similarly affected, from the price of food items to the cost of heating the stores you shop in, including shipping costs for those trains you buy on eBay or elsewhere.

What impact that will have on anyone's hobby budget depends solely on how well-off the individual happens to be; how well he/she has saved in advance for situations like this; and how much faith he or she has in the future prospects for a leveling-off of fuel prices. I, for one, figure we're in for a long term of $3 a gallon gas (at minimum), along with significantly increased prices on just about every consumer-related product and service. And this doesn't even take into account the increased costs you'll find for plywood and other lumber products when you want to expand that existing train layout. With the increased need for such products along the Gulf Coast, and the anticipated long-term shortage of supply, you can be quite sure that you'll be paying a king's ransom for such items.

[jnichols]

Let me tell you what I think about all this crapola...

Before going to California last weekend, I was paying $2.85 for a gallon of gasoline in and around my home in Salt Lake City. Once in California, I was paying $2.76 for a gallon of gas (and this was in downtown LA). This is the first time in 20 years of my traveling to California where I could purhcase gas cheaper than I could at home. On a side note, there are two huge oil refineries less than 20 miles from my home.

So what does it all add up to? Greed my friends and lots of it... [;)]

[jeffshultz]

QUOTE: Originally posted by cspmo

QUOTE: Originally posted by waltersrails

Thanks

I could not agree more dthurman.

[#ditto]

If everone in the country would refuse to pay there bills, how long would prices stay that high?

Yeah, flipping the bird at the people who control the valve is a real good idea. Not.

You could get really cold this winter that way.