# Snow will be here in a month or so. Who's running this winter?



## Police1987 (Jun 16, 2012)

Who is running this winter and who just puts the engines away and forgets about them? ¿


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## cocobear1313 (Apr 27, 2012)

I thought you lived in LA? Ice age in September?  Maybe in Alaska


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## Police1987 (Jun 16, 2012)

I ment to write " in a few months ".


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## artgibson (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Police1987 on 11 Aug 2012 09:38 AM 
Who is running this winter and who just puts the engines away and forgets about them? ¿ 
It does not snow eveyrwhere. Here in Houston, Winter is the best time for Steamin. If you are in California, I dought that snow will be a factor.
Diamond Head in Miss is held in dead of winter. Once you get envolved in the gauge one live steam hobby, It will take H-[--- and high water to keep some of us from steamin.
Only in extreme case where people put there engines up for winter and they drain the boilers so as not to freeze will you see a complete shutdown of steamin. At least that is my belief.


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## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

When that day comes, I'll wait until noon and it will have melted. 
Summers are too gol durn hot to run, I'm rebuilding the layout. Today is 10' of cribbing under the shade of a covered porch in a breezeway. Barely notice the 104 F. degrees! 

What are you doing? I'm tired of the 'police' poking their noses into my fun! ha ha Old habits eh? 

John


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## Gary Armitstead (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By cocobear1313 on 11 Aug 2012 09:59 AM 
I thought you lived in LA? Ice age in September?  Maybe in Alaska 
I thought so too (L.A. I mean). He said he would see me at L.A.L.S. (per his previous post).







It gets murkier and murkier.


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## Jerry Barnes (Jan 2, 2008)

I run in the winter, see my web site for my rotary snow blower I made.


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## Police1987 (Jun 16, 2012)

That's a huge layout jerry, now do you run them everyday to keep the tracks clear from stuff? I deff would if I had that layout


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## Polaris1 (Jan 22, 2010)

I'll need both Snow and I recently installed a 20 amp GFI pvc underground Power run to the 4x4 layout "control" post....... from a new Breaker in the Basement. 

Last Winter Green Bay had only two 5" Snow dumps.... 2 Winters ago we had six 10+" Snow Dumps which buried the 20" Elevated Curved Ladder Layout. 

I can "plow" with either a weighted Aristo Wedge gondola or a Bill Wilcox Battery powered MTH GS-4 6 axle brush tender/sweeper... 

Last winter I hand pushed the Tender/Sweeper over 215 ft of Rail with the Brush running..... unit Cleared 1" of fluff nicely but I had to press Sweeper over switch flange ways due to ice buildup. 

I now have all the "RR Snow tools" required for Winter G Gauge running except for a Rotary plow..... I just patched my 37' by 24' flat Garage roof with white Elastomer due to a leak or two.... 

Dennis Mayer from GBay, WI


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## vsmith (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Gary Armitstead on 11 Aug 2012 10:35 AM 
Posted By cocobear1313 on 11 Aug 2012 09:59 AM 
I thought you lived in LA? Ice age in September?  Maybe in Alaska 
I thought so too (L.A. I mean). He said he would see me at L.A.L.S. (per his previous post).







It gets murkier and murkier.










LOL Winter IS the prime running time here in LA, its right now that we hide indoors and huddle, only next to the AC not the heater LOL. It was 105 here AGAIN yesterday, 5th day in row?, luckily with the AC the house stays a consistant chilly 80 degrees indoors, with all the energy alerts the thermo is set at 80 so we dont blow the grid. The garage has no AC so the layout is off limits for the time being. Just going outside hurts these days. Sucks because I really need to get ready for the GTE in Sept!


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## Police1987 (Jun 16, 2012)

You should still run them even if in outside and realy hot. You will gain the natural weathering effect on the engines and cars


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## Bob in Kalamazoo (Apr 2, 2009)

I run my electric powered locomotives in the winter. ANd plow the tracks. BUt the live steam gets run in the basement. It's just too cold to play around with water outside in the winter.
Bob


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## Kovacjr (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Police1987 on 11 Aug 2012 11:04 AM 
You should still run them even if in outside and realy hot. You will gain the natural weathering effect on the engines and cars 


I gotta ask, do you just like to see yourself type? These nonsence posts/comments are just getting old. How about some photos of you running in the really hot weather? Personally you just seem to be bored. 

Boy I hope I don't get reported for my commments....









Most all of us run in the winter, have ytou looked through the old threads from last winter? There are plenty of posts with photos from runs during the winter, indoors and out.


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## Police1987 (Jun 16, 2012)

I love the hot weather. It can be 110 out and I'll be running trains. With the hot weather you get natural weathering effect on the cars which is better then painting it


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## vsmith (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Police1987 on 11 Aug 2012 11:04 AM 
You should still run them even if in outside and realy hot. You will gain the natural weathering effect on the engines and cars 


Thats OK I'll pass. I'm not a fan of "Martian Heat Ray" weathering effects.


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## weaverc (Jan 2, 2008)

Withdrawn


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## Tom Bowdler (Jan 3, 2008)

I get a natural weathering effect from the steam oil, coal ash and other slop when I run my steamers indoors or out. 
How does heat achieve weathering effects? 
I agree with Carl and Jason. Please enlighten us with your expertise. 

Tom


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## artgibson (Jan 2, 2008)

I have commented on some of Polices comments but no more. I spoke with some of the guys at the Mall today and they think the guy has learned how to pull our chain and will continue to do so as long as we answer his many questions and posts. I move that we just take a bond of written silence to his questions until he really gets serious and shows us that he is in the hobby and not just a "LOOKY LOO".


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## Police1987 (Jun 16, 2012)

Search button is your friend. I already explained who I am and what I have in other posts. The heat causes natural weathering because of the things that get stuck on the track due to the heated rails. Also you talked to people in mall? Sounds like a good conversation after playing in the arcade and eating cheap Chinese food


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## afinegan (Jan 2, 2008)

Your welcome to come and melt with the humidity in South Florida, Just came back from workday at TARR, shoveling rock for , as Larry Herget calls it, "Hernia Gauge", 7.5 gauge hehehe. I wish it would get colder down here more often, our steam plumes are only existent when it rains. (but in the winter, its very nice!!). As for the sun, I think it just fades the paint something fierce over time - anything black literally turns into a stovetop (plastic or metal). 

Anyways, NOTHING can stop a die hard steamer from steaming!, even if he has to run a circle of 4' diameter LGB track on his kitchen floor and stink up the whole apartment with butane fumes (hehe, experience talking ). 

Being a South Floridian, Ill take cold ANY DAY over the heat. I have seen snow maybe 3-4 times in my entire life.


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## Jethro J. (Apr 4, 2012)

Posted By gibs035 on 11 Aug 2012 02:49 PM 
I have commented on some of Polices comments but no more. I spoke with some of the guys at the Mall today and they think the guy has learned how to pull our chain and will continue to do so as long as we answer his many questions and posts. I move that we just take a bond of written silence to his questions until he really gets serious and shows us that he is in the hobby and not just a "LOOKY LOO". 
I agree, he does seem to talk alot about nothing. But then there are a few that post here that are all go and no show, Wannabe so to speak.


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Don't!!!!


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## Treeman (Jan 6, 2008)

We try to run trains for the Christmas Tree season. It will depend on ice build up and temperatures. It is hard to get volunteers to run when it gets too cold. But they can sit inside with a navigator and see everything thru a window. Not talking live steam however.


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## artgibson (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Police1987 on 11 Aug 2012 03:06 PM 
Search button is your friend. I already explained who I am and what I have in other posts. The heat causes natural weathering because of the things that get stuck on the track due to the heated rails. Also you talked to people in mall? Sounds like a good conversation after playing in the arcade and eating cheap Chinese food 
Okay now you have hit a sore spot. Inn the Mall ,we run trains every Sat and have done so for over 20 years. We do not have to eat Cheap Chinese food and we do not have an arcade. As they say about the Coushatta Gambling Resort in Louisiana. You need to get out more.
BTW I only reponded because he hit a nerve. This we do for the children ,who mostly do not have the funds to join in the Hobby.


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## Semper Vaporo (Jan 2, 2008)

I ran once when it was about 32 degrees, but sunny. It took too long to raise steam, but once it was running I enjoyed the great "steam show". The high humidity helped produce the steam show, but it made "ME" extremely cold, so I shut down and went back indoors.

Even though the 32 degree run was not all that pleasant, I decided I wanted to try it at about zero degrees at least once. This time the humidity was low and the sunshine bright so I was not all that uncomfortable out there. BUT, it took a nearly 45 minutes to raise enough steam to move the engine and it would only run maybe 4 or 5 feet before it lost steam pressure and it came to a stop. I had to put the auxilary fan in the stack to get the boiler up to pressure again to run another 4 or 5 feet. That was no fun at all! And since I was not earning my living doing such a thing, I decided the CMBY RY is a "fair-weather RR" only (and I don't like being outside when it is hot either!). (I should probably incorporate that slogan in the corporate logo! "The CMBY RY - The Fair-Weather RR")

I do run when it is "cool" (60 to 70 degrees) and in a light rain, as the rain does not bother me, AND the steam plumes are fantastic when the weather is cool, with high humidity.

I have 3 videos on YouTube that show running in the rain:


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## cocobear1313 (Apr 27, 2012)

SV, you are running Butane? I am hoping I can run alcohol all winter here in IL. 

Dave


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## Semper Vaporo (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By cocobear1313 on 12 Aug 2012 07:38 AM 
SV, you are running Butane? I am hoping I can run alcohol all winter here in IL. 

Dave 

My two Aster Light Mikados are alcohol burners. When alcohol burns, it produces copious amounts of water vapor.

In that 1st video posted above ("Lotsa Steam") if I were to take the fan (that cubical box) out of the stack, there would not be enough steam from the internal blower to produce a draft and keep the fire going! All that "steam" is from the fire, not the boiler!

The 1st time I ran an engine when the humidity was high I put the fan in the stack and lit the fire. Then I put a box car on the track to walk it around as a track inspection (HIGHLY recommended activity!). When I got to the other end of the track I glanced back at the engine and saw a huge steam plume and it was very confusing! No more than maybe 2 minutes had transpired since I lit the fire and there was NO WAY the engine could be up to producing any steam, let alone THAT much.

(Thoughts of alien abduction time loss and story lines for "The Twilight Zone" crossed my mind!)

I had to go back to the engine and look at the pressure gauge! Zero pressure! I pulled the fan out and the vapor dissipated immediately. Put the fan back and the cloud generation resumed. Strictly vapor from the fire and high relative humidity keeping the plume around.


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## Police1987 (Jun 16, 2012)

Very nice. Love the videos and that's a neat little layout


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