# How did the GRRs that went through Irene survive????



## Mike Reilley (Jan 2, 2008)

I know a lot of you don't have power...but how about posting some photos of your layouts after you get power back and telling us how they handled the storm.


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## BodsRailRoad (Jul 26, 2008)

Everything went great here at the BRR in Middletown Delaware









No damage of any kind to the railroad or the house. We did get a ton of rain though.
Before the storm I drained about 14 inches of water out of both of the BRR's ponds. 
I had to drian out anouther 5 inches around 1am Sunday to keep them from overflowing







, 
didn't want the fishies swimming in the backyard









Ron


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## chuck n (Jan 2, 2008)

Out here near Dulles Airport in western Fairfax County, Virginia it was pretty mild. It started about noon on Saturday and ended after breakfast this morning. About 2 inches in the rain gauge and the highest wind I saw on my wind gauge was about 25 mph. A lot of leaves and a few dead branches on the ground. For us it was a non event. We really did need the water.

I dug out of the bowels of the garage my portable generator, but the lights didn't even flicker. Trying to find the generator was the worst part of the event.



Chuck


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## East Broad Top (Dec 29, 2007)

I talked to my parents this afternoon; their experience was similar to Chuck's. Lots of rain, constant wind, but no damage. (They did lose power, but that's okay--dad runs batteries.) He did bring all the buildings and things inside, just in case... They're pretty much due east of Chuck, on the other side of DC. 

Later, 

K


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## Tom Lapointe (Jan 2, 2008)

I'm located in Fall River, MA. Had Friday off from work so had plenty of time to clear out the back yard & removed all structures but the 2 bridges from the railroad. Biggest concerns were possible wind damage







- not directly to the railroad, but to either my large ham radio antenna system (which overhangs one end of the railroad) or potentially even worse, the thought of the *very large maple tree (40+ feet high) uprooting *







& landing on *either the house or the railroad. *







Happily (& luckily!) neither scenario occurred.







I have a wind vane / anemometer for my weather station mounted at about the 40-foot level on the radio tower; highest wind gust it recorded for Sunday was *39 MPH. *







I was also prepared for possible power outages, with my old (but reliable!) Honda generator fully gassed up, & the ham radio equipment backed up by a new deep-cycle marine battery in case of power loss; we didn't even have the lights flicker. Fall River is about 15 miles east of Providence, RI & right on the RI border with Tiverton. RI wasn't so lucky; *numerous towns lost power, *some of them scheduled to be down *for days. *







I'm also a bit concerned about my favorite rail-trail, RI's famous East Bay Bike Trail, built on the roadbed of the old New Haven Providence, Warren, & Bristol branch line (abandoned 1969); the rail-trail parallels the Seekonk River & crosses the Barrington & Warren rivers on former railroad trestles. I know the rail line suffered severe damage during the infamous 1938 hurricane (some locations on the roadbed are only a *few feet above sea level), *hope the bike trail survived with little damage.









*Tom*


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## wchasr (Jan 2, 2008)

A non event in the Western NY area really. It was cool and windy starting late Saturday ngiht early Sunday morning. I was at an outdoor concert (Great Big Sea...heh heh) on the Buffalo waterfront then went with friends to a late breakfast in downtown Bufflao. Drove home afterward and the winds had calmed enough in the south town we had some fog. Drank enough coffee that sleep was elusive and the wind picked back up around 3:30am before I went to bed. At some point after that it rained we totalled about an inch according to the lcoal weathermen. I did not get back out of bed until noon. It was cold and windy but not uncomfortable. Probably the coolest daytime temps we have had for months? no damage and no power outages. While we were on our way from the Galleria Mall to downtown Buffalo we saw over 20 Tree service trucks in a caravan headed East on the I90 Thruway. Glad to see them going but hope they do not have much work. The weather after dinner for us settled down and we had a beautiful sunset. I truly hope all our railroading friends and family to the east however had as easy a time as we did. If not I truly hope the repairs and resptoration got quickly and cheaply. Stay safe my friends! 

Chas


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## Scottychaos (Jan 2, 2008)

The outer cloud bands from Irene appeared overheard Saturday afternoon, and stayed until Sunday afternoon. 
10mph winds on Sunday, and about 30 seconds of very light rain..literally a few drops..I think my house was the north-westernmost point the rain reached. 










Scot


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## Dave Meashey (Jan 2, 2008)

I had the same non-event in Roanoke, VA. Breezy all day on Saturday, with just a sprinkling of rain. Sunday was as though a storm had never come up the coast. My wife and I were actually hoping for some lasting rain, as it has been pretty dry in our locale. 

Yours, 
David Meashey


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## Mike Reilley (Jan 2, 2008)

This was a bridge that was built to get you over the "creek" to the train station...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyO18one8fU


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## todd55whit (Jan 2, 2008)

Non event for us. Lots of rain, biggest problem was keeping the ponds and swimming pool from over flowing. Had the generator fueled and stock piled some gas. Had a couple of flickers but no power outage. Irene was more like a tropical storm when she reached me. I removed the buildings and the inhabitants of the railroad made their way to the shelter of my basement. I think it's safe to say the ice storm a couple of winters ago was about 100% worse. Many people prays were answered with Irene, I know mine were.


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## Stan Cedarleaf (Jan 2, 2008)

That's a hard video to watch, Mike. 

The power and fury of rushing water is unbelieveable... 

It's amazing to see how some areas were inundated and others gratefully spared.

Glad to hear all the good reports here so far.


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## s-4 (Jan 2, 2008)

The Rockwall Canyon in Southern New Hampshire suffered light drizzle and fast-moving clouds!


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## Richard Weatherby (Jan 3, 2008)

Electricity just returned after 5 days. Still no phone for the past 3 weeks.
Survived well with 7KW generator. Flushing toilets with buckets of water from fish pond. 120,000 without power in Maryland ...most back now.

After a tree split in two and destroyed most of the railroad in February, another one came down with Irene and took out the other end of the RR.




























Who knows when I will get ti back in shape. No damge to house, family, or other personal properties.
Generator kept frig in good shape and the beer was cold.
I said "Cheer-up things could be worse; so I cheered-up and things got worse."

with NO electricity, I don't need to feed the track, or charge batteries, I got a LIVE STEAM!!!


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## Jerry Barnes (Jan 2, 2008)

Oh wow Richard, you've had a rough year. You had a beautiful railroad, I'm sure you will again. Keep that cheerup going!


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## jake3404 (Dec 3, 2010)

Richard, 

keep your head up, this is God saying build it better. You had a beautiful RR, now is your opportunity to build it even nicer.


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## Tom Lapointe (Jan 2, 2008)

My God, Richard, those pictures are heart-breaking. I've seen pictures you posted previously of your railroad, it was *very *impressive.

What happened to you was what I was potentially fearing here - the wind direction here was such that *had *it come down, our large maple would've crushed at least *half *of my railroad. We were *very *lucky here - the tree sustained only some small-branch breakage & got an early start on shedding leaves. Put most of the buildings back on my railroad last night, mowing the lawn today mulched most of the shed maple leaves & branches. Highest wind gust the weather station on my ham radio tower recorded was only *39 MPH. * 


We also lucked out here regarding power (didn't even get a momentary blink!), although I was reasonably well prepared, with my small (550 watt) Honda generator fully fueled, & bought a large deep-cycle marine battery to keep the ham radio gear up in case the power went out. Some of my co-workers weren't so lucky, didn't get power back until *late Wednesday / Thursday. *

Good luck on rebuilding - as others have said, hopefully it will be *even better *than you had before.

*Tom*


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