[AmFlyer]

Here are some pictures I never wanted to take. The smoke is from a fire within a mile of our house. The winds are blowing at 40kts. The fire started down in the canyon at 4pm and within 30 minutes homes along Coronado Pointe road were on fire. As of 5:20pm many homes throughout that plan are on fire. Our house is the blue dot at the bottom of the map. We are on the other side of the mountain peak. The fire started in the green area to the left of the big Coronado Pointe lettering. All these homes are between $3mm and $10mm.

At the moment the winds are blowing from NW to SE so the embers are not blowing over our house, hopefully the wind direction will not change, they are predicted to stop around 3am. If you stop hearing from me then either the power went out or an ember blew here.

 

[alaft61ri]

Good luck to you and stay safe.
Al

 

[AmFlyer]

Thanks, here are two pictures off of the TV. Note the palm trees bending in the wind. There are 7 houses burning visible in the picture, a total of 20 are now burning. At the moment we are not downwind of the fire.

 

[AmFlyer]

To bring this to a surprising conclusion the winds laid down to less than 10kts around 6:45pm, much earlier than forecast. As a result the fire seems to be under control and no longer spreading. Many homes were lost, at least 20 and are still burning. All road access to the area including ours was closed by 6pm.
The surprise was that at 6:30pm our regular UPS driver delivered a large box to our house. He managed to circumvent the police roadblocks. The package contained 2 new Legacy engines and 2 new boxcars. Pictures in the New Additions thread tomorrow. Nobody should doubt UPS!

 

[mopac]

Glad you got your large package. Stay safe. Get us some pics when you can. I got my water tank. The checkerboard looks worse than I thought. Within 2 minutes of opening the box I started ripping the wrap off the tank. It is a plastic wrap with a paper backing. It is coming off in a thousand pieces. It will take a while to get it off. There is a very nice black tank under the wrap. Using alcohol to get glue off. Not going fast but I will get it. Pic to come after I am done.

 

[alaft61ri]

Sorry to about the wrapping. Use goo gone I think it's called it takes the glue off easier

 

[alaft61ri]

Sorry to about the wrapping. Use goo gone I think it's called it takes the glue off easier

That the right name just ck.

 

[flyernut]

Sorry to about the wrapping. Use goo gone I think it's called it takes the glue off easier

Anything that is citrus-based, whether it be a air freshener or liquid, is a great glue remover..Heck, I think if you even squirted a orange peel on glue, it would come off,lol.

 

[DrawsOnCad]

We did not have anything like Brakeman Bill in Pittsburgh.

Yeah, but Fred Rogers talked to his trolley, and it listened.

 

[AmFlyer]

I did not know about the trolley that listened, I never watched Mr Rogers. We had Rege Cordic, a popular WWSW and then KDKA DJ. The station redid a pre-PCC high-floor car as an advertisement for his show. Here it is in 1958. The trolley did not respond to verbal direction.

 

[DrawsOnCad]

I did not know about the trolley that listened, I never watched Mr Rogers. We had Rege Cordic, a popular WWSW and then KDKA DJ. The station redid a pre-PCC high-floor car as an advertisement for his show. Here it is in 1958. The trolley did not respond to verbal direction.

View attachment 582748

Here you go...
11 minutes in.
Way before Lionel Voice Command.

 

[AmFlyer]

Ok, thanks. I certainly never saw that show.

 

[DrawsOnCad]

Ok, thanks. I certainly never saw that show.

Very popular, especially in Pittsburgh.
It was a PBS show, channel 13.
There was an attraction ride at Idlewild park. Tom Hanks played him in a recent movie about his life.

 

[AmFlyer]

I recall going to Idlewild Park once. We went to West View Park and Kennywood Park. When I was in fourth grade I won some contest and appeared on Ch13.

 

[mopac]

Here is a pic of my new bubbling water tank with the checkerboard wrap removed.
I have not hooked up any power to it so maybe I will today to see how it bubbles.
I will leave the shed next to tower as is so item has some color to it.
Happy with the tower.

 

[mopac]

Took my meter downstairs and set throttle to 14 volts per tower instructions and hooked
up the tower. First 5 minutes , nothing. Went back up stairs and let it run. Came down in another 5 minutes and this thing was bubbling its butt off. So it takes 5 to 10 minutes to get going. I can not think of anything the bubbles could be in real life but kinda cool.

I paid 39.95 plus shipping, another 11.00 something. It was the start price. There was 3 other MTH towers all starting at 49.95. I had no idea what was a decent price. Then I saw a seller wanting 60.00 for just a Gilbert bubbling tube, no tower just the tube so I jumped on this one. I have some red 14 volt bulbs somewhere that I replaced with 18 volt, cause they got so dang hot, from controllers for turnouts. I want to try a red bulb in the tower.

 

[AmFlyer]

Better than with the red/white checkerboard. Could use a railroad or city name decal on the tank.

 

[alaft61ri]

I like the checkered board but what u said is a good I dear.
Al

 

[AmFlyer]

Its a pretty poor picture but here is my water tank with a PRR decal on it.

 

[AFGP9]

First Tom glad to see wind laid down. That looks way too close to me. That is sad to see the houses and the vegetation all burn up. I suppose now the next thing will be mud slide danger. That was some brave, determined UPS driver for sure.
Mopac I have two of checker board towers. Gilbert made two different ones but similar. I kinda like that black look. Some kind of decal would work. Similar to what Tom has? Msaybe a Mopac? Like you I hooked up both of mine when I first got them some time ago and waited for the bubbles, And waited. And waited . I was about to give up when one of them started showing signs of life. By the time it was bubbling fully the other one finally took off. I haven't had either one on in a while.

Kenny