Here in the area of St. Louis, Missouri or at least 50 miles east of there, SPRING HAS POPPED. 55 degrees at 12 noon and beautiful sunshine. Marina is jumping and people are coming out of the winter hibernation. This is really the first nice weekend we have had in quite a while. Some one said New Year’s Day should be the day that we set the clocks forward for more daylight. Sounded like a good idea to me, so HAPPY NEW YEAR to you guys.
It’s supposed to get up to 83 here today, and 85 tomorrow. That’s actually cooler than what they were predicting a couple days ago.
Ray Dunakin said:It's 34F on our shaded back step at 2:35 p.m. EDT. They had earlier been predicting mid-40s for today, but wotdeheck, it's sunny and the shiny bits on the roads are water, not ice. Lotsa rain forecast for mid-week.
It's supposed to get up to 83 here today, and 85 tomorrow. That's actually cooler than what they were predicting a couple days ago.
We’ve been having spring weather here too. Constantly threatening to rain, but it’s been warm…50’s (currently 57 @ 1:10pm) and very little rain. Now, if the sun would just pop out. 
I’m going to go down and yank up some track in the basement and try painting it outside this afternoon…the first outdoor painting of the season…
Yes-sir…Spring has Sprung…and now all the “Doggy Doo-Doos” of Winter cast their foul shadows across the last visiges of winter…just stepped in some this morning…someone should shoot some dog’s owner.
That’s one of the reasons I have a fence around the back yard. I used to have a dog across the street that was constantly pooping in my front yard. It got thumped on the butt with a slingshot more than once. After that it wouldn’t come in my yard as long as both cars were around. I don’t know what happened to the dog but it finally disappeared… Now, if it’s irresponsible owner would disappear…
Warren Mumpower said:Warren,
That's one of the reasons I have a fence around the back yard. I used to have a dog across the street that was constantly pooping in my front yard. It got thumped on the butt with a slingshot more than once. After that it wouldn't come in my yard as long as both cars were around. I don't know what happened to the dog but it finally disappeared....:) Now, if it's irresponsible owner would disappear.....:D
Have you considered the slingshot treatment for the owner’s butt?? :lol:
He’s too lazy to come within range…
But he’s got a teenage boy…I guess I could pick him off…:lol:
Sure is pretty here today. 65, sunny, light breeze.
85 degrees today, we skipped spring and went from Winter to Summer due to lack of interest.
Regards, Greg
Having an early taste of spring here in Southern New England too.
Our only real winter accumulation this year was an extended sleet storm followed by a cold rain. It left about 6 inches of sopping wet granular ice which turned to a block of ice when the temperature dipped. As of this weekend, a good portion of the railroad was covered in a 3 inch layer of solid ice, but with the warm-up water was running underneath. Careful use of an ice chopper managed to get all but one tail of the wye open by Sunday evening.
Trains have run on the open sections of the line Sunday, Monday and Tuesday enjoying the extended daylight. Good thing I have at least one battery operated loco because some of the track is nearly submerged. Sure is nice to get back outside and run trains.
Today I picked up a garbage can full of pine debris and hardly put a dent in it. The ground is so soft there are few places off the paved walkways that are safe to step. Deep cut is still locked in a 6 inch block of ice. It’s still in deep shadow all day so it will take several weeks of warm weather to expose the track.
Matthew took some video of Sunday’s opening day run with his new digital camera. These are kind of large…
http://lsc.cvsry.com/DSCF0683.AVI
http://lsc.cvsry.com/DSCF0685.AVI
Just heard they are forecasting accumulations of snow for the weekend
JR
Jon,
Tell Matt, good videos. Spring will come quick even with the little delays as the sun gets higher in the sky and ground temps warm. We have had a week of goodstuff, but back to more seasonal weather starting tonight. Our average daytime highs are suppose to be around 50 degrees this time of year and that’s pretty good working temps.
Because of the camera angle in the first video you can’t see the ground man pull the pin to drop the tank and hopper on the fly. The plan was to spot the reefer on the trailing point siding. That WAS the plan. They ended up going back for the two cars before shoving into the siding as seen in video #2.
Had I only thought of this scenario “on the fly” vid 2 would have shown just the reefer and gon shoving up the siding.
JR
Mild, breezy, mid-70’s in SE Pa…was out checkin last years construction…a few bad spots but all in all it held up well…didn’t run any trains, a tad bit muddy back there yet…
Would have like to run trains, today. At 1645 the temp is 66 degrees. Spent the day renegotiating spce in the garden/train shed. I think I got a little of my space back, but that took me building four shelves and a tool rack for the garden stuff. So does that make this train related? By working on “the Yardmaster’s” stuff, I got some of my shelf space back. 2 steps forward, 1 back, but I’m in a better position than I was yesterday.