Earth, Wind, Water,....

Two weeks ago we had an earthquake.

Last week we had a hurricane.

This weekend we had a flood.

We don't need a fire.

A tripped circuit breaker on our sump pump circuit caused a small flood in our finished basement during a day and night of heavy rain. Luckily we caught it early and were able to avoid a lot of damage. We had up to an inch of water in some parts of our basement, while others did not get wet. We did have to pull out the carpet and pad as they were thoroughly soaked. The layout was undamaged. I am fortunate in that most of my tools and model train supplies are stored in plastic tubs and were not affected by the water. All my electronics and books were not affected as the water didn't rise high enough, or we moved it before damage could be done.

The sump pump is located under the far end of the layout at the Accokeek Creek area and is not obstructed by the benchwork, so it is easy to access. There was a place where the layout legs rested on the carpet under the Falmouth engine terminal. I had to use my car floor jack to raise the layout a fraction of an inch to pull out the section of carpet there.  With the help of a water damage specialist contractor, our clean up is well under way. We will take this opportunity to repaint and install new linoleum type flooring. No more carpet in the basement.

Most basements in our area are prone to flooding, but we had been lucky until now. We now plan to have a new dual pump installed with a battery back-up and alarm.  We had been thinking about the battery back-up for a while now, so this was the incentive to get it installed.

Work on the layout was slow this week as we were rebuilding the deck in the backyard. In a retrograde kind of move, we removed the old, nondescript deck and rebuilt it with a smaller deck (about half the area) with top end materials. The deck uses Fiberon decking, Azek  trim and Atlantis stainless steel railing. Next  we plan to add a flagstone stone patio with walkways and a small water feature. That work will be done by a contractor. The best part of the new landscape plan is that we will eliminate all the lawn in the back yard. It will be all flowers, shrubs and trees. No more mowing back there - Yes! 

A neat feature of the new deck is that one of the lattice panels is on a sliding track to allow access to storage under the deck.

On Thursday I depart for the ACWHSRR Meet at Kennesaw, GA. It looks like a good line up of events. I'll take plenty of pictures.

2011 Convention Schedule
Thursday
• Motel check-in, registration, and informal meeting with other members
• 7:00 p.m. — Dinner (everyone on their own)
• 8:30 – 10:00 p.m. — Welcome and informal show and tell by members

Friday

• 7:30 – 9:00 a.m. — Breakfast
• 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon (all times include travel time) — Kennesaw National Battlefield
• 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. — Lunch
• 1:00 – 3:00 p.m. — Acworth and Allatoona Pass
• 3:00 – 5:00 p.m. — Etowah River Bridge and Cooper Iron Works
• 6:30 p.m. — Dinner (entire group at convention hotel)
• 8:00 – 10:00 p.m. — Presentations: (1) Harper Harris on the Great Locomotive Chase; (2) LeBron Matthews and Thom Radice on modeling the Western & Atlantic Railroad in HO scale.
Saturday

• 7:30 – 9:00 a.m. — Breakfast

• 9:15 a.m. – 12:30 noon — Southern Museum (the General)
• 12:30 – 1:30 — Lunch {“Taste of Kennesaw”}
• 1:30 – 5:00 p.m. — Atlanta Cyclorama (the Texas)
• 6:30 p.m. — Dinner (everyone on their own)
• 8:00 – 10:00 p.m. — Model Railroad Clinics: (1) Bernard Kempinski on his O scale U.S.M.R.R.; (2) Alan Mueller and LeBron Matthews on modifying the Mantua General in HO scale; and (3) swap table
Sunday

• 7:30 – 9:00 a.m. — Breakfast
• 9:00 – 10:00 a.m. — Motel check-out
• 10:00 a.m. — Drive to Columbus, Georgia, and visit LeBron Matthews’ Southern Branch of the Western & Atlantic R.R.