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The animagraffs youtube channel is awesome. This is the Big Boy.

Just had a nice burst of sleet even though the temp is a relatively balmy 43 degrees.

Half inch?

For anyone who doesn't know, this articulated 4-8-8-4 is not just the god of all steam engine, but it's the god of all mechanical creations, and everyone, and everything should be bowing to it except for god himself.

Sucks out. Had to turn the heat back on.

I don't think there's probably any better time for you to start that project than now. I had a very nice platform for years, but I took it down so that I could have room to start building custom fishing rods. I've been trying to devise a way that I can set my platform back up and also have room for building rods. If it's something then you decide to get started on (depending on gauge) I have no shortage of extra track, model coal and foliage that I could pack up and send to a p o box. The tracks have built up a little bit of surface corrosion over the years so they would need some cleaning before they can conduct properly.

Well yeah, we had an El Nino in 14-15. A better comparison would be years that were coming from Neutral or weak Nina

for the winter folks...

Picked up 4” today to officially bring it over 300” measured on the season.

White rain all afternoon but snowing again now and quickly coated up

Sounds like you had a great trip. The view of Jungfrau and the North face of the Eiger is a sight to see also. And spot on about the Eiger aerial tram. It provides some great views with the right weather. If you want to do some great hiking in the late spring through Sept or Oct, the passes at the head of the Rhone Valley where the Furka, Gimsel and another pass meet are incredible. If you know where to look, you can see up close the Swiss gun emplacements guarding the passes, which are covered fake rocks and camouflaged boulders. The creativity in how they hide in plain sight is impressive. Switzerland has the proverbial picturesque appeal, but it is also the only country with a bomb shelter position for the entire population plus any visitors should they be attacked. Yea, I know... who is going to attack Switzerland?

Yeah, 2015 was one that took several years to form. People were predicting el nino as early as 2012. Definitely by 2014, you just knew a super el nino was going to form when the ingredients came together. It didn't again in 2014, but in 2015 it did, after 3-4 years. It's no surprise the 2015-16 event was one of the strongest el ninos on record. All I know is that a super el nino is going to form at some point in the near future. It may not be this year, and even if the trades come back later this spring, it may just be delaying the inevitable until the following year.

You'd have to be out of your gourd to sit through a game at Fenway tonight. I don't care how drunk you may be.

31° Pack is all iced back up. I can already walk on it. It’s cold.

Ray, this am on the fence post, was gone by noon......

We stayed in Lauterbrunnen for two nights as well lol. Apparently was Tolkien's inspiration for Rivendell. Just a beautiful place.

Don't you mean April? And I think these temperatures are severely underestimated. This April looks like it's going to be near record warm.

We’re only good at a couple types of central tendency and the mean is not one of them.

The season of extremes.

A super Nino really needs all ingredients to come together to achieve it. I suppose it might be a little easier these days with the abundance of warm water everywhere but it’s still not easy. I would think we would need WWB to continue after this strong one to get us to super later this year. If trades come back later this spring, I don’t think we get to super.

So, this summer our local Reading and Northern Railroad will be hosting the massive Union Pacific Big Boy steam engine as it makes its way from Scranton to Philly. A special excursion will run behind the Big Boy from Nesquehoning to Pittston. Meanwhile our own stream engine (the 2102) will also be running in conjunction with it. After that, it appears that the Big Boy will run the rest of the Reading and Northern trackage to Reading and then eventually Philly. If it does this, it'll pass through Tamaqua along the way. It's going to be one hell of a railroad and steam event.

Comparing this year to 4/1/15, 2015 was warmer in 3, 3.4 and 4. https://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/data/indices/wksst9120.for But after the pending wwb, there's nothing in site like it on the Cfs2 thru the end of June. I don't know about other models however.

I've been a train fan since I was a kid. One of my dreams was to have a basement model railroad, but so far it hasn't happened.