Well, it started when I decided to thin my loco roster a bit to finance another project mainly to raise capital to purchase my wife her car, 2007 Chrysler 300C to replace the 2005 Dodge Magnum RT that was stolen two years ago. We are once again a his and hers Hemi family Two of the packages I shipped were handled by some angry gorillas who work for the post office. I was lucky that the buyer of a Walthers six pack RD4 coal hoppers was able to repair the cars to an acceptable level for him. The angry gorillas handled the box so rough that the box broke open and all the contents spilled (mind you that the Walthers factory box was inside the shipping box with mucho foam). The other victim of the angry gorillas was a Athearn Geneis with sound BN F45. It was handled so rough that all of the handrails were apart, the beacan was snapped off, and the entire rear platform was broken and the font truck is only attaced via the wire pickups. What The Heck!!! and of course, I did not ship with insurance. So I learned that everything I ship from now on will have shipping insurance. But the story gets worse Here in the Twin Cities in Minnesota along with others in the midwest had some pretty severe thunderstorms last week. It rained insanely two night in a row from severe thunderstorms so bad that local insterates were closed due to flooding. We have lived in our 110 year old house for one year and six months. No major issues ....until the rains of all rains came. We had a very sizable lake of storm water in what used to be our yard. Last summer I moved all of my train items from our garage to metal shelving in our basement thinking that the extreme temperature swings in the garage would be bad for my locos and electronics. Well, MY ENTIRE COLLECTION GOT FLOODED. about 60 some locomotives, all of my rolling stock, and my DCC equipment. Damage assesment so far appears to be minor limited to wet boxes but with many of their contents dry with the exception of some rolling stock (with no electronics) and a couple of locomotives. Needless to say, I relocated everyting to drier storage for the moment and opened up everything to dry. I am concerned with my DCC systems as I was pouring water out of it....it was hit hard. The shelving where I had my trains was near a basement window where the storm flood water found it's way (old .....I mean ancient window frame). When I put the shelves up I didn't even think twice or once for that matter about the window. I can't finish up the attic remodelign soon enough to relocate everything up there. But, the attic project is slow and painful (mucho dollars) and competes for many other budget items. For a second or two, I thought about throwing in the towel and saying the heck with it all. I have sputtered for over ten years trying to get a layout going and this ordeal knocked the wind right out of me. But.....I am back took a deep breath, said some choice words about our house, and spent my spare time railfanning and driving my Hemi powered vanity-mobile. I have not tested my equipment yet (currently too hot in the attice for a test loop and the garage is full). So I am taking this time to do some railfanning, work on the attic, and maybe I will start a building kit. Sorry for the novel......just had to vent to my fellow rail heads....you know therapy
That's some unfortunate series of events man. Keep your head up. One day everything will come together and you'll be glad you stuck through.
Major bummer. How wet did your locos get? I have a freind who's basement flooded from a split washing machine hose about 3 years ago. Of course they were out of town and there was about 5 feet of water in his basement. His layout was smallish(3x8 N scale) and it was ruined and his locos(18 Kato & Atlas) were toast. He tried drying them out right away but the damage was done. All of his rolling stock was salvaged though, and many trucks were replaced. He ended up selling the locos off as parts for 200.00. His insurance did cover the damage to the house but not his trains. I ended up getting hired by him to do all the repairs to the basement and I saved him enough money to replace some of his gear but some of it was irreplaceable. We just finished getting his new benchwork built last winter and now he laying track. What do you have to do in your attic before you can start your layout? Sounds like A/C is on the list.
Let the DCC stuff dry out before testing. I don't know if water permeates solid state electronics, but I have seen cameras and other things do well after being dried out. Head for the attic!
Trick with electronics/electrics/motors is before they dry out rinse them with clean, fresh water - then dry. Otherwise there may well be deposits of 'crud' left which may be corrosive/conductive and cause trouble later. (Oh, remove any batteries asap - DCC may have a 'memory' battery.) Years ago our washing machine dumped its soapy contents over it's motor (230V). The house RCD tripped (30mA) and prevented any big flashover. I extracted the motor, rinsed it in fresh water, dried it in a low heat oven for several hours and refitted it. Worked fine for years after that - until the w/mc drum fell to pieces
Wow. It was a lousy month! What an experience. That attic sounds like much better place for your hobby right now. Boxcab E50
I will add my support to the suggestion that you dry everything out completely before testing it. Solid state electronics will FREQUENTLY work again if they have had a chance to dry out completely
Thanks for the support guys. The attic needs allot of work. 1. Need to run new power (need to expand or add additional breaker box for attic circuits). This is also tied into running electric for an electric range in the kitchen. 2. Need to replace the front and rear windows and frames 3 insulate 4 install lighting and new electric (several circuits) 5 electric heat, yep....A/C 6 floor plywood sheathing (already replaced many bad boards) sheathing will add more stability and a base for cheap carpet 7. install carpet squares (berber type) 8. Drywall 9. Paint I have estimated the remaining cost to be between $6,00 and $7,000 for the remodel to be complete. In the 1990's I had a Packard Bell 386SX computer system that was soaked in water (half the case was full of water) from a runaway toilet that flooded into the basement in a townhome I was renting (1994 I believe). The computer was off when it happened. I was able to dry it out and it worked fine so I am hoping all will be well. Most of the locomotives appeared to be dry while others were slightly damp. mostly their boxes appeared to have taken the most damage. Much of my rolling stock was soaked but I think this will be ok as none had any electronics in them.. I know this could have been far worse and I am counting my blessings. Nevertheless, it was still a bummer.
Bummer, Matt! I've had electronics flooded in the past, and all seemed to survive quite well. I rinsed them with distilled water, which is now $.99 a gallon here, and probably far cheaper years ago. Didn't even use the whole gallon. Double hemis! I still love my Magnum, with its German parts.
Matt, you mind find this useful: http://lifehacker.com/269427/dry-out-your-soaked-gadgets-in-rice I'd offer up my layout for testing, but your stuff would be Horribly Oversized for my track... :tb-tongue: Bummer about the flooding, that was some horrendous rain we had...
Yep, Double Hemis - doing our part to help the poor oil companies stay in business . I may be replacing my 1991 Dodge Dakota in 2011 with a used Ram 1500....with a Hemi . My trusty Dakota is showing her age at 19 years and 270,000 miles. Tracy, That is a great idea about the rice, I may try this with my DCS unit. My stuff is not Horribly Oversized, your track is just too small . I have been tempted to build a small N scale layout (and cheap) if it looks like my attic / train room project will be further delayed. But, I would be looking at the basement.....hmmm no win here I went to the Newport club last night where they run that big HO stuff and the gurus there helped me reassemle the busted up F45. We got it running and seemed to do pretty well. I have to glue the beacon cover back on (easy), reinstall the the front handrails (semi-easy) and fix the rear platform and handrails (challenging as this area was 100% destroyed). also need to replace the couplers as they were also destroyed this should be very easy. More testing will have to be done to verify all is well. This loco will go back on my roster as an extra loco with small transfers and mued with other locos from time to time.
One thing you may consider adding to your homeowner's insurance is a rider specifically for your model railroad collection- I have one for both that and one for computer and photography equipment. I'd suggest documenting with photos anything equipment you may have that you cannot replace, along with receipts for said items if possible. While I have never had the ill luck to use this insurance, it could be a worthwhile small investment that one day when my luck runs out. -George Widener CN Fond du Lac, WI
After you wash the electronics with distilled water, you can also pack them in a bag with rice. The rice will absorb all the moisture out of them and has less chance of causing damage like an oven would. Lots of folks have rescued cell phones that got dunked using that method.
Matt, Don't feel too bad. This is typical picture of my back yard after a storm. Same situation, 100+ year old house, leaky foundation and storm drain issues. About 10 years back when the city was working on the storm drains, they collapsed a pipe, unknown to us. The next big rain storm resulted in 3' of water in my basement. The only thing that kept it from going higher was is topped the hill in the back of the picture and ran into the street. The water was up to the sill of the window just right of the door. Worst thing was, it happened again 2 weeks later when I was out of town and my wife was by herself. Fortunately, we had already emptied the basement and there was nothing left to damage at that point. After some arguing with the city and digging up our front yard, it hasn't made it into the basement again, but the flash storms that have been coming through have us worried every time. The basement was rebuilt and all storage was put on shelves a few inches above the highwater mark. I figure the water can't get any higher than it did because of the overflow of the front yard. Anything stored below the shelves is in rubbermaid tubs and hopefully water tight. The best part of all, we live on top of a hill, over looking a river valley. Not exactly the place to expect a flood.
YIKES!! That is allot of water!! And you are right...who would think of flooding where your house is?
Sorry for your misfortune. I had some of my loco's get flooded when an electric outage took out our sump pump and the basement filled with about a foot of muddy water. I recommend you pick up a few gallons of Distilled water from the drug store. Pour some in a dishpan and clean them off in it, and then rinse them with clean distilled water. Let them dry for a few days. The distilled water will keep any mineral sediment from forming on electrical contacts and minimize the possibility of shorting. Good luck.
I have a cousin who lives in one of the Lake district villages affected by flooding last November. His basement is flooded at regular intervals. Strange thing is, it wasn't on that occasion but other parts of his village were. Strange thing, the weather!!! Regards, Pete Davies
