robert.admin – Page 234 – Robert Raymond’s Blogtorium

May 25, 2011

OpsLog – LM&O – 5/25/2011

I’m running up the long hill towards Harris Glen, “66” glowing on my E-8’s number boards, the cool air flowing down my passenger train’s orange and red livery. It’s a busy night on the line – lots of activity around Pittsburgh when I pulled out. People standing around the phones, waiting for warrants. The railroad is pretty jammed with numerous extras out on the iron. But that’s Bob’s problem. Tonight, the usual dispatcher gets to run! Ahead of me, I can just make out the tight siding at Harris where the caboose of overdue 202 is just, only just getting […]

May 23, 2011

Name dropping

I’ve got a Road ID, which, as you can see from the link, is a handy corpse-tag that goes around your wrist, helpful to paramedics and morgue workers to figure out what to do with what’s left of you after a motorist boo-boos you. It velcros fast and contains my name and contact numbers (and that I don’t have any allergic reactions). Nice to have. Until it fell off – somewhere along Fridays’ ride in, it somehow came loose. Got to work, it wasn’t on my wrist. Backtracked to the loading dock, it wasn’t there. Got home and checked around […]

May 22, 2011

OpsLog – Chicago & NorthWestern – 5/22/2011

I’m pretty down as I push the throttle to Run 3, getting the cut of colorful billboard reefers moving out of Chicago, my SP geeps clattering west over sunlit rails. I’m through Proviso, banging over the switch points, swinging onto the left-running main. As the train strings out, I sort through my waybills, not that it matters. I’m train 105 west, last train of the session, last session for this layout. Richard’s downsizing from this house, moving to an apartment. No room for this pike. I’d like to say I was somber, that memories were flashing through my head as […]

May 22, 2011

Birthing agonies

I’m really getting tired of this POD (print on demand) world. The first time around, when I did the agent-publisher deal, it was so easy. I signed a contract, the publishers changed the cover without telling me, they gave me a single day to review the final cut, and then the publisher died as it hit the shelf, the company went into chapter seven and I didn’t get a dime. Nice and straightforward. This POD stuff is supposed to be easy. I signed onto CreateSpace and then got a book about it. Found out well into the book that CS […]

May 21, 2011

OpsLog – Central Georgia RR – 5/21/2011

Conflict is part of the drama of being human. It runs through our lives and our literature. Even in model railroad ops, where we all work in a make-believe world, all working towards the same successful economic conclusion (efficient transportation), there is conflict. Crews have to vie for the dispatcher’s limited time. The dispatcher juggles scarce resources (sidings and time) to get trains over the road. Even in the operations arena, the players are trying to do the best job, if only for the cred it brings, the ego boost, the possibility of further invites. It’s all about efficiency, which […]

May 21, 2011

Rapture

From the silly radio dramma of Captain Kemmen of Star Core. A bomb is about to detonate, one that cannot be stopped and will destroy the entire universe. Three… Two… One… (long pause) Carla: “Well, isn’t that amazing… Heaven is just like that room we were just in.” Happy Rapture Day, you silly holy-rollers.

May 18, 2011

Forced Perspective

Got assaulted (as Oddball said about Tiger Tanks) by traffic the other day. This caused me to toss a hypothetical onto Facebook, a trick question with a tripwire rant-trap. Thus: Assume there is a new law where if you struck and injured a bicyclist with your car, your oldest child would have the same injuries surgically introduced to their body. So, would you drive any safer? The answer should be, no, I’m driving as carefully as I can, and I treat every cyclist with the same care as I would my own family. The instinctive answer – Yes – would […]

May 15, 2011

OpsLog – Nebraska Division – 5/15/2011

It’s been a rather uneventful shift on the dispatcher panel. Sunday afternoon and I’m sitting upstairs while the boys roll through North Platte and Denver. On my laptop control panel, I track them across the division – it’s brisk but if you keep the plates spinning fast, they never slow down. Nearly 4pm now (almost midnight in the simulated world). Got a couple of trains rolling up the hill towards Denver and the Denver local running home to Bailey Yard. Two BNSF runs are merging in, looking for trackage rights west. Things are suddenly tensing up all along the western […]

May 15, 2011

Eden

Before 2004, our side yard was shaded by twin oaks and lush with ferns. In the evenings, it was nice to sit on the deck and watch Prince (our huge black-and-white Persian) blast upwards like Shamu in pursuit of geckos. With 2004 came Hurricane Charlie, a killer storm that missed us by 2 miles. The oaks were toppled. The ferns that were not crushed directly by the trees or their subsequent removal burned off in the sun. Weeds began to take over the lot. We tried everything. We whacked and cut. I planted rows of corn but the bugs ate […]

May 9, 2011

Opslog – Longwood & Sweetwater – 5/9/2011

It’s feast or famine with ops attendance sometimes. This weekend’s session, we had a number of no-shows. Tonight the L&S looked like a popular nightclub – the room was packed, close, and very hot. Trains were going out with two-man crews (or husband-and-Kimmy crews) to get their work done. I crossed my name off the engineer’s list, picking instead to run over to Hunt Club with Engineer Steve. He was an old hand at ops, so mostly my job was keeping the paperwork straight and lining turnouts from a distant panel. Easy enough. We clattered home with plenty of time. […]