robert.admin – Page 24 – Robert Raymond’s Blogtorium

July 19, 2024

On Sheet – The Worst Sort

ith the withdraw of Covid and the resumption of the economy, our train club membership is booming. Our ops are packed now and there is a certain level of stress to be found in the tight aisle spaces and the large number of newbie operators unable to follow simple warranted instructions (and, of course, leaving turnouts open – it’s like sweeping for mines). But then there are the potential new members that are less than desirable. I’ll keep this purposefully vague. We had a couple tells us they were willing to join, along with their young child. That’s great – […]

July 19, 2024

OpsLog – TBL – 7/19/2024

t was an interesting way to pull together a session. I asked around but everyone was going on vacation. Then I thought I’d run solo Thursday after a cancer-status-check with my surgeon; he’s all the way down in Celebration (and for people who don’t know about that, well, given Interstate 4 traffic, that’s like saying “He’s on the other side of the D-Day invasion”). Then I thought, no, maybe I’ll just go to my local coffee shop and veg. Then young Zeus who is going off to school started in on me.It was all that “How about this day? How […]

July 14, 2024

Night on the Galactic Railroad (Review)

his is an interesting collection of the works of Kenji Miyazawa, the son of a Japanese pawnbroker who wrote in the early 1900s. His stories and interesting mixes of astronomy and whimsy, tales of troubled heroes under starry skies. My favorite, one of the oddest of the bunch, is the story of Signal and Signal-less, a tale of lovers separated by an insurmountable distance of a hundred yards. You see, “Signal” is a train signal on a modern main line, while “Signal-less” is a signal on a nearby branch line. They are both rooted in their spots but can only […]

July 14, 2024

ShowLog – Deland – 7/13/2024

o the show day started auspiciously. First, I got panhandled by a bum outside the donut shop at 5:30am : “Gimme a donut”. Then, in the pre-dawn darkness, I swung into the fairgrounds access road only to find a gate closed against me – I skidded and stopped in time, but if I’d hit that chainlink mesh I could have severely strained myself. Then it was touch and go, getting the trailer down the right road to the dock so we could get ready to set up. But Jeff handled it eighteen-foot show barge right onto the spot, we had […]

July 12, 2024

On Sheet – Coventry

he term Coventry, besides being a town that Winston sacrificed, is also a place you send someone to. It refers to the practice of deliberately ostracizing someone who won’t follow rules. You don’t speak to them. You don’t look at them. You freeze them out. Recently it’s been a thought in my head. We have a member of our operations group who has a habit of berating dispatchers when he doesn’t see his “passenger” or “manifest” trains moving quickly enough. Yes, it’s nice to have all that railroady stuff when lines are under direct control (warrants and CTC) where “lessor” […]

July 11, 2024

The Rockford Historical Files (DOG EAR)

ack in my college days in the early, early eighties, a roommate of mine could often be found in the living room, watching a late night rerun of The Rockford Files. It had only just been cancelled and he was a fan. For those who don’t know what this is, it was a series from 1974 to 1980. The story centers on Jim Rockford (played laconically by James Garner), an LA private investigator who lives in a rusted trailer sitting in beach-side public parking. He gets in all sorts of jams, uses charisma to sometimes get out of them, and […]

July 10, 2024

OpsLog – TBL – 7/9/2024

o it’s the day after. I’m sitting in the local coffee house with a cup of joe, looking all urbane and cool. And it’s hard to sip coffee with this big mother-loving smile on my face. We had a great session last night. The Tusk has been down for a couple of months with computer problems. The interlocking tower would either fail to boot or, after an innocent start, suddenly fail catastrophically. I have people who drive a hundred miles to attend. I can’t risk getting them out here for an annulled session. Thanks and praise goes to designer Steve […]

July 7, 2024

Monstrous Regiment (Review)

o yes, this was the book I gave to the young girl with the hankering for female-orientated fantasy, as detailed HERE. In this Terry Pratchett Diskworld novel, the small, pious and stupid country of Borogravia has declared was on just about everyone. They block the roads and burn down the Clack towers. And this state of endless “police actions” have depopulated much of their country of fine young men and produced many widows. Young Polly works in her father’s tavern yet she wonders about her brother who marched off to war just last year. There were one or two heavily […]

July 5, 2024

On Sheet – Far side of the Moon

‘ve been in our club since a couple of months after its informal creation, nearly forty years ago. And in that time, I’ve noticed a number of things about clubs and model railroaders. Watch out for storytellers. They will saw your ears off. I will saw your ears off. There are always engines better than yours, and always engines worse than yours. Be happy with what you’ve got. When you dinner with these guys, there is always someone who is generous, possibly picking up your check to reciprocate for something you’ve done. And there is someone who always “forgets their […]

June 30, 2024

OpsLog – LM&O (Saturday Night Special) – 6/29/2024

man distinguished in his tweed jacket and ennobled by his bald spot puffs his pipe briefly before facing the camera. “Good evening. I’m your host and dispatcher Robert Raymond, club gopher and blogger for Orlando N-Trak club. And tonight, I bring you The Leigh, Monongahela and Ohio Review. This episode is titled A Study in Contrasts. “Moving westbound, imagine two sections of passenger 97. In First 97, we have plucky Pete F, an engineer new to Time Table and Train Order operations, enthusiastic to the point of running a bit ahead of his time, knowing he’s got a large five […]