robert.admin – Page 241 – Robert Raymond’s Blogtorium

May 7, 2011

OpsLog – Southeast Virginia Division – 5/7/2011

Imagine two railroads, competitors forced by narrow river valley geography to wiggle together like snakes in a drain pipe. That gets you in the spirit for John Wilkes’ Southeast Virginia Division, a joint operation of the L&N and Southern Railroads. Its really neat to dispatch – the two lines cross and recross each other, actually sharing a long section of right-of-way. When two dispatchers work it, they have to clear such moves back and forth, keeping the traffic rolling but not into each other. Today we were short (pregnancies and diarrhea cut back our staff). I ran both desks. Great […]

May 5, 2011

Copyright

I’d always been told that the “poor man’s copyright” worked. That you could carefully wrap up, stamp up, and mail a hardcopy of your work to yourself. Then, in the midst of a courtroom struggle you could present this bomb right on the stand. “Let the record reflect…” RIIPPPP “that the package dated last year contains a copy of the word in question, posted by the author, sent to the author!” Nice fantasy, anyway. A couple of weeks ago, the newspaper (remember those, kiddies? Better google it) had a piece about copyright and how the poor man copyright didn’t mean […]

May 1, 2011

Signal Maintainer 2

Why do I do this to myself? I’ve built two small layouts and worked on our club layout for years. I’ve wired and rewired as parts failed and needed replacing. There were all sorts of problems in my last ops session – four failing Radio Shack toggles as detailed HERE. The first two (in Salinas) I replaced quickly. The next two in King City… I put off. For months. Every night I was too tired, something came up, whatever. For the last two weekends I’ve been meaning to do it. Never got to it. So finally, like Black Bart of Blazing Saddles, […]

April 30, 2011

Tales from Earthsea (review)

Let’s just put it out onto the table – I’m a Miyazaki fan. I loved Porco Rosso and Kiki’s Delivery Service. I’ve got many of his movies on the shelf. This latest effort, Tales from Earthsea, comes from his son Goro Miyazaki. This film heralds in a new Studio Ghibli, a darker one with more details. At the beginning of the flick, we sense that everything is wrong, that harvests are off, that fevers are taking livestock, that magic no longer works, that dragons (largely unseen) are fighting. And then, the most horrifying moment of all, the boy who will […]

April 29, 2011

Gilmore Girls / Jericho (opinion)

My mom and dad got us to first watch Gilmore Girls. If you were like me (without the benefit of my folks) and didn’t know anything about it, Gilmore Girls was a chick flick show that ran on TV for seven years. Lorelai Gilmore is the quirky single mom. Rory is her tenacious daughter. Stars Hollow, the town, is a bedlam of kooky characters. We ended up watching all seven season (which, at an hour per show, is a solid week of tears and laugher. Sigh). Now we are watching Jericho, a show about a Midwestern town struggling after the […]

April 27, 2011

OpsLog – LM&O – 4/27/2011

The problem with operations on a huge model railroad is, well, operations on a huge model railroad. It takes 15 people to run this thing. We might be able to double a couple of jobs but it takes some juggling. So I was already feeling like we might be understaffed when my dispatcher called in sick. Then another guy canceled. Got to dinner tonight and there were only three other guys at the table (some ops night there are a dozen). I was figuring we might manage a reduced session, or mother-may-I, or just sit around and yack. So the […]

April 25, 2011

OpsLog – Nebraska Division – 4/25/2011

Good to be in the dispatcher’s seat after a month away. I had the dual line Nebraska Division; UP trains on the low line, BNSF on the high. Things were running hot. My usual trouble spots weren’t. Most of the locals were on their way back. I figured the rest of the session was smooth sailing. How a cork can sneak up on us. Two BNSF freights coming down the long hill from Denver, nose to tail. I gave them clearance to Holeridge, no problem. Then a fast passenger train pops up on the grade approaching Denver. Hmmm. I duck […]

April 23, 2011

Italy – Day Eight – Arrivederci

The train would leave at 2:30pm for Rome. It was our last day in Venice. No solid plans; we wanted to see our beautiful town one last time. Boarded a water bus for San Marco Plaza (if you are going for a final stroll, what better place?). Worked our way down the Grande Canal, smiling at the newbie tourists shooting everything and anything with their cameras – what a difference a few days made. Stepped onto the ancient paving, walking slowly through the plaza one last time (careful not to pass between the pillars). Listened the the cries of the […]

April 23, 2011

Italy – Day Seven – High Art

I dreamed of Charlotte airport, of the TSA checks, their purple cloaks, of the power imposed by the Imperial presidencies and of simple brute force. I could hear the screams, smell the smoke… Actually, I was standing in the Gallerie dell’ Accademia, a beautiful collections of paintings running from the middle ages until the Renaissance. Quite interesting see how the crucifixion, the rebirth, all those moments were captured and presented over the long centuries. The picture shown here, attributed to US customs in Charlotte (soon enough I’d face that horror) was actually the Destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem by […]

April 21, 2011

Italy – Day Six – Beads and Lace

Our water-bus chugged through the early morning mist, rounding the point and easing down the north face of Venice on its way towards the lagoon islands. I was standing in the central open area, minding my business when suddenly something warm settled over my foot. I looked down to see a good-sized dog leaning against my leg. I didn’t move, content just to watch him (and snap a picture). At the final Venice stop, his master stepped from the boat and the dog obediently followed him onto the dock without a glance back. I watched his departure with a melancholy […]