robert.admin – Page 26 – Robert Raymond’s Blogtorium

April 19, 2024

Netherlands – Day Seven – Mayonnaise and Pot

oke up in Antwerp this AM. Getting in here was an indirect adventure. From about 3am on, we were doing hard thrusting and tight corrections, as well as crashing into occasional locks. It was like we were under hard burn to land at some hidden pirate asteroid base. I lay in bed feeling the boat shiver under thrust and grind against God knows what. But it’s 7am now – the boat is abandoned and I’m sitting in the stern lounge all on my own, having the run of the boat. Already been topside to look at pre-dawn Antwerp, to marvel […]

April 18, 2024

Netherlands – Day Six – Easy sailing

asual day today. Woke up, had a light breakfast with the family (and, as always, other old folk whose names I don’t remember) and then we walked over to the north street market (about a half mile away, just up the road, under the low, century-old railroad bridge, up a couple of cluttered streets, and there it was, filling a church yard with all manner of wares (and, need I mention, keeping a careful eyes for the literal hundred bikes that passed us). This is Amsterdam at its best; a warm sunny April day, a light breeze, the residents out […]

April 17, 2024

Netherlands – Day Five – Boarding Action

‘m listening to sirens. Well, right now I’m listening to the Dutch Youth Choir on the Monarch Baroness, our ship for the next few days. But those aren’t my only sirens, This morning, we woke up to a notice on JB’s phone that our home alarm was going off. And it was five hours out of date. Well, crap. So I called my brother (whom I sell short in every regard, and unjustly, since he really comes through for me). 8 am Amsterdam time is 2am Orlando time. But he drove across town and checked things for us, walking the […]

April 16, 2024

Netherlands – Day Four – Boats and Trains

oday we went on our first official tour of the series, a ride down the canals of Amsterdam on a long, low tour boat. It sure didn’t look like the best day for it – it was cold and windy and raining pretty consistently. We got on the bus, a bunch of boisterous Americans. The counterweight was the charming Dutch woman, our guide who lives here. She was amusing on the ride out, talking about commuting by bicycles in this city (yeah, soul sister!). When we got to the boat, it was coming down heavier – thank goodness it was […]

April 15, 2024

Netherlands – Day Three – Tulips, Houseboats and No Gogh

‘ve got to say that our room here in the Westcord Fashion Hotel is one of the best I’ve ever stayed in. The light panels are a little wonky but the bed is the bomb. Like a cloud. Even while dead-eye awake at 2am with Jet Lag, I was in total comfort. And my new Zen power of falling asleep while meditating worked once again! The day before we’d picked out our careful and deliberate route, all of us buying train passes (well, everyone bought, I paid) for our various activities. The first bit was to ride Tram 1 in […]

April 14, 2024

Day Two – Close Shaves and Camelot (4/2)

e descended like a night raven out of the arctic sky, stuffed to capacity with Vikings and coming in to Reykjavík thirty minutes late. As mentioned earlier, we needed to get through passport control and over to the new flight gate, with a ninety-year-old mom in tow, in one brief hour. And we were in the very back row of our slowly unloading plane. I was already figuring out how to get a following flight after a presumed missed-connection. If I were a betting man, I wouldn’t cover this. I will mention that the man I had simmering hatred for, […]

April 13, 2024

Netherlands – Day One – Vikings (4/1)

think you should go later. Two hours is fine, and we’re so close to the airport.” I was at my brother’s house, having ubered over to stage for the airport. We were there to pick up my mom (90 years old and traveling overseas; what could go wrong?) and also to cage a ride from my brother. “You can hang out here. It’s four and a half hours until flight-time.” Being an wormy early-bird type, I told him I’d rather waste time there than at his house. And really, there was nothing for me to do here anyway. “Okay, okay,” […]

April 13, 2024

Guest OpsLog – Deland – 4/6/2024

Editor/Blogger’s note: Thanks to John DeVasto for recording all that took place at the Deland Train Show while I was swanning around the Netherlands. I have to admit to having lunch at some very nice place and realizing that the crew was currently, six time zones away, assembling the layout. I felt pity. Not guilt, no, but pity. Thanks for the effort, guys, and thanks again to John for the blog! ’m writing to you all in the absence of our chief executive Scribe. For reasons unknown to us he is venturing throughout distant worlds exploring their dimly red lit […]

March 29, 2024

On Sheet – An English (and all over) Dispatching Game

ell, last week I turned up an interesting CTC game for you, free. This week, I found an even more involved dispatching game if you wish to test your merits and see what it’s like to dispatch when there is no model railroad about. Railway Operation Simulator is an interesting bit of freeware that you can pick up HERE. This is more like the old dispatching program that a company named Signal produced years back, where it provides a base for user railroads created with an editor. Looks kinda like this… The divisions you can control are put together by […]

March 28, 2024

OpsLog – CSX Taft – 3/28/2024

ith our influx of new members, it takes a little getting used to: guys showing up at sessions sleep-deprived and/or hung over. Hey, that’s youth. But Chris Strecker invited me to run on his CSX today and after the massive session at the club last night, detailed HERE, we went out with Yardmaster Zack for a late night meal. I just had a beer. But I didn’t get home until 2am and the alarm went off at 7:15am – time to head to breakfast with Chris and then the CSX Taft Yard! So yes, we both looked like used food […]