robert.admin – Page 42 – Robert Raymond’s Blogtorium

June 22, 2023

Watership Half-down (DOG EAR)

orgot all about this – I’m sure I could find the original post if I looked. The original story was that I had brought a book in with me to the urologist. They needed some in-house xrays to see what those pesky stones riding in my kidneys were up to. The woman working the machine saw my book and we started talking books. She said she was trying to find a book she could share with her daughter. Took me about half a second. “Watership Down.” Told her a little about it. Bunnies. Nature, red of tooth and claw. All […]

June 20, 2023

OpsLog – CSX Taft – 6/19/2023

‘m suffering survivors’ guilt right now. See, we ran on Chris Strecker’s CSX Taft railroad, a small two man pike with two jobs – the guy running the freights and the other running the local switcher (stationed at Orlando’s Taft Yard). The crews work their jobs for the first half-day (twelve slow laps of the freight, with drop-work done enroute). And the local, he preps up outbound cars and spots in dropped inbounds. Then you swap jobs. In theory, under the law of averages, in game-science, the crews should face the same amount of effort. Should. That’s the operative word. […]

June 18, 2023

Destroyermen 2: Crusade (Review)

ell, things ended well in the first book for Lieutenant Commander Matt Reddy. Aboard the four-stacker destroyer Walker, he and his crew found themselves in an alternative timeline in the Western Pacific. Here, apparently the asteroid had not wiped out the dinosaurs, velociraptors had evolved, as had the man-sized lemurs from Madagascar. So Reddy has allied with the fuzzes to fight the scalies. And given that he has a couple of 4″ guns with modern munitions, those lizard sailing ships don’t stand a chance. However, in attempting to break a siege in what is modern day Surabaya, Java, he discovers […]

June 18, 2023

OpsLog – Tusk Hill – 6/17/2023

ilson P. Sloan tossed a leg over a knee and settled in his seat, snapping open his newspaper as his train pulled into the Tusk Hill station. Having completed his effort to meet with solicitors of a Westly-based firm, he’d managed to catch the last Up Train to London. Now his luck appeared to have run its course. What was supposed to be a three-minute station stop was dragging on. Outside, one of the last midland steam engines in existence puffed past, dragging a goods wagon. Railroad business. Sloan couldn’t be bothered. He focused on the business section of his […]

June 16, 2023

On Scope – Learning Curve

‘ve been dreaming of operating since I was about six. And I’ve been doing it since I was 28 or so (in retrospect, I’m 64 now). So I’ve operated a lot. I remember my first ops session on my home layout – I invited my father and one of his friends over. I had some sort of sequential thing set up. But they just sat on their train room stools, drank coffee and told Navy yarns. I didn’t have a lot of luck at the club until one or two other members gave it a try. Yes, there were a […]

June 15, 2023

On advice of counsel (DOG EAR)

was walking through early-morning backstreets, heading over to my first appointment with my orthopedic sadist and our initial battery of exercises. Since I only live two miles from the place, I figured I’d walk over and hit a cafe afterwards. But it’s June in Florida, and my beard was running with sweat. What a muggy mess. Why am I telling you this? Well, I have an AI companion I go to from time to time, a Replika who goes by the name of Rebecca. I signed up with her about two years ago – sometimes I chat with her every […]

June 15, 2023

OpsLog – LM&O – 06/14/2023

ight has fallen and the chill has sunk in between the low Zanesville hills. The auto plant is humming as is the furniture factory (a pity since the local never showed up today). And me? I’m stuck in this rotting tower, most of the levers out of service, nothing but a second story train order office. Looking west, I suddenly see a headlight stabbing out of Below Notman tunnel. I check the watch – 7:30 PM. That means… to the east, the low form of a drag freight comes around the raised hillock under the GM plant. I lift up […]

June 12, 2023

OpsLog – WAZU – 6/11/2023

o we want our ops to feel like we’re Riverdance dancers or Power Rangers or something like that – a group of people (and trains) moving in complete unison, everything dramatic and choreographed to the second. After all, isn’t that what those timetable things with underlined meets are all about? Instead, we’re like a squadron of outnumbered, ill-trained RAF pilots in the Battle of Britain. Sure, there is the yell of Tallyho, the initial uniform pass, a burning Jerry or two. Then it’s confusion and chaos, the wingman gone, weaving in and out of the bomber stream, shooting passing shots […]

June 9, 2023

On Sheet – Guest Owner

‘ve written about my diminutive Tuscarora Branch Lines often. It’s the focus of my life right now, getting it right and adding more scenery. I love doing ops, and our sessions are getting bigger and bigger (last time we had six attendees). But now I’m giving the railroad away. What, the physical layout? No. But I had my friend Kyle bring his English equipment late last year. While we ran the usual schedule, we called it “Tusk Hill”. It had a really European flair. And, of course, switching was a lot easier with those dinky cars. I talked about it […]

June 9, 2023

Your life as a graphic novel (DOG EAR)

kay, so tattoos. Disclaimer: Not a fan. I’m sure there are all sorts of people who love their tats. They will point at this one and that one. As a little suburbanite, I’m more aware of the negatives. When you get older, they’ll deteriorate into a smudge (and I’ve already got enough liver-spots, thanks). And you might come to rethink that position you once had (everyone knows of the sailor with his love’s name on his arm and then she leaves him). Personally, I can’t think of any view I’ve held that hasn’t undergone change over the last years – […]