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

December 24, 2023

Rail Fiction Classics (Review)

swear I borrowed this years ago because when a downsizing friend dumped it in front of me, I snatched it up. So let’s get to it – Rail Fiction Classics carries three sections, as follows: The Nerve of Foley and Other Railroad Stories by Frank Spearman in 1900: Written in the time and phrase of the turn of the last century, these quick tales pretty much cover the same storyline; a railroad in crisis (strike, excess cargo, winter storms) and the frantically brave engineers who have to fight these impediments to get their train to its destination (or die, occasionally, […]

December 23, 2023

OpsLog – CSX Taft – 12/22/2023

he good thing about microlayouts (if you consider a 3×8 a “micro”) is that a session can be set up and hosted in quick order. So that’s what my friend Chris did – he asked me if on Thursday if we wanted to run on Friday and I said (of course) yes (is there any other answer?). And run we did. I might have mentioned this before, but Chris has a great small layout. Essentially there are four trains each day between Jacksonville and Miami. Each train takes six laps to complete a run. Each lap represents a different Florida […]

December 22, 2023

On Sheet – The Tragedy of Tuscarora

sat down to run my Tuscarora at the club (where I keep it). It was a slow night so I ran it myself, a one-man job. Details are HERE. As mentioned, at the end of the session, the control tower with its computerized lever control died again. Since then, the engineer who constructed it has been over and picking through it. Unfortunately, it’s not the same problem (a bad solder joint) as the last time. We spent a couple of hours fussing over it. Right now he’s in “thinking” mode. He’s sent me some more questions about the failures (I’ll […]

December 21, 2023

Carol & The Blog (DOG EAR)

atching an interesting show on NetFlix – Carol and the End of the World. It’s animated and interesting – I’ve only seen three episodes so far so I won’t be spoiling much. So all we know is that some sort a massive body in space (a planetoid or something) is moving towards Earth and will destroy it in seven months. And so everyone is fulfilling their dreams and living life to the fullest. Happily, there is very little rioting or freaking out (the only evidence are broken windows and national guard tanks outside the supermarket – with bored guardsmen running […]

December 21, 2023

OpsLog – TBL – 12/20/2023

uick post – tonight Steve played with the tower and had it crashing routinely, until it stopped crashing. After he left, I put the cars on and using an old sheet I’d stored in my locker some time ago, I ran a full session. Since I needed to test the tower, I did both leverman and freight engineer. What made it a pain was that to keep the aisle open, I had to run from the side (where the tower is usually bolted on). This meant that any uncoupling I had to do, I had to get out of my […]

December 18, 2023

OpsLog – Hartford Division – 12/17/2023

kay, so, outside of the tacos… Smiles. Threatened the host I was going to start my trash-out blog this way. So outside of the tacos, the whole session was a shambles. Trains ran on a time scale that seemed arbitrary because it was arbitrary. The host, a.k.a. “King Chronos”, could make it any time he wished. So a timetable in these situations is like a constitution under a despot. We were his pawns, dancing to his tune. Okay, not that I fake-bashed him (though the time complain is true), let’s get on with the blog. We were worried going […]

December 17, 2023

Fool’s War (Review)

n interesting scifi from the used shelves at the local bookseller. Every ship in space takes weeks, even months, to get somewhere. Ships don’t stay staffed; they hire up most of the professionals they will need before each trip. And in Fool’s War, one of the professionals you need is a “fool”, that being a professional jester, guild certified, who comes aboard and does Tomfoolery for the benefit of the crew – you’ll even get a rating bonus if you do. So the Pasadena, captained and partially owned by the very Turkish, very Muslim Katmer Al Shei, is setting out […]

December 15, 2023

On Sheet – the Fox, the Rabbit and the Cabbage

here is an old logic problem. You are traveling to market with the following items, a fox, a rabbit and a cabbage. You get to a deep stream and there is a tiny boat on the shore, just large enough for you and one item. You can ferry each of your possessions across – one at a time – but note that if left alone, the fox will eat the rabbit and the rabbit will eat the cabbage. Can you work this logic problem out so everything is safely across? Switching is like this. I’ve switched on model railroads since […]

December 14, 2023

OpsLog – TBL – 12/13/2023

not-so-good solo run on the Tuscarora last night. The original plan was to run a session by myself before the club. But I just started a really good book and didn’t want to break away from it. Read for a while, went to the club, showed guests around, helped out here and there, and finally (about 9:30 when most people had gone home) I set up a session and ran the default position. The basic reason was that I’d just gotten my SW-7 back from the shop and wanted to make sure it ran well. I mean, one guy running. […]

December 14, 2023

Backup Blogs (DOG EAR)

his blog on books, media and our perceptions is a labor of love. It is not monetized in any way. I don’t make any money off it (in fact, I pay out the nose to support it (and the blogs aren’t free, either)). No ads pop up. I don’t beg for likes and subscribes. I just like writing it and occasionally someone tells me they enjoyed what I have written. So it’s worked out so far. Then came this “paperwork thing” I’ve had to do. The National Model Railroad Association has a series of achievement programs where, if you get […]