robert.admin – Page 44 – Robert Raymond’s Blogtorium

May 22, 2023

OpsLog – WAZU – 5/21/2023

o there were four levels of operational expertise in our long, busy and fun session at the Union Pacific WAZU (for whatever reason it’s called that, nobody knows. But it simulates the line between Spokane to Portland). First off, there is the remarkable effort by AJ to sit on the dispatcher’s panel and run this very busy line for four hours. I’ve done it, and while the dispatching is straight-forwards, the communications aren’t the best, the crews don’t OS as well as they could, and it’s a long session. But AJ wanted to try and he was on his own […]

May 20, 2023

Alien Chronicles: The Crimson Claw (Review)

o this is book two of the Alien Chronicles, a short series Lucasfilms authorized (or whatever, I don’t know the arrangement) for a scifi story that could have been sometime in the StarWars universe but not directly in it. So what’s that mean – if you have a circular area that represents StarWars (with Jedis and Tie Fighters and Banthas) then this series is somewhere (or somewhen) outside it? Okay, we’ll go with that. So in the first section, reviewed HERE, we had feline Ampiris banished from the court and her mistress’s side (her mistress being the queen-in-waiting-for-dad-to-die). Right now, […]

May 19, 2023

On Sheet – Recon mission

wo weeks ago, I left you all for my pilgrimage-slash-recon mission to Waynesburg, Pennsylvania as detailed HERE. This was an interesting yet backward way to do things – rather than pick an actual place to model, I picked a fictitious place and then based it (oh, very loosely) on an actual place. I know that in the 60’s (when I model) the place had a number of industrial sidings and even as small three-track yard just west of town (possibly a coal marshaling area). But I didn’t know what how steep the hills where, or the colors of the rocks […]

May 18, 2023

OpsLog – CSX Taft – 5/18/2023

feel kinda bad about this one. See, my friend’s CSX Taft railroad has a job change-over. One guy takes the mainline freight, another runs the local. Twelve-hour shifts, lots of fun. So I started on the switcher and started working to get set for the north bound before working the southbound. I was like one of those guests that eat you out of house and home, then belch loudly. I thought the outcard box was for the shift, not the entire session. So I selected a bunch of pickups (allowed) and then noticed “easy to grab” cars that were also […]

May 6, 2023

On Sheet – Pilgrimage

ust letting you blog-followers know I won’t be around next week. I’m going on a pilgrimage. See, twice a year I gotta help my mom snowbird between North Carolina (in the middle of frigging nowhere) and Daytona Beach (too much not nowhere). It’s what oldest sons do (but my sister can fill in in a pinch). Anyway, this time (going up), I’m spending a few days traveling around Ohio and Pennsylvania. The former is family obligations, the latter is to see my layout in living, breathing greatness. When we first set up the Tuscarora, I said I wanted it based […]

May 4, 2023

And Book Parole (DOG EAR)

mentioned last week about a book I picked up from the used bookstore, RailSea. I didn’t have a solid idea of what I was going to do with this fine book I’d rescued. Like my sister and her kitty-placement efforts, I wanted to get it a good home. I had an idea but it still hadn’t gelled yet. But then JB and I wandered over to Framework, one of our favorite coffeehouses. And that day, our favorite barista was crushing the beans. I need to find out her name but she’s always flashing a smile a and taking interest in […]

May 1, 2023

OpsLog – TBL – 4/30/2023

n the dispatcher’s office, just above the 1962 bikini-girl calendar (which covers the official PRR one), the clock ticks 2:00pm. “OS Easton. Coal extra 8520 West is clear at 2pm” I look at the radio. The coal extra is running towards Tuscarora? But.. “OS Westly, WE-2 clear at 2pm.” My stomach tightens. I gulp an antacid. Both trains are racing towards each other for a meet at Tuscarora. Even though there is an interlocking system there, those trains should be carrying a meet order, just to be safe. This is cutting it really close. I grab the phone and call […]

April 30, 2023

Rogue Ship (Review)

his one was a used book from the 60s, a reworked combination of three short stories author A.E. Van Vogt compiled. And I hate to say it, but it was really a painful read. From the back cover, it looked interesting – a generation ship on it’s way to Centaurus with twenty years behind it and ten years in front of it starts to lose focus. Mutiny is brewing in the below decks, and some of the explorers want to turn for home (okay, that caused a little red flag – wouldn’t turning about a slow generation ship burn more […]

April 28, 2023

On Sheet – String Theory

e’ve talked all about simulating how trains run, how timetables are read and how TT&TO, Warrants, all those things work. But there you are in your layout room, looking at your yards and staging tracks, your passing sidings and goods yards, and you find yourself thinking, “So just how do I figure out a timetable in the first place?” The answer, my friend, are String Diagrams. From a posting or two blogs ago, an online friend noted that he uses a string diagram to run his railroad. I’ve even mentioned that I use something very much like a string diagram […]

April 27, 2023

Book Rescue (Dog Ear)

was in a used bookstore the other night (a Sunday night after the shop had closed and the owner wasn’t around – don’t ask). Nosed around the scifi section as I am wont to do. And there was RailSea, one of my favorite China Mieville novels. And here’s my review from when it first hit the stands in 2012. RailSea Revew So there I am in a darkened bookstore, where books that might be orphaned, unloved, old, gifted or simply given up on end up. And yes, I’ve floggedd RailSea to a lot of friends (even bought a copy for […]