robert.admin – Page 45 – Robert Raymond’s Blogtorium

July 16, 2023

OpsLog – Tusk Hill (Annulled) – 7/15/2023

know that Kyle put in a lot of work for the first “true” run of Tusk Hill – instructions, tokens, switchlists, everything. And I know that some people drove a very long way (Jim from St. Augustine and Ben from Celebration, and, taken for granted, Greg from Satellite beach). So we handed out paperwork, got the briefing and began. Jim was working both the coal job and the tally sheet and he seemed to be getting his head around how the Tusk works and how things are represented. Greg was standing by to take the shunter position. I ran up […]

July 14, 2023

On Sheet – Peeps

remember the moment my doctor told me I had cancer. I remember life being normal and then it was not. The next two days I don’t remember at all. And two weeks later, I had to dispatch our club layout. At the time I was the only dispatcher. I seem to recall the guys running flawless. It was a good session. The goofs were minor and we worked around them. But I suspect that if someone did something stupid (it has happened) or back-talked me on the phones (this, also), I’d have lost my total freaking shit. I don’t know […]

July 13, 2023

After words (DOG EAR)

‘m not going to be specific on this event, lest someone spots the post and knows exactly who I am talking about. Be that as it may, my wife and I attend a class every week. It can be pretty difficult but afterwards we reward ourselves and walk across the street to get a pizza. We need to move fast since we finish at 8pm and the joint closes at 9pm. Of course, the waiter knows us so we cut down a lot of ordering time. Thing is, for this class, we had a visiting “export” who always likes to […]

July 9, 2023

ShowLog – Deland – 7/8/2023

e’ll start with wrist-slapping. Over twenty people were supposed to be at setup today. We got a handful. Fortunately the crew we had was top-notch and we had just enough people to get the basic assembly team in action. Others drifted in after the layout was up, siting various reasons (the coo-coo fell off Kyle’s European clock, it seems). We were still nowhere near the numbers we’d been promised. And here is my admonishment – you are only as good as your word. Done. The rest of the train show clicked out as if it had been timetabled. Trains surged […]

July 7, 2023

On Sheet – Divergent Evolutions

didn’t know I was actually setting up an experiment on evolutions of thinking and divergent game science. I was just making a small switching layout. As has been covered here ad nauseam, I’m talking about my own Tuscarora, a layout that started as a 2×4 switching puzzle and has turned into a operations empire. Our last session (NOTED HERE) ran with seven operators over three hours. I’ve given NMRA clinics on the design stage I went through (not preplanned in any way) that I used to come up with operations on this micro layout. Basically, it was basic switching, the […]

July 7, 2023

OpsLog – YVRR – 7/6/2023

fter dragging Jack Ferguson to one of my Tuscarora Sessions, he offered to host me on his own small railroad, the Yosemite Valley RR. Of course, he didn’t quite have operations, but sure, come on out anyway. And I was pleasantly surprised when Greg and I showed up and found out that he’d hustled up some actual trains, filling out their orders (and I’m touched – he adapted the TBL naming conventions). But yes, instead of us standing there oohing and aahing, he put us to work! It just shows (as it always shows) that there is a place in […]

July 6, 2023

Good and Bad Stories (DOG EAR)

as facing a two mile walk home while running (or walking) errands the other day. Decided that talking to a friend on the cell would make the distance shorter and the heat cooler (what?). Rang up a buddy. And he started telling me about his Moby Dick struggle. With a Kia. Really, the whole thing came down to him finding a Kia on an open stretch of road, coasting along in the left lane. For some reason, he found this actionable; he whipped around the other car, slowed a bit (i.e. brake check) and threw a jaunty bird. As I […]

July 2, 2023

The Well of Ascension (Review)

kay, I’ve got to be careful here. Ever since coffeeshop Maddy got me into the first book of the Mistborn series, and railroad friend Ben loaned me the rest, I’ve been yacking this one up to any readers I can corner. As a result, I know at least two friends who are currently working through it. So I’ve got to be careful of spoilers in my review. What I can say is that The Well of Ascension is the second book in Brandon Sanderson’s wonderful series. In it, magic users (who have to be born into it, so no midi-chlorians […]

July 2, 2023

OpsLog – TBL – 7/1/2023

t’s a lazy afternoon in Easton Depot. I’m fanning myself with a timetable, pushing away the humid heat that hangs over Western Pennsylvania. Distantly, a dispatcher who sounds a lot like me tells me that a coal extra is inbound, heading west to Tuscarora and the mines beyond. No orders. Nodding, I kick at the desk-mounted train order lever with my foot, setting the signal to green. Of course he’ll stop anyway, regardless if the signal was green, red or purple. There’s the westbound Easton Turn just airing up at Tuscarora, number 612 on the timetable. So I figure the […]

June 30, 2023

On Sheet – Size and Documentation

o I’m just going out on a ledge here and noting an observation -the smaller your railroad, the more important introductions documentation is. At our club layout, it’s pretty basic. Yard switching information is hung on clipboards near the arrival tracks. Warrants are damn near self-explanatory. Guests who run with us usually need a conductor the first run or two, and then they have it. But if you are running a small layout (and mine is really, really small), you need more documentation to explain what has to happen. In large layouts, there are more sidings and room to sort […]