robert.admin – Page 48 – Robert Raymond’s Blogtorium

May 28, 2023

Mistborn (Review)

his one was a recommendation by our favorite barista Maddy, a book of high fantasy in a world so bleak it is really not to be believed. The thing is, magic works, but only after a fashion. There are eleven metals that a misting (who can use one) or mistborn (who can use them all) employ for basic spells. But here is the interesting part – the metals are swallowed by these mages, and their bellies burn them, so that’s what fuels the magic. It’s really wild and craftily done, this set of magic rules that make this fantasy world […]

May 26, 2023

On Sheet – TimeFable

lot of layout owners, when they start setting up for ops, build a timetable. Sure, it’s fun since now all those trains have numbers, go places, do things. But is it necessary? Yes, a timetable can allow you to make sure your flow works, that there are enough sidings for trains to meet, do work and whatnot. You can build sequential operations out of a timetable. And, of course, you can hang it on the wall and smile at it. But if you are running your railroad under warrants, CTC (centralized traffic control, i.e. with signals) or mother-may-I (verbal orders […]

May 25, 2023

OpsLog – LM&O – 5/24/2023

hey came from beyond high orbits, disk-like vessels that slid into the atmosphere, nudging past Chinese spy balloons, descending over an unsuspecting America. On their steel underbellies, access ports irised open and the cold muzzles of alien devices slid forth, tracking along the faint railline running across the eastern mountains. These were no deathrays, no, nor atomizers or any one of traditional alien destructo-beams. These were capture rays, used to pluck fishermen out of rowboats and yahoos out of cornfields. The aliens had come with capture on their vast, cool, unsympathetic minds. Their plans were carefully considered. The first beam […]

May 25, 2023

Big CDs, keep on turning… (DOG EAR)

ad to do that mom-snowbird thing, driving her up the North Carolina from Florida. This time, I decided to take a road trip after dropping her off. My sister Pat was gracious enough to allow me her Prius and so off I went, running up from Beach Mountain to Columbus Ohio (to pay respects to my father). And then out to Waynesburg, PA to see the site of where my model train layout is set (and covered HERE). And then back. The first and third leg were seven to eight hours each, and the crossbrace leg would be three. I […]

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 […]