Blog – Page 196 – Robert Raymond’s Blogtorium

April 20, 2023

Domination with Syllables (DOG EAR)

noticed that a lot of people, for whatever political, societal or self-aggrandizing agendas they are promoting, dominate a conversation with syllables. Syllables require a specific sound, slowing down conversation and stalling the dialog on their very important word. I first noticed this when people started bragging about their monstrous fuel-sucking leviathans, the sport-utility-vehicle. The SUV. Say this out loud: “I just purchased a new SUV.” Notice how much speaking the last word locks the conversation there, making you wait for them to relinquish speaking to you (if only that you can praise their consumptive consumerism). This isn’t just that. It […]

April 21, 2023

On Sheet – It don’t come easy

get a lot of complements (and bragging rights) from my dispatching. I’ve sat down cold in many, many sessions and made the railroad jump. I’m blessed at being good at something I really enjoy. But it didn’t come easy. Sure, years ago I was the hot-shot dispatcher in the Orlando Round Robin group (the big fish in the poop pond). Most of our dispatching was mother-may-I (which is a very simple way of dispatching where the dispatcher tells the trains (often by the engineer’s first name) where to go and what to do). If you are just starting out (or […]

April 23, 2023

Triton (Review)

riton is a moon orbiting Neptune. It is also the setting for a scifi story set hundreds of years in the future. So our main character is a young male ex-prostitute from a very repressive Mars, a fact which figures into who is is. With a name like Bron (specifically, Bron Helstrom), does anyone see the wordplay? Tall and Nordic, Bron has traveled to Triton, a utopia world where you can be who you want, dorm in mixed couple settings, homosexual settings, whatever you like. If your sexual tastes are not to your liking, you can easily change them. If […]

April 27, 2023

OpsLog – LM&O – 4/26/2023

t was the end of a long month for me – nearly broke my neck and possibly ending up dead, paralyzed, or worse. Overall, it was as if I’d been bashed over the head with a slab of asphalt. While it’s getting better, it still hurts. And my dispatcher-in-training become an employee-in-awol, with the club placing second to Disney, of all things. I’d just wanted to maybe find a small local to curl up for the evening with, just bumping boxcars about. Instead, I had to run the main office, routing trains and keeping things right. To make matters worse, […]

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 […]

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 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 […]

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 […]

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 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 […]