Blog – Page 237 – Robert Raymond’s Blogtorium

August 29, 2025

OpsLog – LM&O – 8/27/2025

here is a story I read years ago. Deathrow. On one side of the aisle, there is a brute of a man, stupid and blunt. On the other, “The Professor”, an intelligent yet ruthless killer. Tonight, the Professor is going to the chair. A priest stands clear of the bars between the cells, administering to the doomed man’s needs. But the Professor ignores him, facing the far wall, pushing against it, stopping, pushing, stopping. Ignored, the priest asks him why he is doing that. The Professor tells him that he cannot press through the wall because his molecules are colliding […]

August 31, 2025

The Last World War (Review)

ince I now have $500 in store credit at a used bookstore, I decided I had to start spending, so yes, I got a new (used) book. The Last World War was published in 2003 by Dayton Ward. In it, aliens engaged in a civil war find a portal technology that allows them access to Earth (no messy spaceships or giant Martian guns to muck around with). Just walk on through like a door frame (more on this in a bit). One of the portals pops open in a Marine training base in the midwest, where reservists are engaged in […]

September 3, 2025

OpsLog – Tusk Valley – 9/2/2025

??? So, maybe it was the OpsLog title that cued you, Tusk Valley? Or the picture of Espee power working East Tuscarora with one of those signature brown boxcars sitting at door 1 of the freight house? Are you honestly saying that one of the world’s smallest layouts has a new ops location – again? So first there was Tuscarora (officially Tuscarora Branch Line). That was all Pennsy stuff for the first year we ran it. Then it did a cameo as Tusk Hill (an English Midland’s railroad). And then a college kid brought in Tusk Coast (which is the ACL line running down […]

September 7, 2025

Embers of War (Review)

kay, it’s the reader’s osculation, I suppose, for lack of a better phrase. You read a bad book and limp to the conclusion, then follow it with a good book, which becomes a delight (perhaps, in no small part, by comparison). But after limping through a mediocre book, I hit on Gareth L. Powell’s Embers of War and suddenly I have a book I found myself making time for. This story is told from various points of view and begins when five battle cruisers (the Trouble Dog among them – they form a pack of human/canine stem-celled AI to control their ships) […]

September 7, 2025

OpsLog – TBL – 9/6/2025

kay, this one is a tough one to write. This was quite possibly the worst session on record. This one ties that “fault 16” session from years ago. Okay, without naming names: What went wrong? It was pouring rain (in buckets) so everyone was wet and uncomfortable to start. The person we’d organized the session for didn’t make it. One person was a little lax in attention (sorry to call this out) and another faded near the end. The entire session seemed to crater. At the mid-afternoon point, I asked if they wanted to call it – the enthusiasm seemed […]

September 8, 2025

On Sheet – Patience

atience, or forbearance, is the ability to endure difficult or undesired long-term circumstances. Patience involves perseverance or tolerance in the face of delay, provocation, or stress without responding negatively, such as reacting with disrespect or anger. Patience is also used to refer to the character trait of being disciplined and steadfast. I had a bad session on the Tuscarora the other night. It was rainy and a couple of the guys didn’t show up. To be honest, the guy running the scheduled train lost interest in slow and steady train handling, watching for signals and (even when he saw they […]

September 12, 2025

OpsLog – YVRR – 9/11/2025

o it was going to be a busy day – up at 7am. A run over to TRF Hobbies in Melbourne to pick up a gift card for the club Christmas Party. Lunch somewhere (McDonalds, it turned out, but nice anyway). And that evening, I’d have to open the club for the HO committee because nobody’s bothered to get a key (that will change). Turns out while I was there, I mopped, swapped out a dead overhead light and cleaned the toilet bowl (ugh. Some of you need to fit sights on your peters for better aiming). So with all […]

September 14, 2025

Tuf Voyaging (Review)

‘d hung onto this book since 1986, given how I remembered enjoying it. And only when I located it again during the great termite disaster of ’25 did I realize that the author was none other than George R.R. Martin, famed for his “Game of Thrones” series. What did I remember? That cats. So this series of short stories begins with Haviland Tuf, a huge, hairless and chalk-white man of refined vegetarian tastes, aboard his tramp freighter (of the starship variety) with two cats (who are rare in this future galaxy). His current job is to ferry a number of […]

September 21, 2025

OpsLog – WVN – 9/13/2025

o after a nice drive to Tampa with Jeff C, and a cup of Burger King’s signature lukewarm coffee (ugh! Literally a stone-cold overnight pot-sitting blend) we arrived at Greg and Gail’s abode, had a great cup of piping-hot coffee and got down to the business of running trains up and down the wooded hills and tight hollers on the West Virginia Northern. So I spent all of my morning up at Harris, the high-point yard at the top of the Elkview grade. First I came in from Clifton Forge and swapped cars out. Then I picked up the Harris […]

September 21, 2025

OpsLog – OSMR – 9/20/2025

o we got a second session out of the local HO club, who are currently trying to build up their own operations. Tom (their rep and Superintendent) asked us to come over and give it another go. I was very gratified that the boys were excited to get a second session at this very huge HO effort. (Seriously, those modern generation engines feel like bricks to my delicate N-Scale hands. I might have gotten a hernia lifting the power into place). So, not to beat a dead Superintendent but the first session was… well… a first session. Tom was doing […]