Blog – Page 247 – Robert Raymond’s Blogtorium

June 26, 2026

OpsLog – LM&O – 6/24/2026

o I’m sitting in the cab of trusty 4263, perhaps the cleanest engine of the SP fleet. I’ve got my cup of coffee. I’ve got my warrant out. From behind me, I can smell the rust and powdered limestone dust off the empty hoppers, bound for Hidden Spur. In the distant tower, the leverman works. The exit dwarf goes green. I reach for the throttle. And then it’s lights out as someone hits me in the back of the head with a bag full of dried track erasers. I come to on the ballast of… squinting… Martin Yard. My engines […]

June 26, 2026

OpsLog – YVRR – 6/25/2026

o this is supposed to be a blog about an op session. But I need to mention what happened before… TravelToOpsLog – After brunch with the wife at the local coffee shop, I hit the road at 11:30 am, heading to Jack F’s Yosemite Valley Railroad. I’d meet another member there for a small three-man session. I’ve run it before and it’s lots of fun. So before leaving the parking lot, I put in my earbuds (please disregard, any FHP-readers), fired up my audible player and hit the road. I was just settling into the story and picking up speed on […]

June 28, 2026

Carthage – A New History (Review)

kay, I have to mention that this book came to me in a strange way, and nearly left in another strange way. I became aware of this while driving home from Tampa, listening to NPR (because, God Sakes, what else is there to listen to at Plant City). They had a story about how books get selected by “Book Buyers”, people who represent chains of bookstores and consider books based on dimensions, cover art, content and market appeal. The interviewer was talking to one Book Buyer about all this, and asked for an example. The buyer said something like, “Well, […]

June 30, 2026

OpsLog – FEC – 6/27/2026

bit of a bittersweet session over at the Farnham’s Florida East Coast Railroad. A couple of us backed out of club obligations to be there. You see, it’s rumored (strongly (by the hosts)) that the FEC will be coming down soon. We might only have a couple of sessions left on the old girl. A couple of decades ago, my operations were pretty much restricted to a round-robin group in Orlando. The FEC was one of my first “away game” railroads. I don’t even remember how I got my invite. But that was the gateway that introduced me to the […]

July 12, 2026

The Last Days of New Paris (Review)

his was the first Audible book I’d listened to after a friend cut through my quibbling about a coming car trip and bought me a Fire. Anyway, I had to test it out so I pulled down a couple of titles that looked interesting, including this one from a favorite author, China Miéville, The Last Days of New Paris. And I pretty much listened to the first section about a dozen times, trying this setting and realizing that listening in a car would be impractical (road noise) unless I came up with a solution. So fix it I did, and since I […]

July 19, 2026

Red Side Story (Review)

f you look into my entire Library of Alexandria, you’ll find a review for Shades of Grey, a curious book by Jasper Fforde. Red Side Story is the second (and possibly final) book of the series set up by the author, where a strange, tightly-controlled society with it’s hierarchy based on archaic rules and your ability to see one certain color) comes totally unglued. We have Edward and Jane, my favorite ruf-love couple, trying to make things work around the rule-checking yellows and the governing purples, all supported by the various other hues, with everyone lording over the greys (basically, the unwashed, […]

July 19, 2026

OpsLog – OSMR – 7/18/2026

nother nice day being boomers over on the Orlando Society of Model Railroader’s layout. It’s a pretty casual run and they are working out their warrant system. They also are finally getting some locals out on the line – they are using painters tape on cartops to get a rough idea where the cars go. Still, it’s not industry specific – more a take-a-boxcar, leave-a-boxcar sort of affair. And that’s okay. Baby steps. When I heard there was going to be some switching, I started to say “Hey, I’d be inter…” and then someone coshed me. Woke up on the […]

July 23, 2026

OpsLog – LM&O – 7/22/2026

ince nobody in the club watches old black&white moves from the 1940s, let me describe the trope. Generally it involves a collection of optimistic young men and women who need to raise money for their university, town or charity. “Hey, I know! Let’s put on a show!” In this age before montages, most of the movie is them getting ready, making the sets, practicing their lines, funny little bits. And then, opening night. Their big chance! All the players line up and peek through the curtains into the theater’s seating. Nothing but empty seats. “Oh no! But what about our […]