Blog – Page 52 – Robert Raymond’s Blogtorium

October 23, 2013

OpsLog – LM&O – 10/23/2013

Matthew, our cub dispatcher, is certain I’m going to write about him tonight. I’ll bet you think this blog is about you – don’t you? don’t you? (Between you and me, dear Reader, we did have an across-the-division slowdown in trains and a couple of the later runs annulled. But seriously, the kid was running noticeably more in control. I am aware of no cornfields, and he seemed more careful in his warrants. About the same speed, but better than last time). I was on 244, a freight out of Cincinnati, heading towards Bound Brook. Paul was filling out as […]

October 24, 2013

A word, an idea, a thought… (DOG EAR)

There are two ways to string multiple words to make your point. One is like this… The tornado blew the house apart, throwing boots, a bathtub, books and the sofa all across the fields. And the other is like this… A tornado is a wind, a gust, a breeze, a blow. See the difference? Read it again. Both string a halting series of words behind it, to force the reader though a series of quick-start descriptions (perhaps for reasons of pacing and evidence). However, in the first, we are denoting the wide variety of objects scattered, their unique differences, trying […]

October 25, 2013

OpsLog – TC&C – 10/25/2013

The Tennessee Carolina & Coast is a wonderfully long and lazy railroad with a bittersweet background story, one I can’t really go into. But even given that, it’s an eye-popper when you enter its basement. The railroad aisle (between sightblocking backdrops) forces you into a corridor, layout shelves to either side, which you follow and follow and follow some more, lost in its convolutions. I am convinced this thing is a tesseract, folding over itself in real space. The runs were fun and very casual, the switching interesting yet not contrived. I really enjoyed it. Nice moment tonight – was […]

October 26, 2013

OpsLog – CD&P – 10/26/2013

To be or not TOFC, that is the question. The Chicago, Denver and Pacific is big. Bigger than big. Bigger than you can imagine. It’s frankly the largest home layout I’ve even seen. Remember what I said about the TC&C yesterday? This one’s bigger. I was running Train 41, a combo of coal (on at Denver) and limestone (to add at Sedalia). I was on the approach to the latter, walking allll the way down to the end of the long room, before walking down the other side, allllll the way back. I was unfamiliar with the layout so with […]

October 26, 2013

OpsLog – DT&I – 10/26/2013

I‘ve known Terry Harrison for ten years and three layouts. He’s a sawed-off hot-head, an ill-tempered tosser who harangues his operators. He also designs some of the most realistic switching I’ve ever worked. I’ve worked setouts and pickups on layouts that were about as exciting as putting socks into a drawer. And then there are the layouts with owners who are so sadistically clever, they force their crews to work through complicated logic puzzles, as if the railroad is more a mensa club than a working transportation company. But Terry’s worked on actual railroads and knows what they do and […]

October 27, 2013

OpsLog – – MRWD – 10/27/20123

The Milwaukee Road – Wisconsin Division is a comfortable layout of old-school design that offers some casual (and very fun) running. The thing was, this weekend I’ve run locals and through freights. But today I got offered a run I’d never done before – boats! Or more accurately, ferry operations. I knew a little of what goes into ferry steamer operations but had never simulated it. So here was the deal: I came on site to find a switch engine, a four track yard, three flat cars and a docked ferry (holding twelve cars). The first thing was to receive […]

October 27, 2013

The Misplaced Battleship (Review)

Years back, I got to sit and listen to Harry Harrison speak. He was on of my favorite authors while in my teens and twenties, and while I really liked listening to him, he seemed to be slipping into irrelevance. Even his speech was a little choppy, and while I was happy to see him, I was faintly disappointed. Now I know why. Since I’ve gotten involved with all the wonderful books available in Project Gutenberg, I’ve been downloading old copyright-free books to read. Spotted this one, The Misplaced Battleship, a while back and snapped it up. What a title! […]

October 31, 2013

Swap out (DOG EAR)

I have a confession. I like Anime. Japanese Animation goes a lot further in storytelling (sometimes) than Western media. Oftentimes the storylines are unique and different (and sometimes they can be incredibly moribund, too). But there are scenes, as powerful as any book, that I’ll carry with me. Not in this case. Croisee in a Foreign Labyrinth is an incredibly sweet story (just like jamming four tablespoons of sugar into your mouth could be). Sometime near the end of the 19th century, a young 13 year old Japanese girl is brought to Paris with plans to use her uniqueness to […]

November 2, 2013

OpsLog – Tehachapi – 11/2/2013

Out of Bakersfield on the third helper engine, a 2-10-2 ATSF steamer sixty cars back from the front end. We’re running as the fifth section of train 804 (meaning there’s four trains in front of us, and another one somewhere behind). And we’re rattling along the flatlands above Bakersfield, 50 mph, highball… …until we saw the ABS signals, yellow, then red. Pull back the throttle. Time to stop. And there is the caboose for the 804 section ahead of us. See, he’s got to wait for passenger train 51. That’s timetable stuff. But we know, according our train orders issued […]

November 3, 2013

Fly by Night (Review)

Dekker Savage? Don’t tell me that back in 1954, writers were playing games with their names to promote sales. Probably. Googled him and a quick glance didn’t say. Whatever. So Fly by Night is a short story that appeared in If magazine four years before I was born, a tale of a spaceman and spacewoman who have never met but have trained for a rocket flight and will be coupled together (snicker) for the mission. Of course, the flight is about as uncomfortable as it can be – with her curling up on herself and him upset that he doesn’t […]