Train Blog – Page 35 – Robert Raymond’s Blogtorium

November 28, 2019

OpsLog – LM&O – 11/27/2019

OOMED TOWN SAVED BY RELIEF TRAIN (AP) The small town of Mingo Junction was saved by oblivion today when a relief train finally arrived four months after the town was cut off by surly over-promising gandydancers. “They came in here, tearing up rails and claiming everything would be back in service in a month,” Mingo Mayor Frank Zvonchenko related. “Days passed and deadlines were broken. The next thing you knew, businesses were closing and we were looking at total famine. And since all the town’s roads end at terrifying drops to a distant concrete floor, there was no way anyone […]

December 8, 2019

OpsLog – WBRR – 12/07/2019

nother day on the great Western Bay Railroad, chugging about in tiny teakettles amid the high peaks of the Rockies (and now, the smoky canyons of downtown Denver). And those peaks, yeah, I see them out of my station agent window. So the WBRR continues to improve, this session being the best yet. We were running pretty much on the dot. The radios were working well (not perfect, but not bad). I do know a car got dumped without paperwork at Dulce (and then batted about like a football by every working freight after that). But railroads are railroads, and […]

December 16, 2019

OpsLog – FEC – 12/14/2019

eah, this one’s late. But I also had a club Christmas party, then a Journal Box to reedit after a lot of late arrivals came in (next time, posted due-date, gentlemen. You don’t get to argue your time and track rights so don’t piss off the editor). And then there was all that other stuff. So, yeah, Ken Farnham’s FEC ops. It was an abbreviated session for the Orlando N-Trakkers since we had to be in Sanford for the above-mentioned Xmas party by 6pm. But the session was fun. We had a new dispatcher (the guy did great – it’s […]

December 19, 2019

OpsLog – L&MO – 12/18/2019

ast run of the year, doing it early on the club layout. And man, what a start. Bitch mode on First, we (meaning the club – I didn’t sign up) have a show this weekend. But I got pulled into the load effort which ran two hours late (with would explain the Silver Bullets in ops). So instead of dinner, I gotta beeline to the club to load modules. And when we open the trailer door, there is a big hole cut into the floor (evidently some people started doing repairs, got bored halfway through and wandered off). So it […]

January 10, 2020

OpsLog – WVN – 1/8/2020

t’s one of the ops sessions for the 2020 Protorails, and I managed to get the golden ticket, a shot at running on the West Virginia Northern, a line way way over in Tampa. Worth the trip. The Komars have an absolutely amazing layout. Wide aisles (well, as wide as you’re ever going to get on a layout). Wonderfully working equipment (transition era). Stunning scenery. And a comfortable but doable session – not rushed and hectic but sequential in all the right ways. When I heard there wasn’t a dispatcher (my favorite job) I wasn’t sure how it would work […]

January 10, 2020

OpsLog – L&N – 1/9/2020

his was my second of three sessions in two days at the always-enjoyable L&N, a two railroad layout with twin dispatchers and all sorts of dirty diesels lugging grimy coal cars. And hey, I scored my favorite seat – L&N Dispatcher, the widow maker job. Fortunately I was working with Tom Wilson on his Southern Desk – he and I really work well together (when he’s not holding Edison Jct for ransom). The interesting thing about running in a Protorails event is that you’d think everyone would be at game-top abilities for the session. Not the case, it seemed. Crews […]

January 10, 2020

OpsLog – P&WV- 1/9/2020

haven’t gotten a chance to run on the Pittsburgh and West Virginia much – it’s a retiree railroad, meaning it runs in the middle of the week. Not a problem (in future). This time, I got to come out as part of Protorails to run his heavy-industry line, sitting in the dispatchers desk (second time that day – my life is nothing but checkboxes, it seems). I really enjoy this one – its a great railroad that runs easy and slow – everyone muddling over their switching moves. The dispatcher’s panel is a pain-in-the-butt (I’m telling you, Tom – it’s […]

January 13, 2020

OpsLog – Deland – 1/11-12/2020

t’s been said that this blog writes itself. So there I am in the dark outside our trainshow venue, the gate and building all locked up, a line of members (and our trailer) idling in a line while the fairgrounds tries to get the guy with the key to come back and let us in. And then we find out that another bunch of garden-potter railroaders have set up without regard to the tapelines, giving us no aisle space. I was ready to go home. But he had a good crew (thanks, guys, for that!). We talked it over with […]

January 23, 2020

OpsLog – LM&O – 1/22/2020

rduous is a brainy word I had to look up for spelling since i don’t use it often. Used in an example: our ops session was arduous. I took the Mingo Turn out first thing at midnight. Fortunately is was still an interchange-only run so outside of a shuffle or two, I had it done pretty quick (and I got to watch a cornfield meet right outside of my cab window). But I had a bad feeling as time passed and I finished my work – Zanesville is further up the line and the turn servicing it had not been […]

January 26, 2020

OpsLog – FEC – 1/25/2020

ometimes sessions run so well, everything checkboxes through their timetables, every car is spotted at correct doors, everything is perfect. Sometimes. The first running of the Florida East Coast for 2020 was a little day-after-New-Years-ish. Crews were well meaning but sloppy. We had a number of run signals and missed calls. Yeah, and just so everything doesn’t think I’m just casting stones out, on the panel that day I managed two big blunders – dropped a train on the cinders on a miss-aligned turnout in the yard (but, in my defense, greens means go now, Charlie) and I had to […]