Train Blog – Page 83 – Robert Raymond’s Blogtorium

September 11, 2026

OpsLog – P&WRR – 9/10/2026

ot an invite through a friend to come down to Sebastian, Florida for a session. The soup ticket was to Don Irace’s Providence & Worchester Railroad, which I knew nothing about. Bungled the entire trip over, overestimating travel times which put me sitting in the world’s nastiest donut shop for just over an hour, waiting for hot-time. Anyway, once Chip showed up and showed me where the railroad was, I met Don (who is a very nice guy, and who is the host of the segment Talking Ops with Don Irace on the Around the Layout podcast). The layout is packed (thoughtfully) […]

September 13, 2026

OpsLog – LM&O – 9/12/2026

irst thing – Did I get the date right this time? That established, okay, so usually after a session like that, I do an OpsLog like this, meaning massive praise at how wonderful we all were. Well, true enough. But reflecting on this, I’ve run on layouts tiny, on bedroom layouts so casual that (in one case) the owner offered us beer and pornography in his crew lounge), to layouts so realistic that you pucker, worried that you are going to goof and have all the pros sneering at you. But if I had to pigeon-hole us, one word, I’d say we’re Inclusive. […]

September 22, 2026

OpsLog – WAZU – 9/20/2026

id the Dispatcher Doodee on Doc’s sprawling WAZU. Had a great lunch (gumbo, since the Doc is a swamp-boy) and then settled myself in the back-room chair to run the railroad at peak efficiency. So let’s review something about timetables and efficiency. The thing is, the WAZU is simply a mother-may-I operation, nothing more. I’m not saying that’s good or bad – I’ve run MMI on my home layouts and at the club in the early days. We tried warrants on the WAZU but we simply could not get them out fast enough. So while we might sound like we’re kinda sorta […]

September 24, 2026

OpsLog – LM&O – 9/23/2026

‘ll admit relief when I checked the minutes of our last meeting and saw that Kyle would be dispatching. I think I needed a break from it. At the WAZU (blog link redacted), I’d had that “incident” at Bigg’s Jct, a combination of high expectations (mine) and low comedy (the krews). I had to orchestrate a simple saw-by with sign-language responses on one-of-nine monitors while Doc stood over me with the Holy Timetable, gesturing and yammering about where the meet was supposed to be. But that was then and this was now and I was on the road. When I […]

October 4, 2026

ShowLog – Deland – 10/3/2026

t’s okay to run late. But never, never run early. So yes, that’s what I always say. But in preparation for the Deland Show, I popped into the donut shop at 5am sharp for some “crew food”. Even easing down the road in my transition era car, I made it to the fairgrounds at 5:35am. Yeah, a bit early. It was dark and humid and wet, and I was running a good chance of security sniffing around me. With that in mind, I left the property and drove east to New Smyrna Beach where I stopped at the first convenience […]

October 12, 2026

OpsLog – WVN – 10/10/2026

nother day railroading in the hectic month of October, packed between a Deland show and an NMRA convention. I mean, hell, do guys who fish have months like this? Or do I have a problem and need help? So anyway, Kyle and I toodled over early and met up with the crew, most of us sitting around and talking about old-people ailments we suffer (Kyle was, of course, silent). I thought I had a pretty exciting month but got beat by everyone. I guess if you’re going to lose a competition like this, well, that’s fine. Anyway, we survivors (the […]

October 19, 2026

ShowOpsLog- Iron Horse Convention – 10/16-17/2026

o we were asked to bring two layouts to the NMRA’s Iron Horse 2026 convention, our large sectional layout and my tiny Tuscarora. And to support that, I was asked to give two clinics, one on TT&TO (given it before, and well received) and one on how the Tuscarora operates, in hopes we could get a couple of sessions up. So, after $350 in handout/paperwork printing costs, $350 in car rentals, $500 in hotel bills and meals and $100 for pet-sitting services, we were all ready to “donate” a little time to making this show a success. So… Day 0 (Thursday): We drove up […]

October 21, 2026

OpsLog – WAZU – 10/18/2026 (Multiple guest bloggers)

ince I was in the hospital with issues from speaking for two hours straight, running multiple Tuscarora sessions, setting up and striking two layouts and a head injury, I’m leaving this Clinicy Finicky blog to those who were there. So, multiple impressions coming atcha! Doc Andy The October Programmed Operations Session held by the WAZU Railroad yesterday is being compared to the heroic WWII Naval Battle off of Samar during the Leyte Beach Liberation of October 1944. Just like the legendary Native American (Cherokee) captain who famously told his crew, “This is going to be a fighting ship. I intend to […]