t hunched predator-profile low in the shadows, its unblinking ball-turret eyes rotating independently, watching for prey. Its twenty foot body yearned to feast on a hobo or railfan – either would do (the camcorders it could regurgitate). Beneath the shielding fen of lichen, it watched.

The dull roar of something even bigger and more unstoppable that itself made it raise its head, its throat-sack ballooning in alarm. Something massive and blue growled along the forest line. Panicking, the creature made its mistake, bursting from cover to flee, directly in the path of the oncoming FEC engine…

The first I knew about this, the yard crew at my back began to scream and yell. I half turned to see the four-person crew for Bowden Yard making fanning shoo-shoo motions, chasing the gecko about the yard, finally driving him out the door. Well, that was a bit of comic relief in what had been (until the velociraptor incident) a pretty tight session. Trains were in and out of the yard like clockwork. I’d look away from the dispatcher panel to see another train card sitting in my ready stack. The crews in the other shed were running the layout pretty hot. All the meets were happening in text book fashion, which is always good to see (especially if you are the one whose bottom is warming the DS seat).

That was still pretty fun, that pandemonium in the yard (I’ve seen yards with similar pandemonium where it wasn’t about a funny lizard – not a good thing). But otherwise the railroad ran like it was designed to run. I had to problems in the end (a train out of Cocoa Yard didn’t realized it should have left twenty minutes before, so this staggered the last few trains on the layout (I still feel shame at the delays I inflicted on 101). But still, we had a great session.

No animals were harmed in the writing of this blog posting.

>>>AS FOR MY OWN NOVELS (AVAILABLE HERE) I KILL A DOG AND A PARROT IN “EARLY RETYREMENT” AND A LOT OF THINGS I’D RATHER NOT TALK ABOUT IN “FIRE AND BRONZE”. CHECK THEM OUT HERE!<<<