ot much to write about when a session goes as well as this one. The trains were running ahead of schedule. Nobody I saw plugged the main. The new card forwarding system worked well. Oh, there was a broken coupler and a sticking wheel and a couple of derailments, but that’s model railroading.

Good for all attending, but not good for blogging. Blood on the tracks – that’s what brings in the eyeballs.

Still, I can tell you that being part of a spotless session can be a lot of fun. I was rolling into Palm Bay in the seat of a through freight that spotted out at Eau Gallie and Cocoa. Sadly, there wasn’t much for me to grab so I was running a bit short (two engines, two cars and a crummy). Did my last work at Eau Gallie and rolled to Palm Bay. Picked up a yellow diverging target on the approach – siding for me. Rolled in to see Gene coming in the other way, riding the main. Both of us were facing reds at the far ends; both of us were slowing. So you’ve got two operators with decades of experience easing prototypically in. And, yeah, we’re both a couple of grumps.

“Let’s see how slick the dispatcher is,” Gene noted. “Let’s see if we can make a flying meet.”

Barely had my caboose cleared the siding turnout when I heard the motors under the layout grinding over. Both turnouts swung over – Dispatcher Ken was tossing them in conjunction. Then the green boards flashed. Gene and I both started pumping air on the roll, pushing the brake cylinders back and picking up speed. Nobody had to stop. Very slick.

The dispatcher thought so – he called in the overhead to make sure we’d noticed. We had.

Apparently he pulled the same trick with Gene a short time later in Pinetta – nearly as clean a pass as ours.

So, hats off to the dispatcher. It almost makes up for the earlier mishap at Titusville… 

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