t was a bit of a struggle getting over to Ken’s Florida East Coast– we fought through a pointless battle on the Beachline (five miles of bumper2bumper and no cause for it) (there, Bruce, I mentioned that). And Ken’s was understaffed – five people dropped the night before leaving him a little short. I posted the club list – last moment stuff – didn’t get any takers.

So, with Bev on the yard (one person doing the job for three), Ken on the panel, the shed  held only Me, Bruce, Andy, Monty and John. But we were the gold crew. Ken reduced his schedule and we just ran stuff pretty much back to back.

In a way, sometimes a short staff session is a better session. I took 915 out of the yard – the run to Buenaventura. Had a lot of switching to do, working around the packing sheds, spotting out at the ballast yards and over to the truss-maker (roof, not medical). Not a train went by, meaning I had more elbow room to work than normal.

Later I took a mainline train through the division. I thought it would be easy but when I got to Cocoa, I found myself wading through paperwork to make sure I only filled out my consist with MTs going my way. Happily I found a cut of six, perfect. Pulled the string, dropped a gon and was out the throat in ten minutes.

It was such a relaxing day that we all stood around afterwards in the glorious out-a-doors, just chatting about the session. And it was so easy we got on the road a little earlier (a gain Bruce squandered fussing outside the car with his sunglasses –  (There, Bruce, I did find a negative comment for the session)).

>>>BOOKS ARE HERE, YOU KNOW THE DRILL. BUY MY STUFF!<<<