smell something burning.”

I was working the out-n-back from Cocoa Yard to Frontenac, fussing over mismarked lading slips, trying to figure out what someone did and didn’t do a couple of weeks back in City Point (without a Rosetta Stone, either). And that’s when I smelled smoke.

Engineer Chip was working the lower deck. When I asked him if his engine was on a switch, he told me no. But a car on his train was on a switch, one that had been set against him. And the truck of a wheel delicately placed with love between a rail and hot frog was slowly oozing to goo.

I had just asked him if he smoked when we figured out what happened. Of course, Chip reacted immediately, writing my name as a responsible party on his Form A. So the owner of the FEC is pissed at me for fire damage and the owner of the Virginia SouthWestern is steaming at me for a scheduling conflict. That’s a record for me – I pissed off two layout owners hundreds of miles apart on the very same day.

At this rate, I’ll sweep myself out of Florida by month’s end.

I’ll miss running on the FEC. Got to finally run the Pinetta sheds, working a switcher through industrial blight, moving reefers in and out of the tin buildings. I’ll have it known that I did work the UPS loading dock under protest (please, don’t take away my purple pension). But the running was fun and there is a trick I learned on John Allen’s Timesaver that really saved my bacon. But the big run I really was looking forward to with the 940 limestone run to the Eau Gallie  plant. I’d been thinking the puzzle over the last week, getting myself lined up for a quick run. But the train ran late (I’m waiting to see if Dispatcher Chip blamed me for that, too). So I was halfway through when the session ended. Dammit – I was within a few moves of completion when the lights dimmed. Well, maybe next time.

But thanks to the Farnhams for another great session. We won’t be running for a few months so I’ll just have to keep my nose in the air and keep sniffing for smoke.

And now I gotta put out the fire with the VSW superintendent.

>>>BOOKS FOR SALE HERE, UNLESS CHIP BLAMES ME FOR THEM, TOO<<<