his photo pretty much says it all about the session.

This is one of those chilling photos where you are able to see a lot of people right before they die. In this, 223 was coming downgrade, going into a siding that was both counter to his warrant and the rulebook, and detonated against Silver Bullet 2. Oh, the humanity. So many dead.

Of course, I just pointed to the warrant that specifically told 223 to take the main. Regrettable about all those dead women and children, but we all know who was driving that train. And at fault.

Seriously, rough session at the start for me. I brilliantly got all the clocks set to run correctly, only to reset the system (and, hence, reset the clocks). So for the first ten minutes of operations, the clock kept slipping into 15:1 mode while crews were clamoring for warrants. I finally got all the clocks to recover their brains and stay set to the correct ration. But I was off my game and it took a while to get myself (and my railroad) but under control.

But I didn’t kill anyone. No, those deaths were not on my head. That junior engineer died clutching his damning warrant.

Otherwise, we ran a lot of trains. I think everything got run but 66/68. Overall, from my perspective people ran pretty well. A couple of times people ignored the “Do not foul” limitations – it was like they’d write down the order, tuck it into their pockets and pull out in front of the very train they were ordered to follow.

Also, I don’t think Zack and I have Calypso down yet. I think it will work better when we send empties from Nazareth west rather than east (right now, east clogs staging with overlong trains).

And speaking about things that didn’t work, we had one guy try running MT hoppers to the dock, to grab ore for the mills. That clearly didn’t work, since he ended up switching a massive cut and tying up the yard, as evidenced in this photo…

And, of course, if you push way too many cars, someone’s going to put out an eye, or worse, as illustrated below…

You know, those people who live in that railside cottage have to be getting pretty tired of John devaluing their property. From the archives…

So, yes, just another day on the railroad. I limped home after all this and cracked open a beer. Honestly, you guys wear me out sometimes. But it was fun and we’ll see if the MOW team can improve all those things you guys broke. Except the house. John will only break it again.

Good session.

Kinda.

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Photo credits: First two, John DV. Second two, I’m told, was Shannon S