OpsLog – LM&O – 5/23/2012

OpsLog – LM&O – 5/23/2012

It’s a slow summer in the middle of a recession, both in the real world and the one outside the club.

Seriously, attendance is down; vacations and whatnot. And with the recession, people are working other jobs, second-shift deals, even quitting the club altogether. And just like a real railroad, I have fewer crews, fewer trains, fewer cars getting to their docks.

The new kid was supposed to work Zanesville while I did Mingo but something came up for him. And my usual local guy wasn’t here. So I’m just working Mingo by myself. Picked up the cars to shift to the yard and have to wait a bit while Silver Bullet 2 and a coal drag pull in. Eventually they clear and the railroad is mine. Not much traffic, no extras, SB1 is annulled. I can pretty much slide out and do those fun run-arounds when I need them. At the snap of my fingers, I’ve got a warrant over to Martin. Doc’s working the yard with quiet confidence – unlike last session where, as dispatcher, I swamped him; tonight the yard is a sleepy place. I drop my cut and we haggle over how many I should take back. But he’s experienced; he wisely has me hold on the Mingo setout track and not build in the throat until I’ve got a warrant home in my hand. No problem with that – the phone is quiet, the dispatcher bored and I’ve got my ticket home in under a minute. And so it’s back to Mingo Junction, to drop the cut on the siding and work the industrial tracks, not a bother to anyone.

Slow night.

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