new it was going to be strange ops tonight – could feel it in my gut. Wore the club shirt to work today (since I went directly over following my employment). A puffy little millennial scored off me right before a staff meeting – looked across the table and said, “Nice shirt” in that sneery playground way.  Told him, “You know, this club is 31 years old. Older than you, eh?”

So, ops was a smooth like ice cream with nutty walnuts thrown all through it. A rocky road, indeed. Crews hitting turnouts and blaming others for the shorts. The radio throttles seemingly not working. Rolling stock hitting the floor. Even I bungled an order. Some sessions are like that.

I remember pausing to meet another freight at Red Rock passing track. We pulled next to each other, as pretty as you please. And while we were sitting there, Jeff ran through the Mt Jackson Tunnel, curling under us, his engines passing under us (on one end) while his caboose passed under us (at the other end). I just stood there and exclaimed how amazing that was – the scene, the trains, the operations – it all came together for that moment. The club is like that.

And regardless of the crazy hijinks on the main (mechanical and mental), we had some rising stars increase our overall skill level. Bruce and Chris both took locals and handled them well for a first go-round, which is good to see. Cody did really well on the panel (even with the haunted ghost train prowling his rails, as lost as the Flying Dutchman). And most amazingly, Shaun did really well in the yard. Crazy to be bumping and pushing through adults in a packed ops session, only to come around the corner into the yard and see a young kid running things (and ordering people four and five times his age around), clipboard in one hand, throttle in the other. I’ve hope for the future, having seen that.

So, yes, there are some things to fix and some things to look into. But we ran great (what with all the crashing and burning). Great session, guys. Thanks for coming out!

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