ee, so, sometimes, I’m a sweetheart. I don’t tell about truly embarrassing stories, even when there is a fiery train wreck. I don’t blog out nice people.

Regardless of the burning of Ramsey, the smoke of whose burning cast down despair among the people of Tennessee, we had a great ops session. I got to run the L&N DS panel, the hot seat of the whole railroad. My pal Ken Farnham ran the Southern board, sitting across from me. Even though it was his first time under warrants, he kept his end of the railroad moving and we hardly had any conflict across the shared trackage. Overall, I pushed twenty-four trains across the division, using sixty-eight warrants. So, yeah, busy day.

Overall, it was pretty smooth operations (well, outside of the wailing of the unfortunates of Ramsey, whose fields were studded with the wreckage of boxcars and whose rivers ran black with the spillage of petroleum). I had a couple of problems with some trains overrunning their authority, a number of people who took main for siding and vice-versa, and the fact that nobody knew that one-buzz meant L&N dispatcher, two-buzz meant Southern. But it was a wild time with running trains and lots getting done.

Thanks, as always, to John Wilkes, who not only put on that amazing show of mountain railroading but served up some lunchtime stew, as well (all anyone ever gets at my sessions are months-old Christmas cookies). Had a great time and hope to repeat the fun and games very soon!

…Did anyone ever find that covered hopper?

>>>HEY, I WRITE AS MUCH AS I HOST – HOW SAD. BUT I HAVE MY BOOKS I’VE WRITTEN IN THE NEAR PAST ABOUT THE FAR PAST RIGHT HERE. HAVE A LOOK. BUY SOMETHING! THANKS!<<<