not-so-good solo run on the Tuscarora last night. The original plan was to run a session by myself before the club. But I just started a really good book and didn’t want to break away from it. Read for a while, went to the club, showed guests around, helped out here and there, and finally (about 9:30 when most people had gone home) I set up a session and ran the default position.

The basic reason was that I’d just gotten my SW-7 back from the shop and wanted to make sure it ran well. I mean, one guy running. What could go wrong?

Well, I was running some new untested cars on the layout – the ACY boxcar was a bit too big for the clearances around the signals. We had more derailments than I’m used to. And my little bobber caboose (usually on a coal drag) was in local service. While rolling along, it derailed and fell off the layout, losing a truck. I found the truck and pin but had a bitch of a time getting it back in (the pin binds the truck unless you seat it just right).

And let’s just add (as kindly as I can) that even with reduced attendance, a lot of people were stopping by to chat with me. Some of it came when I was working through switching puzzles and dealing with technical problems. I guess people see model train operators the same way as they do book readers. Sure, go ahead and bother them. They are quiet and possibly in need of companionship.

What really pissed me off was that at the end of the session, when I switched from the cheater box back to the tower proper, the software took another dump on me. I can’t get it to start. That’s frustrating that we have so much problems with something that should be (after two years) rock solid. Then again, my SW-7s been to the shop about three times now.

Yeah, sometimes model railroading isn’t really too much fun.

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A photo from an earlier session, but the same car made this run again. At least this time, that dark LED was lit.