Doc – Robert Raymond’s Blogtorium

March 14, 2021

OpsLog – WAZU – 3/14/2021

fter a long time away from the Pacific NorthWest, a small crew was able to return to the WAZU RR (I still don’t know what it stands for), Doc Andy’s heavy power line between Spokane and Portland. It’s been possibly more than a year since we last ran. Even with that time, the doc’s railroad ran flawlessly. I dispatched with more camera angles than a medium security prison. But I really didn’t need them – with long runs and plenty of sidings I could get everyone past everyone else with a minimum of wait and fuss (though we did have […]

April 25, 2022

OpsLog – WAZU – 4/22/2022

t’s always good to see a layout progress from session to session. And today’s running of the WAZU railroad (a reference I’m not sure anyone gets) was no exception. Last session was good; this one was better. We have to applaud the efforts of Doc and Sparky, who personally made operations improvement goal one. In this, they reworked the card system in the yards (including making sure everything was pre-staged and the yards carried reduced car loads (a mistake a lot of modelers make)). Also, the turnout controls were reconfigured with led to a lot less fumbling for switch throws. […]

February 27, 2023

OpsLog – WAZU – 02/26/2023

n Amtrak train drifts up to a weatherstained industrial structures. Down its flanks, the doors bang open. For a moment, silence. Then, the passengers of ill-fated Train 22 drift out onto the broken concrete loading dock outside the shuttered factory. They cannot find their conductor. All the attendants have vanished. The engine idles, driverless and abandoned. There are no answers. As night falls, various groups of passengers drift off, seeking help and civilization. Some are picked off by drug-addicted homeless grungers. Others are eaten by mooses. Carnivorous deer pick off a few. One surprised passenger is killed by Big Foot. […]

March 20, 2023

OpsLog – WAZU – 3/19/2023

ith a combination of sweet-talking and blackmail, I managed to get Kyle to take the DS seat on the WAZU Line and fly into the maelstrom of mother-may-I, controlling the sprawling, confusing, and statically-cracking division. Me, I got to run trains (which I do every couple of months). So, with my new-found freedom, I busted out of Hinkle Yard (four fast-minutes early; you’d think Yardmaster Sparky was having a baby; such screaming). It was a quick run to Umatilla and after some quick switching, a quicker run down to Walla Walla. And that was fun – a long siding with […]

June 12, 2023

OpsLog – WAZU – 6/11/2023

o we want our ops to feel like we’re Riverdance dancers or Power Rangers or something like that – a group of people (and trains) moving in complete unison, everything dramatic and choreographed to the second. After all, isn’t that what those timetable things with underlined meets are all about? Instead, we’re like a squadron of outnumbered, ill-trained RAF pilots in the Battle of Britain. Sure, there is the yell of Tallyho, the initial uniform pass, a burning Jerry or two. Then it’s confusion and chaos, the wingman gone, weaving in and out of the bomber stream, shooting passing shots […]

October 30, 2023

AirLog – 10/29/2023

kay, model railroading has brought me a lot of things. It brought me together with my dad (which, besides reading and old movies, was pretty much all we had). It brought me Orlando N-Trak Club, to which I’ve been a member for thirty-five years. It’s brought me some close friends (and, well, some interesting people). And it’s gotten me into some interesting operational layouts, from La Mesa in San Diego to Steve King’s old Chicago layout to massive weekend sessions in St Paul, Asheville, and Atlanta. And it’s got me as a fixture in various railroads across the state: The […]