operations – Page 2 – Robert Raymond’s Blogtorium

November 28, 2019

OpsLog – LM&O – 11/27/2019

OOMED TOWN SAVED BY RELIEF TRAIN (AP) The small town of Mingo Junction was saved by oblivion today when a relief train finally arrived four months after the town was cut off by surly over-promising gandydancers. “They came in here, tearing up rails and claiming everything would be back in service in a month,” Mingo Mayor Frank Zvonchenko related. “Days passed and deadlines were broken. The next thing you knew, businesses were closing and we were looking at total famine. And since all the town’s roads end at terrifying drops to a distant concrete floor, there was no way anyone […]

December 19, 2019

OpsLog – L&MO – 12/18/2019

ast run of the year, doing it early on the club layout. And man, what a start. Bitch mode on First, we (meaning the club – I didn’t sign up) have a show this weekend. But I got pulled into the load effort which ran two hours late (with would explain the Silver Bullets in ops). So instead of dinner, I gotta beeline to the club to load modules. And when we open the trailer door, there is a big hole cut into the floor (evidently some people started doing repairs, got bored halfway through and wandered off). So it […]

January 10, 2020

OpsLog – L&N – 1/9/2020

his was my second of three sessions in two days at the always-enjoyable L&N, a two railroad layout with twin dispatchers and all sorts of dirty diesels lugging grimy coal cars. And hey, I scored my favorite seat – L&N Dispatcher, the widow maker job. Fortunately I was working with Tom Wilson on his Southern Desk – he and I really work well together (when he’s not holding Edison Jct for ransom). The interesting thing about running in a Protorails event is that you’d think everyone would be at game-top abilities for the session. Not the case, it seemed. Crews […]

January 23, 2020

OpsLog – LM&O – 1/22/2020

rduous is a brainy word I had to look up for spelling since i don’t use it often. Used in an example: our ops session was arduous. I took the Mingo Turn out first thing at midnight. Fortunately is was still an interchange-only run so outside of a shuffle or two, I had it done pretty quick (and I got to watch a cornfield meet right outside of my cab window). But I had a bad feeling as time passed and I finished my work – Zanesville is further up the line and the turn servicing it had not been […]

February 2, 2020

OpsLog – L&N – 2/1/2020

idway through the session, the two dispatchers (Southern and Louisville & Nashville) switch. We’ve only got a couple of minutes to update our replacement on the status. I don’t know how it was exactly explained to me but it was something like “Train so-n-so is in Norton and will need to go to Blackwood” makes me think that he didn’t have a warrant. But that word “need” seemed to mean something different between Tom and myself. It turns out he actually did have a warrant and was waiting for other traffic to clear before he started down. Fresh on my […]

September 3, 2020

OpsLog – TBL – 9/3/2020

ait! What? Ops on the Tuscarora Brach Line? Yup. Brought the layout home today. Since I got the randomized car sorting worked out the other day, I realized I was ready to go. Even though I didn’t have that tank car and covered hopper Greg Wells promised me a week ago, I just threw box cars into the mix and off we went. Ops for the local switch crew is programmed (with random car ordering). In all, I ran eighteen trains (but to be truthful, this really is five trains and five local / drill jobs that make numerous runs […]

September 6, 2020

OpsLog – TBL – 9/6/2020

ou’re sitting across from me in this diner in 1962, out in the middle of nowhere. This town, Tuscarora, isn’t central to anything. So we look outside into the snow-speckled gathering dusk and, in gratitude for what you are about to endure, I spot you another cup of coffee. You’ll need the warmth and it’s only a dime, right? Then I check my pocket watch. It’s just going 7pm. “Let’s go.” We step into the blowing cold of southwestern Pennsylvania in late November, leaving our comfortable diner to walk south down Railroad Avenue, past the fuel distributor, down to where […]

September 13, 2020

OpsLog – TBL – 9/12/2020

ust after midnight. Greg Wells and I found ourselves standing in the cinders of the mainline through Tuscarora, his NW-2 idling behind him, my Southern Pacific GP9 rumbling at my back. We’d just gone over the day’s activity, the switching for him, the coal runs for me. But I’ll admit, for a tiny layout, this tyke has big ops. There was a long pause. I looked up at the guy in the switch tower. He looked at his watch. Acting on a hint, I asked, “Do you want to just go with the locals and leave the coal out of […]

September 27, 2020

OpsLog – TBL – 9/26/2020

understand that Covid-19 has crippled ops. My monthly sessions at three different layouts (and the thrice-a-year specials) have been annulled. For the first time in seven years, I won’t be going to La Mesa (which I had to fight my way to originally get accepted). Yes, Covid sucks. Today Greg Wells and I held our third session of the Tuscarora Branch Line. I invited everyone at the club to attend – we had room for another position to fill. But as with the last two sessions, I ran both dispatch and the coal movements since we were short-handed. Really, I’m […]

November 26, 2020

OpsLog – LM&O – 11/25/2020

t seems that Geep-9 of mine roams around like some sort of Flying Dutchman. A week ago, I was riding it back and forth through Tuscarora, dragging coal one way and dust the other, pretty amazing since we’re in Pennsylvania and it’s a Southern Pacific unit. Now I’m eighty miles north, up in Martin Yard, rolling down track 9 with engines and a caboose, getting ready to pick up my cut off 1 and head over to Mingo Jct. 927 is holding on track 2, ready to roll, but he’s waiting for a silver bullet to go by on the […]