operations – Page 23 – Robert Raymond’s Blogtorium

July 27, 2026

OpsLog – WAZU – 7/26/2026

hey used to say that there are a thousand stories in the naked city. I’d respond by saying – first – put some pants on. I don’t want to see that. And second – that it’s very true for a model railroad op sessions. We’re basically in four places (dispatcher office, Portland and Spokane staging room, remote operations room, and the main layout room). So, even though most of us are in one place (with flock camera coverage across the entire area), it seems that we don’t know WTF is going on. I got called for crew service, basically two […]

July 30, 2026

OpsLog – LM&O – 7/29/2026

t was the best of times. But it really was the worst of times. A lot more. So in the last month, I’d had to drive 2000 miles to sit with my mother, who forgets my name. And then there is my sister-in -law, bunked in exclusive Westminster for $6000 a month, yet she still warms my life with nocturnal trips to the emergency room and a constant stream of complaints. She comes with her Halloween House of Hording which we are trying to deal with, what with its trench-warfare hallway clutter, its rubbish-sealed rooms, its condemned wiring and its […]

August 2, 2026

OpsLog – TBL – 8/1/2026

o I had an oddly empty weekend and thought maybe I’d run the Tuscarora Branch Line through its paces. For this, I decided to do a number of things. 1. I’d run as many extra features as I could (i.e. deadhead cars and midnight dropoffs). 2. I’d run cars from my TBL collection that I usually don’t run. 3. I’d run the leverman position fully, including a station log and packets, to be issued as if we had a dispatcher. But then, of course, my plans changed. 4. Smiling Jack asked if he could run the TBL. Anyway, sure, I have […]

August 9, 2026

OpsLog – TBL (Black Diamonds) – 8/8/2026

very adventure needs tension. Not an evil opponent, simply tension. You know, man vs. nature, man vs. self, man vs. Model Railroading. My tension was Turnout 1, just below the Westly Mine, which was sticking. Noticed it at the end of the last session. At first, it wasn’t quite normalizing. Then, after tossing it back and forth manually a few times, it wasn’t resetting in either direction. My stomach knotted. I decided to just finish the session and then deal with it on the following Saturday, when there would be time and tools for the job. When I tried to […]

August 27, 2026

OpsLog – LM&O – 8/26/2026

hings went to shit at dinner. That’s when the rain started. I knew things were bad when emergency vehicles, a cruise liner and an ark went past on Colonial Drive. At the club, people were literally dribbling in. I didn’t think we’d be able to staff the session. Some people reported doubled travel times. But enough people showed up and with some early job-shifting, we were able to cover early local jobs. Other’s sloshed in a little later and took the evening tick jobs. I was dispatching with Zach again. The first time we’d put the gold team on the […]

August 31, 2026

OpsLog – TBL – 8/29/2026

ust a Saturday at the club, running with some friends (Jack, Kyle, Mike and Terry). We had just enough people for a full session, so I took the desk, Kyle the levers, Jack the local, Terry a lump of coal and Mike was my Tusk SO. I gotta say that everyone really pitched in – while we didn’t get all the way through (Jack, due to his drive, had requested a hard 4pm stop). But we ran up to the Easton Turn and probably stopped about 30 real minutes short of completion. But I’ll note this – I forgot to […]

September 13, 2026

OpsLog – LM&O – 9/12/2026

irst thing – Did I get the date right this time? That established, okay, so usually after a session like that, I do an OpsLog like this, meaning massive praise at how wonderful we all were. Well, true enough. But reflecting on this, I’ve run on layouts tiny, on bedroom layouts so casual that (in one case) the owner offered us beer and pornography in his crew lounge), to layouts so realistic that you pucker, worried that you are going to goof and have all the pros sneering at you. But if I had to pigeon-hole us, one word, I’d say we’re Inclusive. […]