orlando – Page 5 – Robert Raymond’s Blogtorium

February 29, 2024

OpsLog – LM&O – 2/28/2024

ake a moment to put it into perspective. The famous La Mesa club at San Diego has op sessions on their two-story (not two level, two story) HO railroad. It’s 25 scale mile s long, runs 16 scheduled trains and maybe the same number of extras (so about 30 trains total). They host this with 30 to 40 engineers. They manage a 25 hour session 4 times a year. Orlando N-Trak runs its sizable N-scale layout with 15 miles of mainline, runs 25 scheduled trains and a possible couple of extras. We run with 25 people, hosting a 2.5 hour […]

March 28, 2024

OpsLog – LM&O – 3/27/2024

kay, to be blunt. Operations stank last night. Stank to high heaven. Literally. I was told that some unexpected guests came in and they reeked of cat piss. Members were literally coming in to complain and to steal some of my fresh air. I considered sealing the airlocks and going to internal air. I suppose that people who live near pulp mills and canneries “get used to it”. So what, you have a sand dune of unchanged cat litter in your house? Thanks Steve for prompt fumigation efforts. Every session, something new. Now that we cleared the air, what happened […]

April 13, 2024

Guest OpsLog – Deland – 4/6/2024

Editor/Blogger’s note: Thanks to John DeVasto for recording all that took place at the Deland Train Show while I was swanning around the Netherlands. I have to admit to having lunch at some very nice place and realizing that the crew was currently, six time zones away, assembling the layout. I felt pity. Not guilt, no, but pity. Thanks for the effort, guys, and thanks again to John for the blog! ’m writing to you all in the absence of our chief executive Scribe. For reasons unknown to us he is venturing throughout distant worlds exploring their dimly red lit […]

April 25, 2024

OpsLog – LM&O – 4/24/2024

he moon dapples the western Pennsylvanian hills with splashes of silver. All is still. Suddenly there arises a low rumble and large slabs of forest slowly part, sliding away, the wire armatures of Bill White fake trees twanging. An exposed lair. And then a dark shape vaults into the sky! It’s the Dispatchocopter! Whirling along like a large, dark, criminal-fear-inspiring bat, Eastern Dispatcherman rides the night air, having left his ward Western Dispatcherboy in charge of the railroad. His mission – to combat the confusion that holds the Lehigh, Monongahela & Ohio Railroad in its deadly grip. The Robert-button has […]

May 19, 2024

OpsLog – LM&O – 5/18/2024

ou’ll notice that this OpsLog starts with a banner image, a nice one captured by Zach B during the pre-dawn hours of our club operations, a special Saturday Night Special event open only to club members (God help us – we can’t afford to have guests wandering around while we’re running under subdued lighting). The thing is, it was a usual session held on a weekend where we shut down the bank of lights over the layout, making things gloomy and using the layout’s lighting to best effect (you’ll notice the Westinghouse Bridge in the background of the above shot, […]

May 23, 2024

OpsLog – LM&O – 5/22/2024

o we had a crazy session last night – all sorts of delays. John C had to pry a dead bird out of Greg W’s grill (no wonder he was thinking about chicken for dinner the long drive out). And then Shannon and I had to deal with club business – once the air was cleared, we could get on with Zach B’s threats (pre-brief) and get down to the business of running trains. And for that, let me set the scene for the opening hour. Imagine Pete dressed in a dapper suit, smoking a high-brand cigarette. He’s in the […]

June 7, 2024

OpsLog – Mini LM&O – 6/6/2024

o being an officer, a member of several committees and the senior club member has its drawbacks. Last club night, I had to inspect erosion on our entry culvert, jimmy the lock of a car, take minutes for the monthly meeting, deal with an upset member, repair a turnout, replace tumble-barriers under the layout, pick up all the dead cockroaches I found under there, issue a new club key and go over the alarm system, crush cans, fix a broken phone, deal with an upset member again, help restore a locomotive address, replace paper towels in the bathroom, deal with […]

June 27, 2024

OpsLog – LM&O – 6/26/2024

ur group seems to form great teams of solid operators. A lot of layouts ask for us, even confirm that we can make it before announcing a session. Among other places that request us, there are the Virginia SouthWestern, the West Virginia Northern, the Florida East Coast and the Western Bay. It’s a shame that if we did not actually build and maintain the Leigh, Monongahela & Ohio we probably wouldn’t have been invited at all. I mean, look at last night’s session. First off, there was all the dramas before the clock even went hot. I actually approved of […]

June 28, 2024

On Sheet – The Problem with Nazareth

ur club layout has a very simple arrangement – there is a central yard (Martin) in the middle, the staging at the far ends of the railroad (Cincinnati and Bound Brook). For almost two decades, six freight trains (three in each direction) would enter Martin Yard and swap out a handful of cars. These cars would go onto the three primary locals (Shelfton, Mingo Junction and Zanesville). When the cars got to the industry and spent a time being unloaded, they’d be sent back to the yard to go onto east and west trains. it was a nice little flow, […]

June 30, 2024

OpsLog – LM&O (Saturday Night Special) – 6/29/2024

man distinguished in his tweed jacket and ennobled by his bald spot puffs his pipe briefly before facing the camera. “Good evening. I’m your host and dispatcher Robert Raymond, club gopher and blogger for Orlando N-Trak club. And tonight, I bring you The Leigh, Monongahela and Ohio Review. This episode is titled A Study in Contrasts. “Moving westbound, imagine two sections of passenger 97. In First 97, we have plucky Pete F, an engineer new to Time Table and Train Order operations, enthusiastic to the point of running a bit ahead of his time, knowing he’s got a large five […]