tom – Page 2 – Robert Raymond’s Blogtorium

October 19, 2025

OpsLog – P&WV – 10/17/2025

kay, so a couple of things about Tom Wilson’s ops session on the Pittsburgh & West Virginia. First one’s on me. I’ve operated a couple of times in 2020 (and before) as a dispatcher here under TT&TO. I was proud of our efforts – Bruce Notman hit it out of the park as my Station Operator. But here’s the weird part. I’ve run six more times (including last Friday) and only now, after possible 100+ warrants, that I noticed there is a glaring error on them. So, for those who understand warrants, let me show you the key element’s on […]

January 12, 2026

OpsLog – P&WV – 1/8/2026

o this is evening session of Zeus and my two-for-Thursday operations marathon. After finishing up wrecking the Virginia Southwestern, we raced up I-4 to get to Tom Wilson and our session on his Pittsburgh & West Virginia. This is a coal-hauling, steel-making layout with a heavily-traveled main line and long branch up to Mifflin and Clariton, all serving a gigantic mill complex. We were the first to arrive – found host Tom trying to string intercom cables like a sapper under artillery fire. When we couldn’t get it to work, I told him to just seat me at a tiny […]

February 8, 2026

The Cold Equations (Review)

ell, this was a strange way to find a lost story. Was watching an Anime (it wasn’t that good) and in it, the idea of airlocking someone comes up. One of the characters makes a crack about The Cold Equations. I have to admit I was curious and found it online – it’s a scifi from Tom Godwin, published in Astounding Science Fiction in 1954. And that made me dizzy – think about it. A lost story from before I was born ends up noticed in Japan, where it gets a shout out in an anime, which comes back to me through […]