Train Blog
December 23, 2023
he good thing about microlayouts (if you consider a 3×8 a “micro”) is that a session can be set up and hosted in quick order. So that’s what my friend Chris did – he asked me if on Thursday if we wanted to run on Friday and I said (of course) yes (is there any other answer?). And run we did. I might have mentioned this before, but Chris has a great small layout. Essentially there are four trains each day between Jacksonville and Miami. Each train takes six laps to complete a run. Each lap represents a different Florida […]
December 22, 2023
sat down to run my Tuscarora at the club (where I keep it). It was a slow night so I ran it myself, a one-man job. Details are HERE. As mentioned, at the end of the session, the control tower with its computerized lever control died again. Since then, the engineer who constructed it has been over and picking through it. Unfortunately, it’s not the same problem (a bad solder joint) as the last time. We spent a couple of hours fussing over it. Right now he’s in “thinking” mode. He’s sent me some more questions about the failures (I’ll […]
December 21, 2023
uick post – tonight Steve played with the tower and had it crashing routinely, until it stopped crashing. After he left, I put the cars on and using an old sheet I’d stored in my locker some time ago, I ran a full session. Since I needed to test the tower, I did both leverman and freight engineer. What made it a pain was that to keep the aisle open, I had to run from the side (where the tower is usually bolted on). This meant that any uncoupling I had to do, I had to get out of my […]
December 18, 2023
kay, so, outside of the tacos… Smiles. Threatened the host I was going to start my trash-out blog this way. So outside of the tacos, the whole session was a shambles. Trains ran on a time scale that seemed arbitrary because it was arbitrary. The host, a.k.a. “King Chronos”, could make it any time he wished. So a timetable in these situations is like a constitution under a despot. We were his pawns, dancing to his tune. Okay, not that I fake-bashed him (though the time complain is true), let’s get on with the blog. We were worried going […]
December 15, 2023
here is an old logic problem. You are traveling to market with the following items, a fox, a rabbit and a cabbage. You get to a deep stream and there is a tiny boat on the shore, just large enough for you and one item. You can ferry each of your possessions across – one at a time – but note that if left alone, the fox will eat the rabbit and the rabbit will eat the cabbage. Can you work this logic problem out so everything is safely across? Switching is like this. I’ve switched on model railroads since […]
December 14, 2023
not-so-good solo run on the Tuscarora last night. The original plan was to run a session by myself before the club. But I just started a really good book and didn’t want to break away from it. Read for a while, went to the club, showed guests around, helped out here and there, and finally (about 9:30 when most people had gone home) I set up a session and ran the default position. The basic reason was that I’d just gotten my SW-7 back from the shop and wanted to make sure it ran well. I mean, one guy running. […]
December 8, 2023
orgive me for a “You kids get off my lawn” post, but I’m feeling that way today. I don’t want to go into the details of why – I’ve had people get pissed about things I reflect on and don’t feel like taking a lot of heat on this. But here we go. For whatever reason, I’ve come to realize that many of the younger modelers have come into this hobby by a different path than I. While I wasn’t one of those tin-plate kids, I did start off with an HO layout I remember to this day my dad […]
December 7, 2023
t was good to get out to Tom’s place again for another running of the Pittsburgh and West Virginia. It wasn’t good to get out to Rt 27 and fight all that traffic but, oh well, good things come with costs. But anyway, yes, I got a chance to dispatch his line, always a pleasure. Using warrants, I went with his train sheet and ignored the magnetic board. A good slow pace which gave me a chance to really stay ahead of the railroad, lining up ideas for coming meets and moves. Had a bit of a problem with some […]
December 3, 2023
kay, now that I got your attention with this beautiful shot by Jim Mathis of D&RGW #475 steaming through the miniature (but not as miniature as I’m used to) world of his Western Bay Railroad, let’s get into the details. Four members of the club got invites to head down to Port St. Lucie to run on his O-scale narrow gauge layout that captures railroad action in the Rockies in 1932. As usual, I was station agent at Dulce, Dolores and that shack of a place, Placerville Jct (located way outside of Placerville proper – it’s a long cold walk […]
December 1, 2023
ou’ve all heard me go on endlessly about TT&TO (Time Table and Train Order). I love the idea that the operators are forced to put more skin in the game, to read their rules, understand how the railroad works, and consider what moves they will make. On my Tuscarora Branch Lines, we do run TT&TO with pre-printed orders. My operators will hoop them but will not consider what they say sometimes. For example, in the session last week, we had an extra coal movement departing Easton (the eastern end of my little division). Right behind him was a scheduled train, […]