Train Blog
February 29, 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 […]
February 26, 2024
uscarora has been inoperative for two months now. The interlocking started fritzing; I got the last good interlocking session on 12/30/2023 (Happy New Year!) and then a massive failure in a status run (1/21, aborted). So my electrical engineer reworked the cheater box so that I could run only turnouts, no interlocking effort. And that’s a pity, because that’s where the pike shines. Still, a basic session is better than no session and so my friend Greg came over for the day and we ran the way we did years back; a coal guy, a local guy and a lot […]
February 16, 2024
ne thing about railroading, there are always new things to learn. For example, I remember reading in a rulebook where a switchman, after aligning a turnout to the main, must stand on the opposite side of the track from the stand. I read that and was puzzled. Why such a rule? Finally someone answered it for me – there was apparently some horrible wreck that occurred somewhere when a brakeman aligned a switch to the main for an oncoming train. At the very last second, he got confused, was certain it was misaligned, and he threw it point-blank in front […]
February 12, 2024
e started the session with my drive over, running things like I do on my trains in session. I run on time. I run exact. So my drive over involved picking up all the pizzas (five boxes of them – Andy does a great lunch). I was there in the pizza lobby (siding) fifteen minutes before the meet (or with pepperoni, is that “meat”?). Got the pies into the trunk of my Mini carefully. Then a couple of miles along the mainline, over roadbed as bad as the EsPee’s (that is, three miles of constant speed bumps). Didn’t even toss […]
February 9, 2024
ne of the real problems with TT&TO (Time Table and Train Order) operations is the problem of running late. Let’s face it – true TT&TO means that the superior train does not wait for the inferior at meet points – he just blows on by. And given the problems with model railroading, it’s not uncommon to derail short of the meeting point with a superior train and suddenly you are sitting on single track with the Cannonball roaring your way. A lot of people actually shy away from TT&TO for this reason, the fact that under a fast clock, times […]
February 8, 2024
nteresting morning: I had a bunch of little errands and since it was blustery and chilly, I decided to do them by bike. The route was from my house a mile to the donut shop (where I read a book I’ll describe shortly). Then across the street (the street being Corrine Drive, which is a good simulation of the beaches of Normandy) to drop off another book (a creepy serial killer thing). Then two miles over to the drug store (picked up some keep-alive pills). Then two miles over to the chain bookstore to pick up a classic (I’d checked […]
February 2, 2024
was wondering what I could write about and suddenly it hit me – the weirdest thing I’ve ever had happen while dispatching. Some of you NMRA guys might remember Bruce Notman. He was an NMRA lifetime member and had operated on more layouts than I ever will. He went to many of the conventions. In later years, Bruce began to slow down a bit, and ended up content to run helpers on the LM&O. I’ll also mentioned the amazing session we had at Tom Wilson’s layout. Tom “flirts” with TT&TO operations. Occasionally he hosts it. One guy (i.e. me) dispatches […]
February 1, 2024
had a question about Avella Freight East and was told that owner Tom Wilson was out on the driveway. Bad sign. Went out and found him with the garage door up, his screwdriver sparking as he desperately worked across an array of terminal strips. As his layout fills his two-car garage, the only way to get to his wiring is to open the door and work on it from the outside. So it was all Star Trek stuff, exploding consoles, sparks and smoke. Or maybe I’m exaggerating. I might be trying to distract myself from the fact that the last […]
January 29, 2024
‘m kind of guessing that seconds before the WAZU railroad started, our host Doc Andy was dreaming that all his operators might somehow spontaneously combust. If that did happen, he could have used the dust buster to sweep us up. Then he’d turn out the lights and lock the door. And that would be that. At go time, the layout clocks were totally messed up (I am very familiar with the brand he uses yet I had no idea why I couldn’t slave/master them correctly). And his dispatching computer software lasted all of five minutes before crashing. He was already […]
January 25, 2024
riting this blog is a weird thing. Unlike a manifesto, a blackmail note or a letter to my new Nigerian pen-pal, I have to figure out a new angle each time. I can’t just say what happens: that would be “Tonight those goofballs really found a new way to screw up. Is this any way to run a railroad?”. Further, there is the problem that as one man, I simply can’t describe all the events that took place, any more than a soldier in a foxhole can fully explain World War Two. I see things, I hear things, I pay […]