At the throttle

Train Blog

October 8, 2023

ShowLog – Deland – 10/7/2023

nteresting train show. For me, it started at 5am when I’m standing alone in the donut shop, that is alone but for the wizened old homeless guy standing right at my shoulder. “You into… trains?” he hiccuped.  I thought, “Yeah, except for the hobo part”. Placed my order quick (you’ll notice the lack of selection this time) and blew out of there. The lady behind the counter didn’t like like the sort to take this sort of shit (along Rt 50, she probably has practice). Anyway, following our flawless setup at the Volusia County Fairgrounds (thanks, guys. You earned your […]
October 6, 2023

On Sheet – Codedancers

t all started two decades ago when a lot of people died. Well, not real people. Model railroad pretend people. Back then, our club used to use a big metal board (about six feet long) to keep track of trains (which were magnets). The dispatcher would move these about and dictate warrants from the situation he saw. A major problem occurs when you try this. I liked to write “hyperspace” warrants for passenger trains. You know, with the line clear, I’d write a warrant to get that train moving and stay moving across the division. The problem is that I […]
September 29, 2023

On Sheet – Superintendent

omething we do on our club layout. Look, it’s an old layout – been around for thirty years or more. And it’s N-scale, so it has it’s problems. And the original construction team was in a rush. So yes, it does have issues. Trains will derail. Sections might drop out. Things won’t work. So we designate someone – for the session – as the Superintendent. His job is to answer all questions. He also assists members who derail, get confused, need help. In this, it helps if he’s physically fit enough to climb under the railroad when needed to fetch […]
September 28, 2023

OpsLog – LM&O – 9/27/2023

‘m sitting in my dark, dingy writer’s loft, smoking my metaphorical cigarette as I prepare for my character assassination hit. On the chipped and stained table before me, my M102 Blamethrower. I check the fuel level. Topped off. Taking that final drag, I engage in the time-honored memory flashbacks of the session. The screams. The collisions. The confusion. The helplessness. So many trains doing so many things wrong. My hands tremble. I shake the nightmares clear like under-layout cobwebs. I cannot do this. I cannot torch egos. Yeah, there were layout problems. It’s N-scale and there always will be. But […]
September 22, 2023

OpsLog – TBL – 9/21/2023

ey, I like running trains with the guys. Operations is about playing a multi-participant game bigger than yourself. I love it. But it also means that, since I’m one of the founding members of ops, I get called on a lot. People don’t understand their timetables. Or their warrants. Or their freight waybills. There are accidents out of reach, whole train derailments, dead engines, stupid questions (yes, those DO exist). One moment, I’m in the cab, pondering my switching moves. The next, someone is tapping me on the shoulder. I get pulled out of it a lot. So tonight I […]
September 22, 2023

On Sheet – Battle Plans

o plan of operations extends with any certainty beyond the first encounter with the main enemy forces. Only the layman believes that in the course of a campaign he sees the consistent implementation of an original thought that has been considered in advance in every detail and retained to the end. — Helmuth von Moltke I’m a member of the operations committee in our club. I’ve designed the freight forwarding system (all three versions). I’ve come up with the trains, the timetable (for passengers) and the crew start times for everything else. I’ve suggested changes to track alignments to improve […]
September 17, 2023

OpsLog – TBL – 9/16/2023

ll sessions have problems. My new SW-7 (after running a shakedown flawlessly around the layout) started to sputter and cough. And that turnout I dug out? Its replacement is repeating the same failures (the original now languishes in pieces in my new scrap yard). But still, goddam, but it was fun. Rather than trying to pack our attendance, we kept it at four and ran the session. Since we had two newbies (Chris in the tower, and Mike down in the coal lumps) I gave a points-to-stress speech before the clock went flip. Then, carefully and deliberately, we ran the […]
September 8, 2023

On Sheet – MOW

een watching a turnout slowly fail. It’s like watching a pet pass away. As you can see in the image below (taken during an “English” session) the circled turnout is the one that stopped throwing fully. We managed to carefully glue the drawbar pin down (it was loose) and that helped. For a bit. Then it wouldn’t throw fully, the points not firmed up on the rails. These Kato Unitrack #4s are prone to slipping their wire throws (had it happen once while running floor tests and I managed to open it up and fix it). But these are glued […]
September 1, 2023

On Sheet- Crowd Fumbling

o I used to play Sid Meier’s Railroad Typcoon . Loved it and stayed up too many nights playing it. It was great to have my own rail empire with little computer trains running through their assignments, flawlessly. So much order and control. And I’ve found that real world model train operations are anything but. To push the positive, model railroading operation on a club layout is one of the grandest games there is. In this crafted miniature world, we run our little trains along agreed-upon rules. It’s a massive cooperative effort, and unlike that lonely solo computer game, everyone […]
August 27, 2023

OpsLog – Tusk Hill – 8/26/2023

kay, it’s easy to cosplay some of our operators from yesterday’s session. Me, I’m the oily guy with glasses, the railroad gopher, usually called “The Professor” in such pieces. I scurry around and do a little of everything. I did just about every job (save dispatching). And usually I was on my rickety bicycle, cranking down country lanes with a satchel of tokens to deliver to Branch, Easton, Westly and Tusk Hill. And then there was Mathis, with a face (with apologies and a smile) that would look perfect under a slouch cap, powdered with coal dust, shouting things like […]