Train Blog
October 26, 2023
y the time the session was over, and then the hour debrief by the hard-core hoggers done, the lights off, alarm set, and the slow drive home, after all that, I sat on my sofa and watched something dumb on the tube and drank a beer. I mean, insert your expletive, but what a session. The club came together Wednesday night for a big monthly ops session. We were going to try the racks and stacks again after the chaos of last time (with trains going to the wrong way and one intermodal being attacked by the mole people in […]
October 22, 2023
ot home after a long late drive from the east coast to find, on the aptly-named “Discord”, that my friends who also attended the Farnhams’ FEC session were chortling about long waits. Really? I was on the big green panel that day and, in all honesty, I was playing it like a virtuoso on a grand piano (just saying). We started out late because of a pre-session chat. Once I took my seat and the clock started, I was looking at four trains on the layout and two holding in the wings of staging, waiting to come out. In short […]
October 20, 2023
don’t want to get into all the details. Recently, when attending a huge TT&TO session at the La Mesa Model Railroad club in San Diego, I thought I saw a train order board being misused. Later, while hanging out at another station with an old SP guy running it, I mentioned the “mistake” I’d witnessed. Turns out, as he explained it, I was wrong. Great, and I’ve written multiple blogs and given two clinics (as well as did it on my Tuscarora) incorrectly. So I’ll correct it now. Train order signals (as shown in the photo to the right) tell […]
October 18, 2023
e were sitting in our uber on Park Boulevard in Balboa Park, looking to our left. “What the crispy crap…?” There is an endless scarlet flood streaming past, agitated and churning. Lava? No, it’s a breast cancer awareness march. And our event is on the other side of it. “We’ll get out here,” Steve tells the driver. And if there is one moment I’ll always remember, it’s Steve Hooper, man’s man, pushing through a sea of pink tutus. What a crazy start to the day. But we’re here to run trains, right? Having learned a lesson yesterday, I stuck tight […]
October 17, 2023
ur first day on the railroad. We started with the crews gathered and the home hoggers telling us what we needed to know and what was expected. The first was a two-man job up in Walong, just below the famous loop. Looked at Steve and asked if he wanted to start out together. Sure. So we grabbed the job, our bags, and headed out into the sun-fried hills of central California. We found ourselves on a PFE (Pacific Fruit Express) reefer block, just starting to thaw. It worked out that he’d get the front end (and the conductor duties) and […]
October 16, 2023
ot the invite for an operations session over at La Mesa, one of the largest and more realistic operations sessions anywhere. For those who don’t know it, the La Mesa club sprawls across a significant amount of the Balboa Park Railroad Museum in San Diego (also filling two floors – yes, you climb 2% from one floor to the one above). The HO railroad is twenty-five scale miles long, modelling the run between Mojave to Bakersfield (including the famous Tehachapi Loop). The area is faithfully modelling the scenery from 1950s. And that is appropriate because the session simulates operations in […]
October 8, 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
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
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
‘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 […]