Chris Writes Like His Father
It isn’t often you get to compare your writing with that of your father and grandfather. My grandfather was a PhD with published works. I should try to find his thesis and other publications. I have read his unpublished autobiography.
My father had a few articles published, and I’m sure he wrote more. I should attempt to get his master’s thesis from ODU.
Yesterday my daughter stumbled onto a couple of articles published by my father. I write like he did. I guess I speak like he did as well.
I’m positive that much of my very dry humor comes from him.
The original Pseudo-Soo Line was located in Golden Valley (Minneapolis), Minnesota, and was on the Northstar99 layout tours. We moved into this basement, then totally barren, in April 2000, and the new Pseudo-Soo Line was up and running for the Gateway2001 layout tours 15 months later. Approximately 230 model railroad enthusiasts visited the layout during the convention.
The new PSL occupies a space 50′ long and 12′ to 22′ wide. It is an “around the walls” layout with a long center peninsula. The mainline is a closed loop with two single ended, “nose-to-nose” staging yards. These represent Sault Ste. Marie, MI (“The Soo”) and Minneapolis, MN. The main loop from “The Soo” to Minneapolis is approximately 200′ long. Another 100′ of track represent branch lines and interchanges. Abracadata 3D Railroad Concept and Design software was not only used to design the layout but the entire basement. [This software is no longer available.] The design was essentially complete before we moved in, and I have made very few changes to the original design.
The three classification yards: Rhinelander, Ladysmith, and Weyerhauser. There is a passing siding between Prentice and Hawkins, and two short run-around tracks elsewhere. A branch line leads to a reversing loop that represents the Wisconsin Central routes to Superior, WI and the Bessemer, MI iron mine complex. Another branch line goes to Rice Lake, WI. There are 60 industries including team tracks and ice houses, plus four standard gauge interchanges: C&NW at Rhinelander, The Milwaukee Road at Heafford Junction, the Wisconsin Central at Ladysmith, and the C&NW at Rice Lake. The narrow gauge Thunder Lake logging railroad crosses the PSL at Robbins Junction and transfer hardwood logs going to several online users. The hand-laid Thunder Lake RR module is the only part of the layout used intact from Golden Valley.
Operation include both passenger and freight movements. The Atlantic Limited (East and West) and the Superior Lake (North and South) represent high-class varnish. All runs include some switching moves. The Milk Runs (East and West) drop-off and pick-up cars at Lassig Dairy and make a number of stops for passengers and milk. There are 13 freight jobs including manifests, peddlers, ore trains, turns, and dedicated industry and interchange moves. A 6:1 fast clock is used, so the seven or more operators required to run the railroad keep busy during a typical 3-hour session.
Digitrax DCC is used. A 6-wire telephone bus forms a LAN to all points of the layout with jacks along the fascia. There are also receivers for infrared and radio (both simplex and duplex) throttles. Guest operators are invited to bring their own compatible throttles. All turnouts are hand-thrown with Caboose Industries throws.
— Bob Johnson's Pseudo Soo Line, LDSIG, https://ldsig.net/bob-johnson/ (last visited Dec. 21, 2025).
His layout was what was known as an “operational” layout. This meant that you could run it realistically. He had cards that represented loads and destinations. The yard operators would have to make up trains, which would then be moved over the main line to different yards by other operators.
Still other operators would run the locals. These were the little trains that went to the different businesses to pick up and drop off loads.
A standard operating session would be 7 or more operators working over 3 hours on a 6:1 fast clock. In other words, they would simulate 18 hours of operations in just 3 hours. Generally, was made up by the fact that the locations did not have real distances between them. So the dairy was only a 1/2 mile from the yard, while it was more like 6 miles in reality.
Regardless, I love and miss Dad. If you feel like it, go read his entire article. He has pictures and more.
Musings Over Friendsgiving
There are some things Chris wants me to write, and I will get there probably, but not this week. This week is “getting the finances up to date,” put up the tree, put up the lights, clean up the living room of Friendsgiving stuff, do all the laundry associated with Friendsgiving (hint: it’s a lot), dishes upon dishes… You get the idea.
Chris talked about his version of Friendsgiving, and I wanted to throw my two cents in. Well, maybe more like $0.25, but anyhow… 😉
Years ago, when I still lived with my parents and was not yet adult, Thanksgiving was both a joy and a horror. My mother, bless her heart (said in Ally’s most southern ma’am voice, thick with sarcasm), was an abusive and alcoholic soul, and she made every holiday miserable. But I got to see my Hungarian grandparents, which was almost always a happy thing. As with all things that involved my mother in any way, it was very complicated.
We would wake up early, and my mother would be resentful and angry about it. These days, I realize it’s because she was likely hung over, but I don’t know that for certain. In any case, we would have a light breakfast which my father would make (my mother generally didn’t cook), and then we’d get dressed in our nice clothes and go on the two hour car ride out to my Nagymama and Nagyapa’s house. The times it was just myself and my father were nice. We had things to talk about, music we could share, and it was generally pretty chill. With my mother there, it meant we played what she wanted to listen to, and we didn’t talk much because it bothered her, and you really didn’t want to bother her.
We’d arrive at my grandparents’ house about noon or 1pm, and the turkey would just be coming out of the oven. Nagymama would always cook a massive turkey, 20+ lbs every time (in fact I didn’t know they came smaller than that until well into my adulthood!), and stuffed to the breaking point. My father would carve it up, my mother would set the table (something she was good at, thank heavens), and I would help organize the platters of food. Nagymama would bring out a big pot of turkey neck soup with perfectly clear broth (always simmered, never boiled) with homemade noodles, bits of fresh turkey meat, and a single large carrot in the center of each person’s bowl which you had to cut up with your knife. We would enjoy our soup, and then Nagymama was up again, bringing in platters upon platters of food.
She’d grown up in Hungary, in Mezőkövesd (mezo kovesh-d), which sits nestled in the shadows of the Carpathian Mountains. They were just south of Poland by about 40 to 50 miles, as the crow flies, but the mountains were in the way. My Nagyapa had been drafted into the Russian army at gunpoint during WWII, and escaped when his squad was slaughtered by the Allies. He lay under piles of his dead comrades until everyone left, then crawled out and walked some 400 or more miles home. He only ever talked about it once, and after that he’d just pat my hand and tell me “Nem bántsad,” or “Nem zavar.” They had nothing for a very, very long time. When they came to the new world, they came with a handful of photographs, two sets of clothing, their son (my father), and hope. They turned that hope into a tobacco farm, which turned into big money. They were hardly millionaires, but they were vastly comfortable.
Happy Friendsgiving
Feast time. We spent the entire day preparing, and then people showed up. Then more people showed up.
I hope you are having a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend.
Pay it forward
One of the biggest differences between conservatives and leftists/progressives is charity. We reach into our wallets; they reach into yours.
For years I heard Democrats screaming about how horrible it was that the wealthy were taking advantage of tax laws by making charitable contributions. At a time when I was getting taxed at 45 cents on the dollar, giving $100 to a charitable cause only cost me 65 dollars. I think.
Whenever I have given money to charity, I’ve done it locally.
My son fell in love with The Magic Tree House series; he was reading them at the school. I went to B&N and told them what I wanted to do. Together with B&N, we were able to give a complete set of the books to the school. I think it was about 50 books.
I’ve donated to the local food pantry, and I’ve given to local churches. If there is a good group selling something to make money, I’ll often donate three times what they would have made from selling me something I didn’t want.
When my son was pushed to go door-to-door to sell something to raise money for the school, I met with the principal to find out how much they made per dollar of goods sold. It was around 20%. My son would have had to sell nearly $500 worth of junk to be part of the ice cream reward. I gave the school $250, and told them to make sure my son got ice cream with the rest.
But that’s about me giving. I had reasons, not just for my community, but directly for my family.
Paying it forward is helping someone with no expectation of any return or good coming to you or yours. You ask them to help someone else out, sometime in the future, when they can.
With the government shutdown, friends of the family were hurting a bit more than usual. They only get around $60/month in SNAP because they “don’t qualify” for any more. They haven’t looked into how to get that increased because they are embarrassed to be on assistance.
We found out and as a family decided they needed help and that we would provide that help. Most of what we provided came from our stores, some came from purchases. A neighbor heard we were doing this and pitched in some cash.
The recipient has a gluten allergy, so pasta and such were out.
- 10# dried beans
- 10# white rice
- A flat of canned tuna
- A flat of canned chicken
- A flat of canned turkey
- 6 cans of beans
- 3# of short ribs
- 1# of rib roast
- 1 15# turkey
- 2# of sugar
- Gluten free brownie mix
- Misc. canned vegetables
To this we added eggs, milk, fresh fruit, fresh vegetables, frozen vegetables, and some other stuff, plus the cash from the neighbor.
That is not a complete list, but it gives an idea. When we got there and started bringing things in, we found her fridge was empty of everything except condiments. Her pantry was just as empty.
She will do the right thing. Because she understands, this is around two months worth of food for her, minus the weekly things like eggs.
Our total out-of-pocket cost for this gift was less than $50 because we are always adding to our stores. I get a flat of canned something every month. During this time of year, we pick up cheap turkey and fill freezers with it. We would have given her a ham as well, but she doesn’t like ham.
Our neighbor gave cash, which covered the fresh food and still gave her spending cash she would not have had any other way.
Yes, your taxes are taken from you at gunpoint to be given to both undeserving and deserving people. Don’t stop there. Make it personal. There is somebody in need in your community. Somebody that can use a hand up and isn’t looking for a handout.
Find that family. Give a little of yourself. Pay it forward.