Review by Casey
 

Review--NEDF-109-X02-SS-VV-SS by RobertR (Robert Reedy, Missouri, USA)

Like most of us “hard-core vhoggers”, there’s almost never a day when I don’t  sit down to run some trains.  But every once in a while – about every two or three weeks or so, actually – I’ll find myself besieged with the strong urge to tackle something really good, solid and challenging.  Something “meaty”, that I can really sink my teeth into.  Something that’ll take a big chunk out of Saturday afternoon or the rare evening when the Missus is out (and I can cut-in all of my surround-sound speakers!!).

To fulfil this need, we probably all have at least one activity that’ll immediately spring to mind, and for me, it’s Robert Reedy’s absolutely magnificent X02 -- a stand-alone “mega-switching fun-fest” (*my* inelegant description).  For me, this one is the acme.

Why do I like this act so much?  Well, first, there’s lots to do – it’s published at 3.5 hours, but I’ve never yet broken 4.5 hours completing it!  Yet!  Gimme time. First time I ran this act, I made a record number of notes for myself, and when I tallied it all up, there were more pick-ups and set-outs here than in any other act I’d successfully completed.

Successfully.  Which brings up an important feature of X02:  Like everything of Robert’s that I’ve experienced, it seems to be programmed very “robustly”, so things don’t go wrong unless you do something really stupid.  In other words, it’s unlikely you’ll go seriously “off the rails” with it.  This doesn’t mean it’s a “no-brainer”!  Instead, you pleasurably wrack your brain and perform your tasks in a logical manner, enjoying yourself all the way, and at the end of the act, you can be confident you’ll get that nice, satisfying little Activity Complete pop-up.

If you look at Robert’s excellent little map of the ADFRR (easily found through a link on NERR’s ADFRR Forum), look just east of Saratoga Springs and you’ll see a little industrial-park area called Bogville. That’s where most of the action takes place, in this activity.

Before you start-off, print-out the activity’s Work Order form, and prepare to take lots of notes (there’s lots of room on the second page). You start in Saratoga’s yard in an ancient old Alco RS1, and you pick-up your train on Westbound 1.  There’s a little fussing at the signal to the eastern lead to the main, but then it’s off to Bogville, and the real fun starts!

I’d be remiss if I divulged any great detail on what happens in Bogville’s industrial area other than saying you’re there for a few hours, switching a great number of a large variety of cars;  sequencing figures importantly in your tasks; turning on the wye (hint: you only really need do it once) must be done appropriately; and it’s all an enormous amount of great fun!

When you’ve finally completed all of your Bogville tasks, you couldn’t be chided for thinking that you were about done.  But you’d be wrong, nevertheless, ‘cos next, you’re off farther east to North Fork for a little uncompleted business.

Finally, your North-Fork machinations complete, you can turn the trusty old RS1 westward again for the return journey to Saratoga yard. You set-out your accumulated train on Westbound 2, and in a typical RobertR final flair, you park your power at the Fuel Pump to end the activity.

As I confessed earlier, I’ve not yet taken less time than 4.5 hours to complete this wonderful activity, but that’s a good thing, as I see it:  I get to go back again, in a few weeks, and again thereafter.

A good, solid “comfort-food” kind of activity that’ll provide truly valuable experience to a newbie, and hours of solid, happy switching for the experienced vhogger.  Try it!  I can almost guarantee you’ll like it!  In fact, I’ll betcha you can’t end it without carrying a big, happy smile on your face!

-Casey