Train Dispatcher Sheets - How do you read one??
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- Опубліковано 7 лют 2025
- From the dawn of railroad train dispatching, the train sheet was how the train dispatcher kept straight where all the trains were. Computerization of the dispatching functions has obsoleted the sheets and the manual recording of trains progress across the territory. How were they used? How do you read one? What do all these entries mean? We will look at train sheets for two C&NW subdivisions in 1974 and 1975 and have a dispatcher go through the sheets with us.
#dispatcher
Thank you, KillerBee, for this informative video on Train Dispatcher Sheets from the Chicago & North Western Railroad the mid-1970s. This is the first time that I have seen a Trian Dispatcher's Sheet. (Posted on 2 January 2024 at 2139 CST.)
You are welcome, as always.
Great explanation of train sheets. I was an engineer for 50 years and had friends in the dispatchers office. Would go visit the ds office and the dispatchers would come ride in the field with myself and others.
Thank you. I wanted to expand my knowledge of them so when I met Rod recently it was the golden opportunity.
Wow does that train sheet from the Valley Sub bring back a ton of memories. Lots of familiar names on there from when I started hanging around the yard at Appleton in the mid 70's. Jerry Reader, Earl Bond, Pat Molitor, JF Schindlholz, and even what looks like Wally Koehn over on the left side of the sheet on WD53. 52 and 53 were the jobs that worked out of Jefferson Jct, I believe.
Yes, more often than not, 299 did meet 296 at Appleton. Since both worked there, 299 would basically come up whatever yard track was open and not necessarily the siding. I vividly remember, after getting my first scanner in the late 70's, that as they passed each other in the yard, each train would call out "299" and "296" over the radio to identify themselves. 296 would almost always have to wait a spell for their pickup since Job 03 would be switching out the cars from Job 02, as well as the 1st Appleton and 2nd Appleton switch runs plus whatever other traffic came from Appleton or the Soo Line interchange and make up the pickups for 296 and 299. Thats when I would have a chance to talk to the crew on 296, and more often than not, get invited into the cab by the regular crew while they waited. Wally Koehn, who was on 297 and 290 by the time I was hanging around there, I believe was the last steam qualified engineer and he ran the 1385 when it went through the Valley in 1984. With all of the paper business generated around Appleton and off the Kimberly Sub, I was rather surprised to see that 296 only picked up 8 cars that evening. As for 299 and their "Shannon" work, Shannon's was a food distribution center on the NE side of Appleton and 299 worked it almost every night during the week. When they would leave Appleton, The engineer or fireman (Earl Bond and Tom Conroy for the longest time) would call the operator and ask him to "Call Shannon and have them open the door." Pat Molitor I met while he was working one of the Kimberly Sub Switch runs. He was quite the character. When the Alcos showed up from MN in the early 80's the RS3/11 became the regular switch engine at Appleton. Pat lovingly wrote "Sputnik" on the side of it because it was such an odd looking beast.
I am a little curious about the comment of 281/282 running to Adams. I'm not sure that's true. 281 and 282 were old Ashland Div trains that ran from Ashland down to Fond Du Lac, although I do remember seeing an old train sheet or something somewhere from years before (60s or 50s?) where 282 did run from NFDL down to Clyman Jct, where the train then took a LEFT and went to Butler. There were two trains that did run from NFDL to Adams via Clyman Jct, but those were trains 471 and 472 to Altoona or Minneapolis. Those trains used to run (as 71 and 72 I think based on old timetables and such) to Green Bay via Merrillan and Marshfield and Eland, but CNW stopped using that line as a through route in the mid 70's I believe. I remember hearing the FDL operator on my scanner calling 471 and 472 on the radio at times. So many more names from NFDL that I dont see on the train sheet but still remember vividly. Not to mention the old "Antigo guys" I got to know around Appleton at that time, since the Appleton yard jobs, switch runs and the Kaukauna yard job were all old Ashland Division jobs.
Excellent video and commentary by both of you. It brought back a ton of memories, and I kind of wish railroading was still like that. I am eligible to retire this year after 31yrs with CNW/UP.
Good gosh - thank you for your recollections. So cool. I didn't expect this video to draw a large viewership due to its narrow focus but figured those that did watch it would enjoy it. Plus I wanted to do something on train sheets for my own edification. I might do another one, taking another train sheet and going over each sub and what ran that day. I was with CNW 1981-1987 but down at 165 N Canal.
you hired on the same year i did... where do you work out of?
i hired on out of butler yard
Really have enjoyed all of your "getting to know railroads" videos. Very interesting learning about the business and operations side of railroading. Keep up the great work! -Steve, Mitchell County Iowa.
Thank you - I do try to bring the "nuts and bolts" out.
Great stuff. A couple of notes based on the video-
Cut off is the Jct on the north side of Sheb on the passenger line mp 54.
The passing siding though town was also a helper district and the yard crew would get an extra days pay every time a shove was needed.
Lastly, there is still a hot box detector at Belgium today.
My Dad was a train dispatcher on the Grand Trunk Western in Durand during the 1950's and 1960's. I was able to go to work with him when he worked 2nd trick on Saturdays. I have a few old train sheets and enjoy looking at them. I remember watching TV as a kid and there would be someone sending code. We would ask my Dad what they were sending and usually it was nothing. Once in a while there may have been actual code or they would be sending international code. With the international code my Dad would say so and maybe repeat the few letters or words that were sent. Dad was also a radio man in the Navy in WWII and during Korea for a year and half.
Funny but I never thought about whether the code you would see being tapped out in the movies was real or not...until Rod brought it up.
There's a ton of information on those sheets, IF you know how to read them. It's more interesting after Mr. Ewart helped interpret the information, and I could picture the progress unfolding as he read and spoke about it. Also enjoyed his comments about the ''rail busters'', the big road locomotives.
While I am not directly involved in Rwy operations, as a truck driver, I have been to places in many of the towns mentioned in today's episode, so it became even more interesting trying to picture operations happening in those towns some 45 to 50 years ago.
Thanks for this episode, and thanks to Rod also, for his time and expertise.
And thank you for taking the time to comment. I was lucky to run into Rod awhile back and have him readily agree to go over the sheet and provide his comments. This is something I have been wanting to do for awhile...just never had the right person until now.
I sure enjoyed this, I grew up in Sheboygan and vividly remember those train numbers! Great stuff, Happy New Year All!
Why thank you. Glad to bring back memories.
My family moved to Neenah in 1977 about 5 blocks from the CNW Valley Subdivision line. I certainly remember CNW trains passing by S. Commercial St. in the 1980s, though not as frequently as the nearby Soo Line with its yard right in the city. The CNW line through Neenah proper was removed, I believe in the 1990s. The line did have one of the uncommon wig wag type crossing signals on E. North Water St on Doty Island that I remember, I've read that they were relocated to the National Railroad Museum in Green Bay after the line shut down.
There is indeed a wig-wag at the NRM in Green Bay - still operates too.
I have some of the old train sheets from BO Tower in Kalamazoo (Conrail), from the late 1970's into the 1980's. Penn Central did not use Morris code since the NYC days (pre 1960's). My cousin has the train sheet showing the Freedom Train in 1976. Thanks for sharing this!
Yes, video format is great, allowing the dissemination of information like this.
Thanks Bee!
Another great nuts and bolts railroad operations video.
It was fun to make, although the filming and editing was a little bit of a challenge. But it still came together.
cool vid... i worked as a switchman for CNW... hired on in sept 1993...
i worked the shoreline sub for a bit on that sheboygan coal train... that was a fun assignment but the working hours were beyond *BRUTAL*
that assignment always had the big AC six axle units for coal service...
also, the overtime was unlimited... the trainmaster never harassed that job about the heavy overtime it got... reason why was the compensation for that job came from a different budget and not from the trainmasters terminal budget...
that coal train was always good for $100K/PLUS per year easy
Interesting memories...thank you. As a former Trainmaster, you are just happy the work gets done with one crew and you don't have to dredge up a recrew.
Thank you this was interesting and gave me a good view of how dispatchers keep track of their trains.
After watching your video, I was wondering what happens at midnight when a new train sheet for the new day is started.
The train sheet is security critical as it the dispatcher must use it to identify all opposing Extras and arrange protection before issuing a clearance to a new Extra.
There is exists a similar sheet the "Zugmeldebuch für Zugleitbetrieb" in Germany for the German form of track warrant control. Whenever the dispatcher runs out of space on a page, he or she has to transfer the current status of the railway to the new page before using it. I wondered if there was a similar transfer at midnight between train sheets.
After a bit of searching I found out that this is not the case for train sheets. Trains originating after midnight are put on the new day's train sheet while trains still running are continued to be tracked on the old train sheet. This means that during the wee hours of the night, the dispatcher is juggling two of these giant sheets.
How did I learn this? One unfortunate rookie dispatcher forgot to check the old train sheet properly when creating the first new Extra of the new day. This happened on the BN in 1984 and let to a fatal cornfield meet. The NSTB wrote a report with an explanation how train sheets were supposed to be handled at midnight. If you want to read the report too, search for "NTSB RAR 85/06"
Ya, sucks to be the night guy. Well maybe not - it was quieter at night - less brass around to bother you. Interesting - I'll have to look up the NTSB report - thank you. BN had a number of high profile wrecks back then, I seem to recall.
Living along the Shoreline Div in Sheboygan, this was interesting.
Glad to hear. I figured this video would find a narrow but enthusiastic audience.
There’s a lot of old school terms still used like “OS”. The day of the old timers passing down that info of what things mean or meant is quickly passing.
The Ridge Runner line.
Yep - I always think of the TRAINS magazine article on it way way back when
There’s a lot of old school terms still used like “OS”. The day of the old timers passing down that info of what things mean or meant is quickly passing.
I had to laugh when he was mentioned that only 4 axle units could do industry work. Same applies today, but worse! That’s what I liked about operating on the CN. They didn’t seem to be afraid to spend money on upgrades to be efficient.
Rats - I forgot to ask him whether they used the "OS" term.
I once watched a CNW Escanaba to Green Bay train switch Oconto with a GP9 they had to cut off from their SD45 consist to go on some lighter rail to pick up a loaded refrigerator. It also helped when switches faced the wrong way.
@ I know on the UP out west we would inter-changeably use the term “OS” to refer to an action/movement in or around a control point.
I have heard “OS” to mean: 1) On Sheet. 2) Operator Station.
We had a local manager once that wanted to switch an industry that only could be accessed with four axle units. None were available, so he wanted us to shove in with 30 or so cars to pull and then spot the customer. A lot can go wrong by doing that while being see-sawed through multiple track switches and such. With an experienced crew and while not being close to “a quit”, it could be done. 🤣
I found it interesting him talking about the trains to Adams that made the turn at Clyman Jct. That must have been after the lines that went to the Wis Rapids and Wausau way were torn up.
Junction City on the Superior sub still uses its morse code station call; JO. I’m not sure, but EZ further up on the Superior sub, near South Itasca, may be another one. Are there more?
Ya, all thru the WC, the former Soo Line dispatchers kept the JO symbol alive and it seems to have stuck for good.