Re: Train symbols, phone lines, office calls
The dispatcher's phone lines along the right-of-way are long gone and everything is done by radio and cell phones and computers now. Most railroads have eliminated their pole lines, but some still exist for signalling (code line) purposes, but no voice lines remain. Also, the train symbol letter designations are not the same as what were once "office calls." It used to be each train order office had a one or two letter designation. In telegraph days, that's how the dispatcher would "call" an operator onto the wire to copy trains orders, etc., and how the operator would identify when reporting (O.S.-ing) train arrival, departure or passing. Post telegraph days, we still used the office calls as dispatchers in the train order book to show at what stations orders were copied, but the full station name ALWAYS appeared in the body of the order and as copied by the operators to be given to train crews. Also, after we gave a "complete" time on a train order, the rules required the operator to give his initials and office call to acknowledge he got it. For example, if I copied an order at Carleton and repeated it back correctly, the dispatcher would say, "Make that complete at (time)." I would then respond "DMH-CN." Some office calls had letters that were in the station's name -- like Carleton was "CN." Others did not: Plymouth was "JY", Mershon was "XY", Sebewaing was "Q", etc. In regard to the train symbols, they meant nothing as far as any kind of operating authority. In other words, they did not appear on train orders or clearances. Positive identification by lead engine engine number and direction was the standard. By the time I started dispatching there were no longer any scheduled trains in the timetable -- everything ran as an "extra." So, even though, for example, the Saginaw-GR (Elmdale Sub) train had a symbol of GR87, it would be designated in train orders as "Extra (lead engine) West." In other words, a train order would not read "GR87 take siding and meet SA88 at Alma." It would read, for example, "Extra 3002 West taking siding and meet Extra 3520 East at Alma." Positive identification by engine number had to be made by the crews at the meeting point. The symbols were merely a convenience used by the company to set up an operational network for train movements to make connections and move traffic across the system.
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