Thanks to Ted Curphey for bringing this to my attention.
Thomas White (TAW) is a very experienced dispatcher having worked for the
B&O Chicago Terminal Railway, BN and BNSF. He also worked on special
projects for BN and BNSF and later as a private consultant. He has more
than his share of stories to tell and has written a few excellent books on
railway operations. He recently shared this story about trying to go the
extra mile for CW customers only to get burned by a lazy trainmaster. This
is a very detailed and complex story;
"At some time in the early-mid 80s, I was the Spokane Division day
assistant chief dispatcher. I was working with a brand-new, not fresh out
of the box because he was never in one, trainmaster. He was not a
management trainee. He was in charge of the BN Coulee City (CW) and the
Palouse (P&L) branches. He was also the son of a BN VIP.
There was heavy grain loading on the CW, exceptionally heavy. Regular
service was three days out, Spokane to Coulee City Monday, Wednesday,
Friday, and three days back, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. The railroad
was in…..let’s say transition. Senior management was pushing the railroad
toward terminals running the railroad and chief dispatchers answering the
phone and saying yes. However, there were no official written instructions
to that effect. I still considered it my railroad to run (as did others
who fought the system until realizing that it was over). My responsibility
as chief was to be sure that the trainmaster had the means needed to move
the traffic. His responsibility was to ensure that the plan was executed.
One might expect trainmasters to communicate trends and needs in advance,
but most of us didn't depend on it.
Back in those days, the chief dispatcher kept running track of the cars on
hand to move on line and the traffic to move in yards and terminals. We
weren’t allowed to let terminals get plugged nor allow cars to sit on line
waiting to move for an excessively long time. Each of us on the chief jobs
had our own set of COMPASS (the BN Information System) inquiry cards to
run when we came to work. Yes, each of us had a deck of IBM cards, a
couple of inches thick, that we put into the card reader when we came to
work. Later, it was a file in the Yard Management System computer, but we
still called it cards because COMPASS was a mainframe computer that only
spoke cards. The computer inquiry files were still formatted like 80
column IBM cards. Running the cards would result in a pile of greenbar
printout a couple of inches thick. Any of us could spend 30 minutes going
through it page by page and have a clear understanding of what was
happening and what would happen. That information would be supplemented by
phone calls to yardmasters depending on the situation. For example, 150
cars for Pasco at Spokane is not a big deal if they have been on hand for
a couple of hours. They would still need to be inspected and switched.
I’ll talk to the yardmaster in a while. 150 cars for Pasco that have been
on hand for 20 hours takes a call to the yardmaster right now.
An example of my cards on the Spokane Division chief job:
Block consist lineup (for each train shows ETA and breakdown of train
consist by load-empty-tons-feet per block / destination) for Northtown,
Minot, Havre, Shelby, Whitefish, Yardley (Spokane), Wenatchee, and Pasco.
Power consist lineup for Shelby (many trains get new power at Havre so not
much sense in looking at power east of Havre), Whitefish, Spokane. We kept
power on the sheet for trains on our railroad (Whitefish – Yardley –
Wenatchee) but the power lineup provided condition and maintenance due for
reference.
Yard list by block (loads, empties, tons, feet by block and hours on hand)
for Northtown, Minot, Havre, Shelby, Whitefish, Yardley, Pasco,
Wenatchee).
Minor areas (tracks between terminals – COMPASS did not keep detailed
track of cars outside of terminals, just car-load/empty-station)
Minot-Havre, Havre-Shelby, Shelby-Whitefish, Whitefish-Yardley,
Yardley-Wenatchee, CW (Coulee City) branch, P&L (Palouse) branch, and
Kettle Falls branch.
Car orders everything between Minot and Wenatchee/Pasco and the CW, P&L,
Kettle Falls branches.
After the first pass reading the printout and making notes, it’s time to
compare the power on the sheet with the power lineups and be sure that all
condition/maintenance notes are marked up. Then call the Parkwater
(Yardley) roundhouse to compare the power on the sheet with what the
foreman has: condition, dates, facing which way, and where. The where
could be important. When setting up power, if the units could be any of
several, choose the easiest for the roundhouse to make. When something
specific needs to happen, however inconvenient, the roundhouse guys will
get right on it without complaint or delay because they know that the
chief and the foreman take care of them when possible and switching out a
unit from the middle of a line of them isn’t make work.
Now comes matching what the printout says to what the turnover says. If
there is traffic out there that isn’t represented in the plan the previous
shift left, need to get to work on that first. After that is extending (or
fixing if necessary) the current plan, which generally extends 24 hours
from when you came to work.
During this particular week, I saw the grain loads and car orders building
on the CW branch at a rate that could not be handled by the three times a
week CW local (out Monday, Wednesday, Friday, back Tuesday, Thursday,
Saturday). The need for a couple of extras on Sunday was apparent by
mid-week. Loads were building upon line. Empties were building up at
Yardley.
I stuck out a wire (email nowadays) to the Yardley yardmasters and
trainmasters, the Parkwater roundhouse foreman, and the branch trainmaster
(who hadn’t noticed over 100 grain loads on hand that he hadn’t moved and
wasn’t going to be able to). It looked like three trains, not two would be
needed in order to get the loads pulled and empties spotted for loading in
a day. There was too much work for the regular three times a week train to
finish in a in a week.
There was only one day to go get all this business. How is that going to
work?
I set it up the same way as I learned to do on the SP West Side line
between Fresno and Tracy during fruit rush. Divide the line into blocks
separated by a register station. Make use of the register station to keep
the trains apart but keep them from needing to flag. Representing the
traffic on a useful track car lineup was an additional necessity.
The plan would work like this:
I would need enough power to run three CW branch grain trains
simultaneously. On Saturday, I brought local service units from Whitefish
and Wenatchee. They would need to be returned Sunday night. I used Kettle
Falls local power that had to be returned Sunday night, P&L power, and the
regular CW power. This all had to be arranged on Friday.
Train 1 on duty 8am. Train 2 on duty 830am. Train 3 on duty 900am. Each
train would come to work at Yardley, register, get their work list and
orders, get the engine and train, and leave the main line onto the CW
branch at Cheney 90 minutes later. The trainmaster was supposed to leave
the list of stations at the Yardley telegraph office for each train to
work and the number of cars to get and leave at each station. Switch lists
and bills (all cars in those times had to be accompanied by the paper
waybill) at each station were in the usual bill box at the station.
The whole operation was going to be tight (Precision Railroading the way I
learned it). The CW line was (is) about 100 miles of dark railroad with no
open train order offices. There was no dispatcher phone and most of the
line could not be reached by radio. There was a register book, yard
limits, and a yard limits branch line to Eleanor at Davenport. The
register was only used by trains as directed by train order. There were
yard limits at Creston and Odair, between Davenport and Coulee City.
Trains had to protect anywhere else on the line. That wasn’t a big problem
in the days when the crew consisted of engineer, fireman, head man, hind
man, flagman, and conductor. Missing two of those people, working at
stations became more difficult and a lot slower. For that reason, the
regular CW local was fixed with a work order:
ENGINE 1 WORKS EXTRA 701AM UNTIL 701PM BETWEEN CHENEY AND COULEE CITY NOT
PROTECTING AGAINST EXTRA TRAINS
When a local was fixed with the same order (usually a work order or a run
extra and return), the order was called a rubber stamp. A rubber stamp has
the unintended consequence of the crew not even reading the order any
more.
The railroad was theirs to work anywhere on the line without the need to
send a couple of guys further out into the boondocks (given that the whole
line is in the boondocks in the first place) to flag. Working the CW was
time consuming enough without that inconvenience. Of course, the track car
lineup was useless. If the gandys needed the track, they had to protect
against the train, even if it was not coming to where they were working.
That affected the MofW budget, not the trainmaster budget, so that was no
problem.
The plan involved one train working west of Davenport, one east of
Davenport, and one working Davenport and the Eleanor branch. The trick was
setting up three trains to work stations on 100 miles of dark railroad
without delaying the work for flagging or running slow watching for a
flagman.
The set of orders needed to make the plan work looked like this:
~
ORDER NO 1
EXTRA 1 WEST AND EXTRA 2 WEST
WILL REGISTER AT CHENEY
ON ORDER NO 1 OF (DATE)
EXTRA 1 WEST AND EXTRA 2 WEST
WILL REGISTER AT DAVENPORT
ON ORDER NO 1 (DATE)
~
ORDER NO 2
EXTRA 1 WEST WAIT AT
CHENEY UNTIL 930AM
REARDON 1001AM
EXTRA 2 WEST WAIT AT
CHENEY UNTIL 1001AM
REARDON 1030AM
~
ORDER NO 3
EXTRA 1 WEST HAS RIGHT OVER EXTRA 2 WEST CHENEY TO DAVENPORT
EXTRA 2 WEST MAY CHECK REGISTER AT CHENEY
AGAINST EXTRA 1 WEST ON ORDER NO 1 OF (DATE)
~
ORDER NO 4
EXTRA 1 EAST WILL REGISTER AT DAVENPORT
ON ORDER NO 4 OF (DATE)
~
ORDER NO 5
EXTRA 1 EAST WAIT AT
DAVENPORT UNTIL 530PM
REARDAN 601PM
EXTRA 2 EAST WAIT AT
DAVENPORT UNTIL 601PM
REARDAN 630PM
~
ORDER NO 6
EXTRA 1 EAST HAS RIGHT OVER EXTRA 2 EAST
DAVENPORT TO CHENEY
EXTRA 2 EAST MAY CHECK REGISTER AT DAVENPORT
AGAINST EXTRA 1 EAST ON ORDER NO 4 OF (DATE)
~
ORDER NO 7
ENG 3 WORKS EXTRA
1030AM UNTIL 801PM
BETWEEN CHENEY AND DAVENPORT
NOT PROTECTING AGAINST EXTRA TRAINS EXCEPT PROTECT AGAINST
EXTRA 1 WEST AND EXTRA 2 WEST AND EXTRA 1 EAST AND EXTRA 2 EAST
WORK EXTRA 3 MAY CHECK REGISTER AT CHENEY
AGAINST EXTRA 1 WEST AND EXTRA 2 WEST ON ORDER NO 1 OF (DATE)
~
ORDER NO 8
ENG 1 WORKS EXTRA
1030AM UNTIL 530PM
BETWEEN DAVENPORT AND COULEE CITY
NOT PROTECTING AGAINST EXTRA TRAINS
~
ORDER NO 9
EXTRA 1 WEST HAS RIGHT OVER EXTRA 2 EAST CHENEY TO DAVENPORT
EXTRA 2 WEST HAS RIGHT OVER EXTRA 1 EAST CHENEY TO DAVENPORT
~
ORDER NO 10
ENG 1 RUN EXTRA CHENEY TO DAVENPORT AND RETURN TO CHENEY
EXTRA 1 EAST MAY CHECK REGISTER AT DAVENPORT
AGAINST EXTRA 2 WEST ON ORDER NO 1 OF (DATE)
ENG 2 RUN EXTRA CHENEY TO DAVENPORT AND RETURN TO CHENEY
EXTRA 2 EAST MAY CHECK REGISTER AT DAVENPORT
AGAINST EXTRA 1 WEST ON ORDER NO 1 OF (DATE)
EXTRA 2 EAST MAY CHECK REGISTER AT DAVENPORT
AGAINST EXTRA 1 EAST ON ORDER NO 4 OF (DATE)
~
There it is. 10 train orders to fix 3 trains on 100 miles of dark single
track with no operators, no dispatcher phone, and no radio. Each can
proceed about its work with very little need to consider the other trains.
It took a bit of time to figure it out and the trick job that handled the
CW was a busy main line job, so I gave the trick man a sketch (like this
example-see below) of how it would work. The trick man would check to be sure I
hadn’t missed anything, then spend a big part of Sunday morning 3rd trick
sticking out orders at Yardley to the three CW branch trains.
Sunday morning, the operator at Yardley called me. The first CW is there
but there is no work message or list for him or the other two. I called
the trainmaster. No answer.
I called again and left an answering machine message. I waited. The second
CW had come to work and my day was collapsing even if nothing else went
wrong. Even though I left a message, I called again…and again.
Finally, I got an answer. It seems that the trainmaster just got back from
church.
The first and second CW are at Yardley ready to go except they don’t know
what they’re supposed to do. Did you leave them a work message or some
lists?
Well, no, I need to do that.
No, you needed to do that…yesterday.
It won’t take long to drive there. I can be there in 30-40 minutes.
I don’t have 30-40 minutes. Read the work to me. I’ll copy and send it to
the operator.
Sure, just a minute.
(the sound of the phone handset being put on the table, the sound of
footsteps and footsteps and rustling and footsteps, and the handset being
picked up)
I don’t have it. I’ll have to call you back.
What do you mean, you don’t have it?
Well….it looks like my wife used it for a shopping list. She just left a
few minutes ago.
She just left with the work for the CWs? When is she going to be back?
Oh, I don’t really know for sure. Maybe an hour or so or maybe more. She
had a lot of chores to do this morning. I can call you when she gets back.
Ok fine, I’m on the phone with the VIP son of a VVVIP, whose wife wrote
the shopping list on the apparently only copy of the work that my three
locals, all of which have been on duty for a while, are supposed to do.
The whole plan was worked out to let them all work independently and be
back in time to mail the units I borrowed back to their assignments.
All three are now in each other’s way, or they would be if they could go
somewhere. They might be able to go somewhere in an hour or so or maybe
not. A quick run through what would happen if all three blast off in an
hour or two or more brought the specter of dogcatches and power not making
it back in time to be mailed back to where it was borrowed from. Looking
at the power sheet, I didn’t see a readily available way to swap power and
mail other units back to where I borrowed from while the three CWs are out
there in each other’s way and dying in the boondocks where communication
was find a phone booth in a town.
No, don’t bother. It’s not going to work out. I’ll see about something else.
OK, well thanks.
I called the Yardley operator and told him to bust the calls on all three,
tell them to put in a timeslip and go home. I just paid 12 guys a day’s
pay each to hang out in the locker room.
I called the Yardley yardmaster.
The three CWs won’t be running, so you can just put the trains together
and out of the way.
I didn’t get anything on them having a train, so I thought they would just
be going with a caboose.
You didn’t have empties lined up to go on them?
No. I wish I did. I’m buried.
OK, I’ll see what I can do.
Now what? I looked at the power sheet. There were no Spokane Division
locals that could spare any power for the week. Between grades and
tonnage, they all needed their regular assignment of power.
I called the Parkwater roundhouse. I asked if he could resurrect two or
three extra units for the CW local out of the shop units, to stay on it
all week. There was a pause while he looked through what he had and what
they needed. He said that he could, at least two, maybe three.
OK, set it up.
It wouldn’t be pretty, but it would have to do. Hopefully the extra power
would allow the regular CW to get the line cleaned up in a week. If not,
there’s always another week to try again.
I called the trainmaster back.
The CW this week will have two extra units or maybe three. See if you can
figure out how to get caught up this week with just the regular CW and the
extra power…and let the yardmaster know what you want in the trains. There
is way more in the yard than the regular job will be able to handle in a
day or two.
OK, Thanks. I’ll do that.
I don’t remember if the CW was cleaned up in the next week. I think I had
already moved to the chief job on the Pacific or Portland Division before
the next weekend.
The attached image shows what a quick scratch work trainsheet for planning
would have looked like.
