CTC Movement from District to District

[chessie72]

Hi, I'm trying to find out what the procedure was between dispatchers in different districts when a train was going to move out of one dispatcher's control and onto another's.

I'm asking about the pre-computer-dispatch era when you had several US&S CTC machines, for example, each governing a certain district.

Did the first dispatcher call the second on the phone and ask if he could accept a train on a certain track?

[BigJim]

On my former division (Shenandoah Div.), the dispatchers were sitting side by side. 

[BaltACD]

Communications channels existed between adjoining dispatchers, if in the same office that communication was generally face to face.  Where dispatchers were in physically separated locations they would have telephone conferences periodically during their work day to plot how their traffic would be handled between them, and if something happened another conference would be arranged.

[BaltACD]

In the present day with CADS, adjoining territories within a carrier will have computerized model board displays of the adjoining territories on each Dispatcher's consoles.  In many cases, just visualizing what the adjoining Dispatcher is doing is sufficient to understand what needs to happen, without verbal contact.  Where foreign railroads are involved, the Dispatchers will communicate on the phone to come to a consensus on how to handle the traffic.