Symbol freight

[Lithonia Operator]

What is a “symbol freight.” I see that term used frequently.

[daveklepper]

A regurly-scheduled freight train that has a symbol, letter and/or numbers for identification, as different for non-scheduled trains run only as traffic requires.

Different railroads have differing policies on which kind of business is handled in each kind of train.

[traisessive1]

Is every train not a symbol freight?

Every train on CN has a symbol. Extra, yard, whatever, it has a symbol. 

[Ed Kyle]

It originated during the timetable and train order era.  On timetables, train schedules had numbers.  Trains might also have advertised names that were not on the employee timetables.  At some point, even before World War I, some railroads began assigning "symbols" to fast freights that could also appear on timetables.  The symbols were short, since this was during the Morse Code era.  In a 1934 NKP Clover Leaf District timetable, for one example, appears Train No. 47, a westward second class (freight) train.  Below the number 47 is the symbol "NS1", which I believe stood for New York to St. Louis.  The convention was origin-destination-number (odd for west/south, even for east/north).  This train ran from Buffalo, New York to Madison, Illinois, running on the original NKP mainline to Fostoria, on the former LE&W through Muncie, and on the former Clover Leaf west of Frankfort.  On other districts, the train might run under a different schedule number, but it would still retain its symbol.

Beyond train symbols, I believe that "symbol freight" may have originated as a system for keeping track of freight cars.  Each car would be assigned an origin-destination symbol.

 - Ed Kyle  

[BaltACD]

Ed Kyle

It originated during the timetable and train order era.  On timetables, train schedules had numbers.  Trains might also have advertised names that were not on the employee timetables.  At some point, even before World War I, some railroads began assigning "symbols" to fast freights that could also appear on timetables.  The symbols were short, since this was during the Morse Code era.  In a 1934 NKP Clover Leaf District timetable, for one example, appears Train No. 47, a westward second class (freight) train.  Below the number 47 is the symbol "NS1", which I believe stood for New York to St. Louis.  The convention was origin-destination-number (odd for west/south, even for east/north).  This train ran from Buffalo, New York to Madison, Illinois, running on the original NKP mainline to Fostoria, on the former LE&W through Muncie, and on the former Clover Leaf west of Frankfort.  On other districts, the train might run under a different schedule number, but it would still retain its symbol.

 

Beyond train symbols, I believe that "symbol freight" may have originated as a system for keeping track of freight cars.  Each car would be assigned an origin-destination symbol.

 

 - Ed Kyle  

In my experience - freights get identified in multiple ways for different clienteles.  They are normally identified one way for the railroad's customers and another way for the railroad's employees.  

Train identification schemes progressed over the years as the railroads become more computer literate.  In the days before computers, most freight just moved from major yard to major yard where each yard switched out the business destined in it's serving area.  The 'symbol freights' were the 'hot shots' and would be built to bypass one or more major yards and go from origin to destination in a expedited manner.  On the B&O these hot shots were marketed as 'Time Saver Service'.  The contents of the various Time Savers that were operated were priority car load and less than car load freight.  As time moved on, railroad LCL service was ended and that function moved on to a number for Freight Forwarder operations that in reality took in the LCL freight and put it in trailer loads and moved those trailers on railroad Trailer on Freight Car or TOFC trains, what in today's parlance is intermodal. 

When I hired out on the B&O, for the customers all the merchandise trains had Names - New Yorker, Baltimorian, New Englander, Norhteastner Curtis Bay 97, Dixie - and a hundred or more other names.  Each named train would have specific blocks of traffic to carry and specific line of road work to perform and a specific schedule to be followed and measured.  While employees would refer to the trains by their names - from a operating standpoint the lead engine number of each trains was it's unique identifier for any give day. 

 

In the TTTO (Timetable & Train Order) method of operations the schedules published in the employee timetables were there as tools for the Train Dispatcher to manipulate the traffic operating over his railroad.  By and large, First Class trains were passenger trains and would operate on or close to their timetable printed times.  Second and Third Class trains were freight trains and their TT schedules permitted the Train Dispatcher to handle those trains with less 'effort' than if all trains were operated as Extra Trains.  The Rule Book in TTTO operations conveyed operational rights by Direction and Class.  Extra Trains are inferior to all scheduled trains.  The Rule Book states that schedules are in effect until fulfilled, superseded or annulled and only remain in effect for 12 hours; trains operating on a particular schedule cannot pass a named location BEFORE the time specified.  The TT Schedules were placed in the TT in anticipation of specific trains being able to operate on them with minimal deviation from them as published.  The reality of operations was that 'named' trains may operate on different TT Schedules depending upon when the train was anticipated on entering the territory.  The Train Dispatcher by issuing Train Orders could and would modify train schedules at specific point by issuing those orders to the trains involved - thus giving the inferior train additional time to operate to the specific locations listed on the Train Orders.  Operating a high volume single track railroad with TTTO was a chess game for the Train Dispatcher using all the tools provided by the Rule Book.

[cv_acr]

Second the person that pointed out the "symbol freight" term came out of the timetable and train order era.

A train's "number" and "schedule" were actual operating tools listed in the timetable. The train could completely separately have an identifying "symbol" for traffic planning, etc. The symbol could be a number, or it could be an alpha code, etc.

For example:

In the TT era Canadian Pacific used (and still uses) mostly 3-digit numeric symbols for most mainline freight trains. Most of the "significant" system trains were 900 series numbers. Timetables might have matching schedules listed for these trains in some cases, but in some cases (CTC operated subdivisions) no schedules are listed and everything runs "extra", even though they're daily planned trains.

So take a train symbol, 901 (Toronto to Vancouver priority intermodal etc.) for example. On some subdivisions, the train running under 901's symbol will not have any train number (running as "Extra 1234 West"). And since the timetable schedules is basically just an operating tool with running times, you can clear any train to run on that schedule. So for example "symbol" 921 could run on 901's schedule (and thus be treated as "number" 901 for operating purposes on all clearances and orders) over a specific subdivision.

Sounds complicated.... but the simple point is a train's number and symbol are not technically the same thing.

Today TT&TO is obsolete and basically everything is actually "symbols", although for some railroads that use numeric symbols, we tend to refer to the symbols as train "numbers" just to confuse the hell out of everything, since "number" and "symbol" no longer mean anything semantically different in today's railroading....

[cv_acr]

Note also that most modern railroads also actually have symbols reserved for use for unplanned and special trains, even if they are rare. I believe modern traffic planning system basically require symbols.