Hi, I am finally getting into the Operation aspect of Model Railroading.
That's why I have 4 forums currently running, asking questions(I have a lot)...
Is there a place online(Pdf, etc) to find a Railroad rule book, where it describes all the Operation rules? Or do I have to buy a copy in Ebay?
Is it even called a rule book?
Some rules are different for each railroad right?
Again, sorry for all the questions I am asking...
Thanks,
Charles
PS I model the Santa Fe and PRR, if you could find a picture of any RR's rule book and show me roughly what it looks like so I can find one for my self, that would be great!
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Modeling the PRR & NYC in HO
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Hi, Charles
You pose some good questions and as you are getting interested in operations it makes sense to "know the rules".
Today, through the mergers and consolidations of so many "fallen flags" there has been a trend to consolidate the rules. In the Northeast, NORAC has been formed to standardize the signaling and rules that covered so many eastern roads.
http://thebecketts.com/images/NORAC%208th%20Edition%20NJT.pdf
As you note, some rules are pretty universal. Any railroader will know Rule G.
Other railroads have adopted the GCOR, General Code Of Operating Rules,
http://1405.utu.org/Files/%5B4886%5DBNSF-GCOR%202011-08-01_gcor_updated.pdf
Signal rules varied by railroad and even territory on the same railroad. You can find NORAC signal charts that cover many former B&O, PRR, NYC and others.
http://www.trainweb.org/eastpenn/norac/norac.html
Much of this information has been digested from the individual rule books of the member railroads and a committee has tried to "standardize" this for today's operators.
I have some rulebooks going back to 1906. They were slightly larger than pocket size and although there was a great deal of common information, some railroads adopted their own specific rules to meet their needs.
Of course, ebay is a good place to start or if you can get to any train or model railroad meets you can sometimes find them available.
Here's a few sample pages from a 1937 New York Central rule book:
click the photo to enlarge
The main function of a rule book is to remove any doubt or confusion about the safe movement of trains. If you can find a copy I suggest a book called "The Rights Of Trains" by Peter Josserand. This is considered by many to be the ultimate study for the proper movement of trains by timetable and train order.
In addition to the rule book there were specific operating instructions in the employee timetable that was periodically issued as updates were needed and had information and special situation rules for a specific territory, or Division, of a particular railroad. For a complete picture of operations you need the rule book, timetable and even daily "bulletin orders" that were issued for up to the minute instructions.
I'm sure others have more to add...
Regards, Ed
There are some rule books available on line. On my laptop, I have a link to a Nickel Plate Road book. The Modern GCOR and NORAC books are available. If you search, you may be able to find others on line.
Most rule books are similar. Any variation is usually minor. Some railroads used their own exclusive rule books, others joined together in joint committees. Some railroads were alone in one era and joined committees in other eras.
To see what a rule book looks like, just google "Railroad Rule Book Images". I tried to link, but the line wouldn't work.
There's even a rule book designed for model railroaders. It's called the Condensed Code of Operating Rules. I believe it's patterned after the real Consolidated Code of Operating Rules used by various railroads. (I myself model the Rock Island and I use a copy of the Uniform Code of Operating Rules-1968 edition. The book they used during the period I follow.)
http://www.railgroupchicago.org/CCOR.html
Besides e-bay, if you attend train shows, you can often find rule books and time tables. Antique stores also can sometimes yield some gems.
Jeff
"Rights of Trains" is available from Transalert, a division of Simmons-Boardman.
http://www.transalert.com/cgi-bin/details.cgi?inv=BKRT&cat=18
Trainman440Is there a place online(Pdf, etc) to find a Railroad rule book, where it describes all the Operation rules?
You can find some rule books on line, but you might want to buy a book on E-bay. Historical societies might have rule books for specific lines. There are also some transcribed, condensed or scanned by people and posted on line.
Yes search for "railroad rule" book or "railroad rulebook" or rule book for the railroad you want "PRR rule book".
Yes and no.
Yes because overall the rules are actually pretty consistent in the general intent because all the railroads are trying to solve the same problems or control the same operations.
No because the devil is in the details and the railroads have taken various tacks to solve the problems and the specific verbiage may be significantly different.
Rules vary by era 1890 rules are extremely different than 1900 rules which are very different from 1910 rules. Rules between 1910 and 1950 are fairly consistent. Things start changing again in the 1960's and by the 1980's there are HUGE changes in rules. Things have been maderately steady for the last 20 years or so. Rules change as new technology comes on line or things are added to plug holes as they are found (usually after an accident).
In the past various railroad industry groups have developed basic rule books and then the the railroads used them as a framework adjusting them as required. Often groups of railroads with similar or common operations would adopt a common rule book (UCOR - Uniform Code of Operating Rules (there as one in the US and different one in Canada), CCOR - Consolidated Code of Operating rules, and the modern rule books, GCOR - General Code of Operating Rules (western roads), NORAC - Northeastern Operating Rule Advisory Committee (eastern roads))
For example you probably couldn't have picked two more divergent railroads, the PRR and the ATSF. The ATSF is actually pretty main stream and for the eras when the PRR was operating common with most of the railroads in the US. The PRR is another story. They have a very different set of rules that differs greatly from the ATSF rules in many fundamental ways. You really don't want to use both books. If I were you I would pick the ATSF rule book its waaaaaaaaaay simpler and most other modelers will be more familiar with how it operates. That's why NORAC is so different from GCOR in the modern era, NORAC retains many of the old PRR approaches to rules because the ex-PRR, ex-PC makes up a big part of the railroads that use NORAC.
Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com
jeffhergert Most rule books are similar. Any variation is usually minor. Some railroads used their own exclusive rule books, others joined together in joint committees. Some railroads were alone in one era and joined committees in other eras.
As Jeff said most differences are minor. For example the train order signals shown above, some roads had a 3rd signal, a yellow indication, a "calling on" indication that allowed the train to pull up to a train order office at restricted speed. Some roads kept the TO signal at stop and cleared it if there were no orders, others kept it clear and and put it to stop only if there were orders.
I hired on with a UCOR-68 road and that rule book only had one train order form, while the majority of others had two, Form 19 and Form 31.
Signal systems are one place rule books diverge. There are two basic schools of thought, speed signalling and route dignalling. Both do about the same thing (under either system you'll end up at about the same speed at the same place), but each has a different approach to get there.
I have a warm spot for the 68 UCOR, but the CCOR is fairly popular as a reference among modelers, they are very easy to find on E-Bay and fairly cheap. The CCOR was more or less used by some of the BN predecessor roads or roads in the same area (GN, MILW, DSSA, MSTL, MNS, SOO, NP, SI, SPS, UP (Oregon Div)). The UCOR was used by the MP, C&EI, TP, CRIP, MKT, SSW.
For the majority of operating model railroads, prototype rule books are far more detail than is needed to get started -- and don't include (of course) the necessary adaptations for model railroads that many have found useful. More accessible resources include:Koester's Realistic Model Railroad Operation (a great starting point)The model railroad Operations SIG and its YahooGroup and web references More detail is found in Bruce Chubb's out-of-print (but cheap used) How to Operate Your Model Railroad Gateway NMRA's operation pages This old forum thread on starting operations:http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/88/t/46614.aspx
That said, there's nothing wrong with adding a rule book to the mix, but it may not be as helpful in getting started as some of the items listed above.
Layout Design GalleryLayout Design Special Interest Group
dehusmanSignal systems are one place rule books diverge.
Dave covered a lot of territory. Nice Work.
This discussion brings up my recollection of an accident where an Amtrak train, 371 the Pere Marquette, rear-ended a standing freight. The engineer had a red-over-yellow and called out "Slow Approach".
However, they were on NS at the time and a red-over-yellow is a restricting.
Read about it here:
http://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/AccidentReports/Reports/RAR0901.pdf
The engineer thought he could run at 30 MPH prepared to stop at the next signal. He was supposed to run not more than 15 MPH prepared to stop in HALF of the range of vision.
Big difference! A contributing factor was the fact that these crews had to operate over (I think) five different railroads during the trip.
No one mentioned 19 East Copy 3? Available from OPSIG website.