Where is the dispatcher?

[dknelson]

Can I add to Eolafan's remark -- yes the volume and clarity of the transmissions at Eola Yard make it sound like the DS is in the next building -- but there is no mistaking those twangy Texas accents for someone from northern Illinois!
Dave Nelson

[eolafan]

This has always been a source of amazment to me. I will be sitting in my car at the BNSF Eola yard in Aurora, IL and be listening to the "East End" dispatcher who is actually in Ft. Worth, TX and he/she will sound like they are in a building right next to me. Same thing with UP and the dispatchers in Omaha, NE. I have had the pleasure of visiting the Harriman dispatch center for UP in Omaha once and found it to be unbelievable and facinating.

[MP173]

Mark:

Thanks for the info. I listen in on the CN's operations here in Northwest Indiana on the old GTW and it is dispatched from Troy, Mi. I have heard the same voices for years.

In your opinion, what is the biggest challenge of dispatching? Has the technology made it easier or more difficult? Can a CSX dispatcher in J'ville relate to the mainline from Garrett to Chicago, being 1000 miles away?

A few years ago I spent the night in Beardstown, Il. and went down to the BNSF yard and chatted with the clerk. There was a TV monitor of the BNSF bridge over Illinois River and I asked if he controlled it. No, he commented, it was controlled from Texas, but the Coast Guard made them keep an eye on it locally....just in case. The dispatcher had dropped the bridge in front of a barge, legend has it, at one time.

Is dispatching a stressful job or has the communication and technology made it less so?

What , in your opinion is the best dispatching simulator software out there today?

Thanks, as usual for your reply, and while others have stated it, I certainly appreciate your efforts the past four years. I believe Trains got back to the level that DPM had it at under your helm. And that, is meant to be a compliment, a huge one! That article on Rio Grande commondities was great, as was the two part series on yards....I can go on.

I would have liked to have seen an article, or probably a series on how railroads market, and then operate their "boxcar" business. I was in the LTL trucking business for years and found that a fascinating operation....carload freight is similar.

Anyway, I ramble, time to get to work.

MP173

[Anonymous]

I always hear engineers talking with dispatchers over the radio, but I have no idea where the dispatchers are. Are they at a local railroad office somewhere along the line? Anybody can tell? Thanks!

Karn[:)]