train orders

[Anonymous]

IKNOW THAT SOME PASSENGER TRAINS STOPPED IN THE MIDDLE OF THE STREET IN A TOWN TO PICK UP OR UNLOAD PASSENGERS. HOW DID THEY PICK UP ORDERS? I CAN'T SEE AN ORDER STAND IN THE STREET. DID THE OPERATOR STAND IN THE STREET WITH THE ORDER HOOPS?"

[daveklepper]

The train stopped and the station agent walked out to the train to hand up orders.

There was usually a semifore signal that showed whether orders were applicable and a freight train did not stop if there weren't orders, which was the majority of cases.

[Anonymous]

Sometimes the orders were received at a tower before the train entered the street. Not ll stations were train order stations. But just like any other station where the train stopped to receive traffic, and was a train order station, and there were indeed orders to be received, the agent stood at his spot on the platform or street, and hooped the orders on a long, wooden fork, to the engineman, then waited for the train to stop. He would then go up to the conductor and trainman, tell a few jokes, point out the attractive female passengers, and hand the crew their orders.

Mitch

[VerMontanan]

Operators would either hand up the orders using a hoop, or place them in a stand. All depends on whether there was a stand there. As someone who has done this, it's really tricking to gauge where you're standing to hand up to the lead locomotive. The first thing is that you need to be far enough away from the track as not to be hit by the train. But you also need to be close enough and have the hoop raised high enough for the engineer to pick off the orders. The caboose was easier, since the conductor or rear brakeman would be on the rear step of the caboose and it would be a lot lower and easier to judge. However, you did have to watch for things hanging off the sides of trains as you stood there waiting to hand up to the caboose (banding, an errant piece of lumber, etc.). Passenger trains were also tricky. They required handing up three sets of orders: to the engineer on the head end, brakeman in the middle of the train, and the other brakeman or conductor on the rear. This could be really tricky if the train was going by at 79 MPH, and of course passenger trains are a lot shorter than freight trains as a rule, so once you handed up one set, it was immediately time to get in position for the next set. In reality, where the track speed was fast and the train did not make a stop at that station, the engineer usually slowed down a bit to facilitate delivery of the orders, because if they weren't picked up, they had to stop and back up (or have the operator walk up) and get them. In addition, if the orders had to do with train movement (rather than just track conditions, for examples), missing the orders and stopping would probably screw up the dispatcher's plans, too.