History

Train Orders In The USA

What follows is of course, COPYRIGHTED to me. My thanks to all of those out in web land, who are excerpting or outright just taking what I've written, as their own. At least your doing so acknowledges my research. From what I have seen of other sites, almost all are quite incomplete, and contain misinformation. Or the writer wouldn't know a train order, if it could sneak up behind them and kicked them in their caboose.

This page is the result of my growing up in a family with many railroaders- Thus knowing many of these special people. Also, from my time working in the industry. It is compiled through personally seeing Dispatchers, Agents, Operators, Telegraphers and Levermen at work. From my interviewing those same persons I'd watched. Many of whom are life long friends. Some of them even contributed to my collection. (For which I am eternally grateful!) It is sheer joy to me, being able to sit, hold in my own hands and look at train orders. They are works of a lost art and incredible historical documents!

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A very brief history:

During the earliest years of railroad operations, there was no sure way to allow movement of trains between stations. Signals as we've come to know them, were far off in the future. As were radios and other forms of electric communications. Resulting from this, there were many awful train collisions.

A need was obvious for much better control of individual train movements. With telegraph wires spreading across North America, a first company adapted this device for railroading control. On September 22, 1851, the Erie Railroad began dispatching their trains by wired messages.

Digressing for just a moment here, I would point out that there were two types of Morse code. International, and that used by US railroads. The same at some points, they also differed in many ways. Also coming into use in the later 1800s, was the "Phillips" code- A method of abbreviating words, or groups of wordings, which aided in speeding up transmission of information.

Anyhow- At the receiving end, there needed to be a way of recording these incoming instructions. Then passing them along to train crews. Thus was born the Train Order.

Earliest examples I have seen, came on papers of many sizes, and shapes. Some of these chosen papers, did not seem to allow writing to carry through decently. Copies below that top one, became lighter, and lighter. This would seem to have been the origin of using a thinner, tissue type, or an onion skin paper. A need for the multiple carbon copies required, generally at least three, to all come through heavily enough. So that all could be read with ease. This thinner paper was not very durable. It did not stand up to much abuse. Some described it as being flimsy. And that nickname stuck.

After World War II, freight traffic levels dropped. With the automobile competing, and air travel entering a period of very swift growth, rail passenger travel continued a decline, which had been ongoing during the pre-War decade. Radios came into ever greater use. Signals were upgraded many times. Thus, many train order jobs could be and were abolished. Those offices and depots closing forever.

By the late 1970's, numbers of issuing offices had dropped significantly. Many short lines had long since stopped using flimsies. Some Class I companies, and other railroads had changed to forms which were still received by an operator. But were then duplicated on various types of mechanical copiers and their papers.

After the early 1980's, operating rules changes were coming. They were soon replaced by the ("GCOR") General Code of Operating Rules. The train order was on it's last legs.

On January 16, 1988, the Burlington Northern Railroad issued it's last train order- This occurred at Tacoma, Washington. Other companies, which had not already stopped using train orders, would very shortly follow.

The flimsy was now completely replaced by crew copied forms. Some are still referred to as "train orders", but they really are not at all the same as the real flimsy. Most are known by various names such as Track Warrant, Track Permit Control System, assorted Bulletins, and Manual Block Clearance.

It's interesting to note something here- Should our modern electronics system ever fail, trains will be unable to move. And with each passing day, there remain fewer and fewer who knew how to do it with a simple system of paper.

A classic era has ended.
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How were they used?

The train order was a safety device which contained information instructing concerned persons, or parties of conditions along the line they'd travel, or how one or more trains were to be operated. These were transmitted from a dispatcher to a line side location- A train order office, a depot, larger city station, tower or block station, where it was copied by an agent, operator, telegrapher, leverman or in later years simply by a clerk. Originally this was done via telegraph, which was later supplanted by telephone and finally modern electronics such as radio, fax and then computers.

Standards for train order use varied from railroad to railroad. Basically, what you first needed were some set rules. Within the company, those were law. They covered safety, signals, forms of train orders and much more. These were often published in a book form and also some could be found as part of Special Instructions in an Employee Timetable. This book was referred to as a "Code of Operating Rules." Where several railroads in a region operated and interacted, they might also adopt it as a group- A couple of these multi-railroad examples were the ("UCOR") Uniform Code of Operating Rules and the ("CCOR") Consolidated Code of Operating Rules.

From those rules, railroads could then issue an operating schedule, which would come out in the form of an Employee Time Table. Such a time table might, or might not also contain some Special Instructions for operations- These were at times published separately. Alterations to their rules or employee timetable could be made by issuing a bulletin. Or a train order. Which a train order could modify all the above or supersede other train orders.

How many orders might copied at any one time? Well, that would have depended upon what a specific dispatcher deemed necessary. He could have one operator copying, or multiple stations, the same order all at once. For any order, the only limitation was how many sheets of a form and carbons, was an operator able to impress through a clearly readable image. At minimum, if simply issuing instructions to a single station's telegrapher, one order might be transmitted. That could annul an existing order, tell them to hold a train at their depot, if in control of multiple tracks, which one to use when advancing a train and more. From this point, the next number was three, if a single train was addressed. One each for the conductor, the engineer and the operator's station file. The copied numbers went up from this point. If a specific instruction needed to be used by many trains, or over a period of time, it might be recopied many times.

The Train Order Office- What constituted a train order office? Actually, there might be no permanent structure at all! If there was need of a place to copy orders, on a temporary basis, they might use whatever was handy. I knew one operator who sat atop a boulder with a telegraph key, for several days at a wreck site. Other times a personal or company vehicle was employed. Or a telephone booth. Whatever was handy, they'd use. If warranted, they might even bring in a temporary shack via flat car.

More permanently, they'd have a structure at a site just for the purpose of copying train orders. If at a remote location, it could include living quarters. These buildings could be quite small. Perhaps one room of less than ten feet by ten feet in size. (Hopefully that person inside did not suffer from claustrophobia!) Or a depot with attached freight house and bedrooms upstairs. An office tucked away inside a large city union station, a yard office, at a freight house, the roundhouse, or in an interlocking tower. Wherever they were needed...

Train Order Signals- These could be none- Generally, where none could be seen, was at a terminal point. (Also known as an "initial station.") Crews at these sites picked up their orders inside the depot, before beginning their run.

Then came a simple flag, or hand held lantern. Common in the very earliest days, later often used at places such as a temporary block station. A site such as this could often be found near where some sort of work was ongoing- New track being placed into service, maintenance, flood or accident damage repairs, signals being changed, etc.

Moving up the scale to more permanent equipment, came the ever famous rope and ball system. An approaching train crew would look to see if the ball was low, which meant stop, or raised up, which meant proceed. In the raised position, it was high- Hence came the term still used today for clear signal, proceed: "Highball!"

There was a two position paddle, with or without a lantern atop, known as a "Swift" style signal. (Some folks mangle this as "Smith." Swift is the correct name.) This was mounted either on a timber extending from the depot wall or roof, or on a metal framed support arm. Upon those paddles they would sometimes hook a yellow panel or flag to indicate train orders awaiting.

Finally, was a separate mast which held either upper or lower quadrant semaphore arms. These were operable in either two or three positions, from within a depot, or even in a few rare sites outside. Which the latter must have been no fun at all in extreme weather conditions- Examples I witnessed in person were secured by a switch lock, which had to be removed before arms could be operated. (Meanwhile rain, wind or snow and ice...) Last and later in time, was bladeless two or three position color lighted signal.

Train Order Delivery- After copying, an order was then hand delivered to the appropriate passing trains. This was done through employing the famous "hoop" device. Made from bamboo, or large doweling this was a wooden "9" shape, which a trainman could poke their arm into as they sped past. The process of handing it up, and being caught was known as "hooping up" orders. This was not the most comfortable way to do so, resulting in more than a few bruises. They'd retrieve their paperwork from a metal clip on the hoop, then quickly toss it back off. Unfortunately many times this would mean the hoop landed in brambles, nettles, brush or other fun places from which it required rescuing for use when the next train came by.

Although the hoop remained in use far into the twentieth century, (I witnessed these used well into the 1970's), it was replaced in most cases by the delivery fork. Still termed as a "hoop," this was a "Y" shaped device holding string in a triangular shape. Train orders were tied into that string. The trainmen would stick their fist into the triangle area, which would release onto their arm. This left the fork in the operators hand, no longer needing to be hunted down in the dark from some ditch. A fork could also be held by a metal or wooden stand. Which allowed the operator to be doing other chores while waiting for a train to arrive.

An exception to this was where rules required the train to stop, it's crew to come inside a depot and be witnessed signing what was known as a restricting (Form 31) order as proof it had been received.

Train Orders In Effect- Once issued by a dispatcher, a train order remained in effect until fulfilled by those parties to whom it had been delivered. Or until a time specified within it's body. A train order could also be superseded or annulled by appropriately assigned authority.

Dispatching- Dependent upon the size of a railroad, there might be one person dispatching all movements, or many people working assigned track segments known as Divisions and Subdivisions. These people were generally located at a central point. Such as the main office, or divisional offices. For small operations, this work could be done by a clerk, the General Manager or Superintendent.

Train Orders- Those papers: I have noted earlier here, the many types of paper used. Most of the time they came in a pad format. There were also many, many variances in the forms. From a completely blank sheet, on to a form already complete except for date, train, locations and times to be added. Some required a sheet of carbon paper to be inserted between pages, some had the carbon as a part of the back side of a sheet. This latter style is often associated with train crew copied orders. However, they were also used by line side operators.

Some pads did not include the name of a railroad, others had the company name showing at top. There were even issues used for families of companies- Where at times more than one name was printed, or referenced under an all encompassing name such as "Burlington Lines," "Missouri Pacific Lines," "New York Central System," "Rock Island Lines," and many others. This allowed use by the parent company and also for their various subsidiaries, thus reducing printing expenses.

In earlier times, these carried no designating number as to form. As time went by we would come to know these by names such as "Telegraphic Train Order." Then numbers so very familiar- "19" and "31." But there were others as well. 5, 17, 19X, 19Y, 31X. In Canada, they had many letter designators. 19-A, 19-B, 19-C, and so on. Their most well known probably the 19-R. (The "R" notes a restricting order. Interestingly, the "R" may be pre-printed, or penciled on the order by an operator as deemed necessary by a dispatcher.) These papers were not just a plain white in color, but came in many hues: Of brown, yellow, green, orange, pink, blue and who knows what else I might have omitted!

Interesting Terminologies- Times changed, and so did the ways they instructed train order recipients. At first, train orders were addressed to the Conductor and Engineer, using their names. You would see an order such as "TO: JONES AND BROWN- MEET SMITH AND WHITE AT...."This could and did cause problems, as trains passed each other. In order to be certain the other train was the one you'd been instructed to meet, you had to see the engineer and conductor. At night, in bad weather or at track speed, this could prove difficult, if not impossible. Thus came the use of engine numbers within the instructions copied. Initially they still used the crew names, combined with engine number, finally dropping names as being redundant.

There were instructions, which seem quite colorful compared to later times, when looking back to early days. A train which was not on the schedule, in more modern days was told to run as an "extra"from X to Z- This makes sense. Into the early 1900's, you might see the same type of train issued an order which instead stated "...RUN WILD..." Another interesting, however seemingly calmer version for an extra movement was copied as "...Run Special..." Then there would be the instance of being instructed your train would move "...with rights over..." the old method would say "...RUN REGARDLESS..." Those old instructions seem quite daring!

As An Art Form- During those days prior to typewriters, orders were obviously hand written. As with too much of the so-called penmanship today, some were awful and difficult to read. We can only wonder if those examples led to a few accidents between trains. However, some were written with what they termed as a "hand," that is absolutely beautiful. There were even contests held to see who had the best "hand"of all. When copied upon the rainbow of paper colors, you indeed had works of art!

With Great Sadness: I must note how few people have noted these precious papers existed, and still can be found. Railroadiana collectors may be the guiltiest- Instead, usually opting for the herd mentality, flash and glitz of other items. Museums or railroad historical societies rarely acknowledge these items. Let alone know how to correctly display any, or inform the viewing public of their proper use. How many times I've walked into a "preserved" depot and seen this to be true, or listened to someone misinforming a visitor. History has been done a disservice which is worse than tragic. Historians, collectors, or whoever you might be, WAKE UP!!!

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