Re: (erielack) Train Orders - Upper Case

[Charles_Walsh_@_Berlex.com]

Bill,

I'm wondering if you would know if there are any railroads using, or
experimenting with, wireless technology for text-messenging of orders?

Chuck



                                                                                                                                   
                      TrainGG1_@_aol.com                                                                                             
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                      erielack-owner_@_list To:     erielack@lists.railfan.net                                                       
                      s.elhts.org         cc:                                                                                      
                                          Subject:                                                                                 
                                                  (erielack) Train Orders - Upper Case                                             
                      08/16/2005 04:43 PM                                                                                          
                      Please respond to                                                                                            
                      TrainGG1                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                   



Regarding Train orders, Bill Sheppard sent this Email on August 16th on the

subject of using all CAPS in the typing of orders:

One reason that train  orders were typed in upper case letters is because
the
more concentrated force  of smaller, lower case characters could tear into
the flimsy paper used for  train orders, especially when manifold copies
were
made with carbon paper. When  making many copies at once, the typewriter
functioned more like a pile driver, I  recall.

Having started out my illustrious railroad career on the C&NW, I  remember
typing train orders and using an ancient Underwood typewriter for  that
purpose
(which was also used for billing). Yes, train orders were always  done in
CAPS
and often five or six copies at a time (which meant you had to  beat the
darn
keys into the keybed to ensure that the sixth copy was legible).  When you
read the orders back to the Dispatcher you had to read EVERYTHING --  and
when
reading numbers you would read something as followings: ...from  Milepost
8.5
[then say] "eight dot five" from 2:01 PM [then  say] "two zero one P.
M."...
and it had to be exact or you had to  retype the whole darn thing (after
having
the Dispatcher ream you a new  one).

With photocopy machines life got much easier. The operator could  type the
train order once on prescribed form and after reading the  orders back you
could
copy as many copies as needed. In today's world,  orders (read "track
warrants") are often faxed to yard offices/stations for  distribution to
crews.
However, as there are virtually no order offices  along the line anymore,
if the
Dispatcher has a temporary slow order or grade  crossing malfunction to
send to
the train he/she will call the train on the  radio and have the crew "write

paper" (a "track permit"). This often  requires the train to stop and the
crew
writes the track permit -- reading  it back to the Dispatcher in the same
way
the operators did with train orders.  The use of ALL CAPS has fallen into
disuse, except at the beginning of a  sentence or in the proper name of a
person,
place or location (for example,  milepost is still abbreviated (in CAPS) as

"M.P."

As an aside, in the Chicago area we still have one tower (Rondout on the CP

(ex-CMStP&P) which "hoops" orders to frt crews on a regular basis. Some  of

the crews, unaccustomed to this procedure, occasionally miss catching  the
orders and have to stop their train and walk back to retrieve them. Are
there any
places out east still doing this?

Bill Shapotkin



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