Scioto Div. station info needed- TELEGRAPH CALLS

[nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org]

Abe,
                One question is what would the dispatcher call be for
Portsmouth (Scioto div.) I presume P? I know even to the last day before
the move to Ft. Wayne under NS they had 3 desks for the 3 districts which
never changed over the years and was rare if any.

NYC/ CCC&STL used DI , PRR used the division operator call to relay info
to the DI.

 Also was train orders sent in full body word text rather than
abbreviated.

Thanks,

Terry Mefford

On Thu, 04 May 2006 16:19:29 +0000 nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org writes:
Some of the mystery/confusion about Telegraph Calls can be removed if one
remembers what they were used for.

The Telegraph Call (a.k.a the "Office Call") was the caller's way of
raising the attention of the telegrapher in the office being called. 
Telegraph Calls had to be short, so as to be snappy and catch attention
as the clicking telegraph sounder competed with the din of other noises
in the depot.  Thus, instead of the Despatcher (note the old spelling of
that word ! ) having to hammer out in dots and dashes the whole word
E-L-L-I-S-T-O-N, all he had to do was send "BS."  If the telegrapher at
"BS" Elliston didn't answer immediately, he sent "BS   BS   BS," until BS
answered.

Actually, the protocol was just a bit more complex.  Rather than writing
out the informal rule for calling and answering, I'll give an example. 
In this example, the Train Despatcher at "R" Office Roanoke wants to
raise the telegraph operator at "AG" Shawsville.  Here would be the
sequence.

"AG  R      AG AG  AG  R"

When Shawsville answers, he sends:

"I AG"

And then the Train Dispatcher goes ahead with his business, for instance
telling AG to get ready to copy train orders, "19 E CY 3"

The foregoing tells why telegraph offices had office calls.

Now, let's move to the question of duplicated  Office Calls.

Every office had to have a unique call.  There could not be two offices
with the same Telegraph Call.  To have duplicate calls would be like
everyone on the wire being named Bill.

Calls were generally changed only when train dispatching districts were
merged.  If two dispatching territories were combined (as has happened
frequently over the years, for a number of reasons, one of which was
improved communications,) and each of the former districts had an office
called "BX," one of them had to be changed to preserve uniqueness.

Telegraph Calls are fascinating.  I've been collecting lists of them for
more than thirty years.  And there were a lot of Telegraph Calls that
never made it into any timetable (e.g. "MW" for Machine Works, Roanoke
Shops, and "R" the Radford Division Train Despatcher in Roanoke.)

-- abram burnett
        (sending from "SW" Telegraph Office in the basement...)
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