Stations and sidings book

[nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org]

John:
You'll note that the Stations and Sidings list was issued by the  Accounting
Department.  Using station numbers, the Car Accounting people worked  up
statistics - ton-miles, volume of cars interchanged  (for example  cars
delivered to WSSB at Winston), mileage due on private owned  cars, e.g. UTLX,
and an array of other numbers.   Since conductors were assigned  to a 
district, they had their district's station numbers committed to their  
memory bank.
The yard clerk, however,  needed the station number to make the  consist for
the train.   Example:  A car received from the N&PBL  at  Norfolk destined
Ottumwa, Iowa.  The clerk would refer to the book to find the station  number-
in this case 9767.  In the days of IBM punch cars, the clerk would  enter
car initial & number, contents, weight,  destination station  number, etc. I
don't know what happened after punch cards. 
 
A station is indexed  three ways in the book -   alphabetically,  numerically,
and geographically east-to-west in station order.  You'll also note  that the
former N&W stations are listed to the hundredth of a mile, while NKP,  WAB
stations are to the nearest tenth of a mile.  State lines are  shown in the 
N&W
section, but not for NKP, Wabash territory.
 
The book was a help in blocking cars.  ACL at Collier Yard  (Petersburg) had
to build No. 77  into several blocks for pickup after No. 78  delivered.  
Using
the book, the ACL yardmaster could guide the cars into the  appropriate
classifications.  After all, an ACL man wouldn't be familiar with  what comes
off at Portsmouth and what goes on to Bellevue.
                                                               Harry Bundy
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