Towers and Passenger Trains

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Subject: Towers and Passenger Trains



I have noted that in one situation, towers reported the time of passage of passenger trains

Operators at stations and interlockings reported passenger AND freight trains by.
In the trade, it was known as an "O S".  This time was recorded on the dispatchers
train sheet. Either by phone or telegraph, the operator at Tug would transmit "NO. 3 by HI
at 11:50 PM" to Bluefield.  "HI" was the telegraph symbol (an abbreviation if you will) for
Tug.

In addition to the time recorded in the dispatchers office in Bluefield, the operator
penned in  the time a train was by his station on a record of train movements.   

O S ?  There have been several interpretations for the abbreviation  -- On the Sheet,
Out of Station ?  But in two alphas, it alerted the dispatcher that the following
transmission would be to record a train movement.

Even into 1987 with no telegraph in service and most of the staffed stations gone,
the Pocahontas - PD District  train sheet was still printed showing the
telegraphic code for stations between Bluefiled and Williamson.

The dispatchers train sheets and the record of train movements at Tug, Iaeger, and
Devon (?)  may have been on hand for the investigation, but probably  not the
operators.                                      Harry Bundy 


 


    






 
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