Station agents and telegraphers

[NW Mailing List]

Frank:

I'd suggest a seniority roster (issued the 1st of

every year), but it appears that the archives doesn't

have one for Radford Division operators. Every one

shown had probably worked at Rural Retreat.  When

an assigned agent takes a sick day, vacation, or marks
off for other reasons, the position is filled from
the extra board.  The extra board consists of operators
with insufficient seniority to hold an assigned posi-
tion.  They're on call 24/7.  In working up their way
up the seniority roster, no doubt most operators had
been called to fill in at Rural Retreat.
 
Sometime before 1947, traffic control was extended from
Pulaski to Bristol, and Rural Retreat became an
agency-only station.  The agent wasn't allowed to copy
train orders or block trains. I'm not sure that the
agent's position was filled from the operators' list.
 
By 1971, Rural Retreat had become what's known in the
trade as a "blind siding".  That's a station where
there's no agent.  Instead, F.N.Ayers at Wytheville
became the governing agent. 

Frank Kinder is in his upper 80s now.  Believe he 
started as an operator in 1942.  Because of World
War II, he didn't stay on the extra board but a year
and a half.  No doubt he worked Rural Retreat and
may have been assigned as agent at one time.  He
may not be able to tell you what day it is, but he
can still recite the telegraph call for every
station on the Radford Division.  Rural Retreat's
was "AY".                        Harry Bundy


 

 

 

 



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