Train dispatching on the Western Midland
time?” Then he quickly added, “We’ll have to take a statement from him on ar- rival at the terminal!”
The dispatcher’s train sheet (top) is a writ- ten record of what trains are operating, where they are, when they arrived, and their crews. Doug Hicks, the Aurora yard- master (above), assembles a passenger train for an early evening departure. At Java (page 61), yardmaster Glenn Morgan scans the yard looking for a particular car.
60
At the time, No. 1, consisting of a Consolidation wheeling a single passen- ger combine (see “A freelanced combine” in the December, 2006, RMC), had been running about 15 minutes late and in the same direction as the extra. Every- one laughed at the stern tone of the dis- patcher’s voice and the incident was quickly forgotten as we got back to the business of running the railroad. However, 45 minutes later when the extra north arrived at Java Yard we were reminded of the incident when the terminal operator passed a Form 31 train order to the extra’s engine man. It read: “Report to the superintendent’s of- fice.” Bill later explained that this was the actual procedure which was fol- lowed at the time he was dispatching for Canadian Pacific except that a no- tice of this type would not be in the form of an official train order. Instead, it would simply be copied by the operator on a blank piece of paper and passed to the crew concerned on arrival at the ter- minal. In our case, the Western Mid- land’s terminal operator at Java didn’t have any blank note paper and so im- provised by using a Form 31 train order. The crew’s response to Bill’s dispatch-
ing was most positive. Furthermore, Bill seemed to enjoy the opportunity to relive the days of timetable and train order dispatching and stated that he
would welcome another opportunity to participate in an operating session. So, although we were looking forward to another operating session with Bill as dispatcher, there was one problem. He lives in Calgary, Alberta, 650 miles from the Western Midland’s home near Van- couver, British Columbia. While our original thought was to pass the prover- bial hat around to pay for Bill’s airfare, Mike devised a technological solution: let Bill dispatch from Calgary by phone, as prototype dispatchers do, by connect- ing the Western Midland’s telephone system to the public telephone system. Thus began the era of long-distance dis- patching on the Western Midland. About this time, Mike’s wife, Xi, dis- covered a 1929 Canadian National op- erating rule book at a local church’s fall fair sale. Of course, she purchased it and brought it home thinking that Mike might find it interesting. Little did she realize what a significant role it would play in developing the West- ern Midland’s
operating procedures.
Additionally, the old rule book was a good fit for the WM’s era and provided the basis for what came next.
Improving WM operations After the first operating session with Bill dispatching, he made a number of suggestions, including adjustments to
JULY 2012
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