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updated many systems. I grew up along Illinois Cen-


tral’s Freeport (Illinois) District, which between Chicago and Free- port was almost entirely TT&TO protected by ABS; it was CTC be- yond Freeport into Iowa. For this reason, I have a fascination for TT&TO. However, I feel its use on a model railroad is sometimes questionable. For one thing, TT&TO works best on a model railroad that has a long main line — with rela- tively long distances between op- erator stations — and a layout whose footprint is very linear and easy to follow. But even though my HO-scale Illinois & St. Louis has a thousand feet of mainline track, the layout’s complexity (see Kalmbach’s Model Railroad Plan- ning 2005 for the I&StL’s double- deck track plan) pretty much dic- tates CTC throughout most of the system.


I do have experience dispatch- ing layouts, including Bill’s Chi- cago, Peoria & Southern, though I hardly claim to be a stellar “DS” (code for “dispatcher”). But the point is, I find dispatching fun no matter how it’s done. For me, it’s mostly been the popular if unre- alistic and often noisy and there- fore annoying MMI (“mother may I”) system, using handheld radio communication between the DS and train crews. But it’s what you do if you want to have an oper- ating session but haven’t got the CTC in place — and I don’t on the I&StL — nor the TT&TO hard-


ware (i.e., timetables, operating train-order signals, and phones) and associated background and training needed by road crews as well as dispatchers to move trains under TT&TO.


A CTC system is more expen- sive and more complicated to install because of all the hard- ware needed, including operat- ing trackside signals and lots of wiring. Once it’s all in place, CTC is a dream to work with, for the dispatcher as well as train crews. This is especially true for new- bies. Basically, if all you see are red signals, you stop your train until the signal changes. Mean- while, with CTC, the dispatcher can set up or make changes to train routing and movement at the twist of a knob and the punch of a button: all this without having to copy train orders to the opera- tors while everything stops, wait- ing for this laborious process to be carried out. This can be prob- lematic on a model railroad where it’s only 35 feet from one train-or- der station to the next and where TT&TO methods are used with- out simplification — a must on a model system unless it is a huge operation like the La Mesa Model Railroad Club in San Diego. Still, I remain fascinated by TT&TO operation. Several of us I&StL guys even spent a whole day in the Chicago suburbs last year at a TT&TO seminar. Hon- est! They flew in a noted TT&TO specialist in the hobby (an old, long-lost friend of mine, it turns


out) from the East Coast. We thor- oughly enjoyed it and learned a lot. I have since dispatched a layout or two using TT&TO and remain intrigued by it, despite some clumsiness on my part. But (you knew there was going to be a “but” here somewhere), there’s a distraction sometimes lurking out there … the TT&TO elitist. There’s a tight-knit group of them, I’ve found out. And they are watching your every move. One of them came screaming at me while I was bringing a north- bound freight into Defiance Yard on John Swanson’s Dixon, Wy- anet & Lake Superior — one of my all-time favorite operation- ally oriented layouts. “What train are you, and what are you doing here?!” the fellow — known to be well-versed in TT&TO operation — demanded, as he brought his train out of Defiance Yard. John heard the ruckus and hurried over to mediate. Turns out the fellow had started his trip with- out clearance. (He meekly re- treated.) In another case, as I was about to go to work dispatching Bill’s CP&S when he began using TT&TO operation, an individual approached me (I won’t reveal his name because he is actually a longtime close friend). “Wait a minute, Schafer; you can’t dis- patch here; you’re not in the dis- patchers’ union yet!” LOL. “Good one!” I said. But he did not re- spond with a smile. OMG, he was serious! I was thus relegated to sweeping up cookie crumbs at


Mike’s world A westbound BNSF train out of Chicago heads across the roller-coaster profile of the railroad’s ex-Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Chicago–Twin Cities main line through northern Illinois in April 2012. The route is largely single track and entirely under Centralized Traffic Control (CTC), remotely handled from Fort Worth, Texas. We’re at the west end of Chana siding, an oft-used meet location. CTC signals protect the switches at each end of the siding and are controlled by the dispatcher in Fort Worth. — Mike Schafer photo


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