Helpers, or rather Helplesses, idle on the top spur, called only once in the session. Next month I will actively assign them to trains – you’ve been warned (Photo: Jim M)

man distinguished in his tweed jacket and ennobled by his bald spot puffs his pipe briefly before facing the camera. “Good evening. I’m your host and dispatcher Robert Raymond, club gopher and blogger for Orlando N-Trak club. And tonight, I bring you The Leigh, Monongahela and Ohio Review. This episode is titled A Study in Contrasts.

“Moving westbound, imagine two sections of passenger 97. In First 97, we have plucky Pete F, an engineer new to Time Table and Train Order operations, enthusiastic to the point of running a bit ahead of his time, knowing he’s got a large five train meet in Lehigh with three sections of opposing varnish. And behind him in Second 98, Jeff C, an experienced engineer and graduate of La Mesa School of TT&TO. He’s running precisely thirty minutes off First’s time, by the book all the way.

Opposing them, we have the Children’s Crusade, engineered in their order by Zeus H, Christian M and Patrick D.  Unlike the open formation of the 97s, these plucky lads are running virtually nose-to-tail, with only First OSing. Later, when reprimanded, one of their engineers would be nominated to OS the entire trio through at once, a very curious and frowned-upon method. This tight following might have been the cause of the rear-ending of Second’s nose into First’s observation car, a rather embarrassing spectacle in Harris Glen. Now in Lehigh, they decide to repeat the same collision in a different fashion. As you can see from a doomed railfan’s footage, now in the hands of the NTSB, First clearly runs past the meet point and onto the time of First 97. Going into emergency, First then backs into both Lehigh and the awaiting pilot coupler of the too-close Second. And there you have it, Timetable operation, not as intended but as feared.”

The picture captures the confusion. Three sections of 68 are home and doing something to get into Pittsburgh Station while the Conrail coal extra stands and watches. You got me what this was about. (Photo: John DV)

Break to commercial. Image of a fast freight with white extra flags racing through the Lehigh countryside (the sun gleaming off dislodged observation car panels in the trackside weeds). Voiceover. “Tired of delays in your ethanol transport? Want your shipments in on-time-or-else? Then contact Lake Mary & Western Railroad. Our real-world engineers will move your explosive shipments at track speeds and maybe a little more. And worried that your non-timetabled movements will be delayed by pesky regular trains? Our top engineer Shannon simply does not refer to timetables and opposing movements anymore than he waits for warrants. Dispatcher Robert Raymond noticed several times when Extra 8520 forced its way past opposing scheduled traffic, possibly relying on the prestige of Shannon’s presidential office. It takes guts and a rejection of basic operational rules to get ahead in this world, and Lake Mary & Western has plenty of both!”

6:00 AM. Extra 801 meets 202 at Red Rock under a simple S-A form that ensured the regular train would take the siding. I thought it was a pretty slick issuance. (Photo: Zeus H)

Second Commercial: An image of a sleek gyro-copter, painted garish N-Trak yellow: “Dispatchers, it happens to everyone. The session is ending, the trains are all getting in, and those last two opposing coal drags are past their final order points. That’s when you realize that both are extras and both are going to collide in an explosion of obliviousness. That’s when you need – Dispatchocopter!” Image of the gyro-copter leaping into the sky. The agile craft dodges in right next to the locomotive cab windows, allowing the dispatcher to hand a life-saving train order directly to the crew. “Don’t worry about missing that final train order station. With Dispatchocopter, you can get orders quickly and precisely to the crews, without the bother of realism. If you are going to dispatch Time Table and Train Order, you need a Dispatchocopter!” Final image: a dispatcher tosses a jaunty thumbs-up before peeling away.

Why helpers were not called and why Conrail went broke. There are almost more engines than cars on this reefer rush. (Photo: John DV)

Anyway, so much for this format. All kidding aside, we had a really good run of TT&TO using my prefilled train orders to get them out quick. Outside of the notable suicidal moves mentioned above, most of the crews called their stations, the president kept his hands off my cans, and we really ran well. I was able to issue a couple of meet orders that expedited delayed trains along. We ran all four freights and four passenger trains, two coal runs and a lot of extras. In total, counting columns on my train sheet, we ran twenty-three runs in total. The varnish ran on time (all five sections) and I was able to get more comfortable with the system.

I figure that while we could run a rudimentary effort with only two forms (meets and extras), more are needed (specifically second sections, annulled trains, run late orders, rights over and simple blank forms.

The 68 Cavalcade finally home in Pittsburgh. The front end damage has evidently been repaired (Photo: Patrick D)

But really, I was quite happy with the session. Interestingly, it ran a lot smoother than the warrant session with a lot less effort from me. I wrote twelve orders (and with repeats, make that something like eighteen total) as opposed to Zeus the other night who wrote something like 120 warrants. It really help when the crews carry operating knowledge and can move independently; the dispatcher just records the times and issues orders to keep things smooth.

Which is classic railroading.

Great running, guys.

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First 68 passes under Extra 7003 West at about 8:30PM or so. (Photo: Zeus H)

Jim should have stuck around; 244 uses club helpers to make the grade and arrive at Harris at 18:32. (Photo: Alex B)

Nice shot of X7003 and 247 passing at the railroad high-point. It’s cool to look at the train sheet and figure out who was who, based on recorded times (Photo: John DV)