Ken, Chatham, NY was the interchange between the B&A, NYC Harlem Division from GCT, and the Rutland Corkscrew Division. I'd love if you could find paper of the Harlem handing off a through train from GCT to North Adams, MA on the B&A. (I road it in 1949 & 1950.) Also the "Rut Milk" handed off every evening from the Rutland to the NYC for delivery at the milk terminal in the Bronx. The empty Rut Milk left the Bronx before dawn for Burlington, VT and a milk refill. I listened and/or watched it every afternoon coming south of Bennington, VT, crossing the B&M at Petersburg Jct., NY from 1947 to 1953.
The same way as all of my other train orders. Decades of searching. Swap meets, any sales venues, stopping at depots, writing letters, sending emails, following leads, talking with past and current railroaders, digging into every corner I can find. Asking, asking and asking again. Most of the time coming up empty... The price of the item, plus my time and expenses make these irreplaceable. And anyone thinking of starting today in this field, will never be able to accumulate as I was able to do... There are only half a dozen of us in the world, still alive and seriously collecting today. And I know them all. This is probably one of the most overlooked segments of railroadiana, yet without these papers, no railroad could move a train, for almost 150 years....
I wish there was an example, or more in my collection. Unfortunately these few are all I presently can share.
I was just thinking too that no other resource so assuredly records what locomotives were in service at a particular date, what trains were being operated, what facilities were open and what sort of trackage rights agreements were in place. It's all very fascinating and to have them organized on line for fans and historians to see is a result great foresight and hard work. Thank you!
Yes, Ken, thank you for your efforts, obviously intense, to preserve this history. It is so interesting to read those orders and look up the engines by number.
Ha! I find myself doing the same thing from TOs from the anthracite roads. Having seen historic photos of the locations, its easy to let my imagination take over and picture the events found on @BoxcabE50 's TOs. Such neat stuff.
Ken, please give me your TO web address. I used to have it, but changed computers followed by new email provider, thus lost it. Thanks.
Hank- it is in my signature. Just click on the red letters "Train Orders". BTW- I added a very few new ones to my NYC pages today. More to come!
Darn, I don't see any from the state of New York, was hoping to find one or more of the Mohawk branch (if that's what they called it), Bufflalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Utica, Little Falls, Albany etc.
Train Orders bring back just how 'sketchy' operations were in the days of Timetable and Train Orders. They were the best system at the time because of the limited means of communications that were available to the railroad. Now that better communications are available and in place TT&TO is no longer a method of operation. Today's employees would not be able to function with the intricacies the the TT&TO form of operations presented - they wouldn't be able to function because they would not get a long enough training period.
Ken, thanks. I found one in the Rutland folder from Petersburgh Jct, NY. PJ was where the "Rut Milk" on the Corkscrew Division crossed the B&M Fitchburg Division three miles south from where I lived 1947-1953.
Yes, I read the TOs and think of the lives and equipment that rode in the balance on busy lines, and most often with perfect safety.
Perhaps its common, but I've noticed that even in signaled territory, NS has to give a train Track Authority (by radio of course) to a train before it can depart a yard. I'll see signals show green, but nothing happens until the "TA" is authorized. I wonder why they do this?
Yes. Thought TT&TO was great at that time, however, the more experience you get the more you realize just how sketchy it was. Reliable communications means the world to coordinating operations of a railroad.