January Operator-Agent Post

For this first Operator-Agent Post of 2026 Larry talks about the telegraph procedures used when receiving a train order from the dispatcher.

73
Enjoy

You can start from the beginning of Larry's series with Part 1 here.

The job of the Train Order Operator 

and

Timetable and Train Order Operations

by Larry Isenor

Part 4

Receiving Train Orders:

Procedures are in use to ensure that train orders are delivered in a proper fashion and to prevent any confusion. As we are only doing this as a demonstration, the train orders have no effect but they demonstrate the method of train control during the park’s time frame.

The dispatcher will first send the station code to the receiving station:

MN for Midnapore

R for Laggan

SA for Shepard

BO was originally used for Bowell but this office was closed before WW1

Station addressed will reply with the station code

Dispatcher will give type of order and number of copies:

19 West cpy 5 - 19 order West 5 copies (for engineer, conductor of 2 trains and operator)

If 3 copies are required number of copies is not necessary as 3 is assumed.

The operator will set train order signal to stop (we only have 2 aspect signals)

and reply SDR West - signal displayed red west

The dispatcher will then dictate the order - for example:

ORDER NO 13

TO EXTRA 2023 WEST AT MIDNAPORE

EXTRA 2023 WEST MEET EXTRA 2024 EAST AT SHEPARD

EXTRA 2024 EAST TAKE SIDING

KWA

The initials are those of the dispatcher.

The operator will repeat the order back to the dispatcher who will reply with

COM 1245 KWA

Operator will write complete, the time and their signature on the bottom of the order.

A clearance should also be started for the train listing the orders. The clearance will be requested from the dispatcher as the train approaches:

MH CLEAR EXTRA 2023 WITH ORDER 13

The dispatcher will reply OK with the time and his initials:

OK 1145 KWA

The operator will enter this on the clearance with the last train ahead and staple the clearance to the train orders.

The train orders will be attached to the train order hoops and delivered to the engineer and conductor as the train passes.

The time of passing should be noted and added to the train register once returning to the station.

If no further orders are held for delivery the train order signal can be set to proceed. (We usually leave it at stop as we try to hoop up orders to each train. If no orders are needed a clearance with nil can be issued.

===============

Next month will a massive post dealing with the infamous "Rule Book" that every Operator-Agent needed to be familiar with.

From the Chief Dispatcher

Happy New Year everyone. Welcome to 2026!
An update from me is long overdue.

MTC Calgary finished 2024 with just over 30 members and our finances in good shape.

Early in January 2025 we received an official version of our chapter charter from the MTC international office, some 25 years after the Calgary chapter was first formed. Better late than never I suppose.

In March we held our annual general meeting where discussions ranged from membership to incorporation to goings on at Heritage Park to the MTC line project. The level of interest was great to see. We also submitted our application to be incorporated as a not-for-profit under Alberta’s Society Act. Incorporation will give us formal standing and help in obtaining grants to fund expansion of the line project.

In April we attended Supertrain, Calgary’s premiere annual model railway show. It was held for the first time in the Olympic Oval at the University of Calgary. It was well attended and the new venue was enjoyed by all.

We commenced our efforts at Heritage Park in May under our alter egos as the Heritage Park Morse Telegraph Club, working Tuesday’s and Saturday’s. In September we attended Railway Days, the parks annual railway extravaganza. We continued to support and steward the junior telegrapher program as well. We had a busy summer and when the regular season ended at Thanksgiving we had worked over 300 shifts, a truly amazing feat! We finished the year at the park by working several days during their Once Upon A Christmas event. In the end we had handled over 140 telegrams to Santa.

We joined the Historical Society of Alberta and the Canadian Pacific Historical Association as corporate members as part of our networking efforts.

On the outreach front we did a dozen presentations to various groups from BC to Alberta to Saskatchewan, spreading our words on a wire, so to speak.

On the advertising front we appeared in print more than a dozen times in various publications from Dots and Dashes to Canadian Rail to the Summerland Museum newsletter.

The Alberta MTC Line continues to be a defining project of MTC Calgary. We received substantial donations of telegraph equipment from several people and purchased a few surplus items from the CRHA/Exporail museum. We added 5 new stations to the line and ended the year with 10 stations, 7 in Alberta and 3 in BC. Soon we will be welcoming the Grande Prairie Museum and Archives to the fold.

On the membership front we welcomed three new members and said so long to two others. On a sad note two other Calgary chapter members, Clifford Hine and Carmen Wallace, passed away.

As we head into 2026 we look forward to our upcoming annual general meeting. While the date has not yet been determined, I expect it will be held once again at the Nichols public library.

Planning for our booth at Supertrain 2026 is underway with the show scheduled for Saturday April 25 and Sunday April 26, again at the Olympic oval. As I write this I heard that there is 106 exhibitors registered asking for over 70,000 square feet of space which might make this the biggest model train show ever held in Calgary.

In conclusion I want to thank all Calgary chapter members for your continuing interest in and dedication to Morse telegraphy and in particular my fellow Board members for the countless hours of time you put in to keep it all running so smoothly. Well done!

And that’s it for now. All the best in this new year.

73
Ken Ashmead, President

Morse Telegraph Club, Calgary “CG" Chapter

Happy New Year!

 Wishing you all a Happy, Healthy, Prosperous, and Safe 2026!

 “Of all the marvelous achievements of modern science the electric telegraph is transcendentally the greatest and most serviceable to mankind … The whole earth will be belted with the electric current, palpitating with human thoughts and emotions … How potent a power, then, is the telegraphic destined to become in the civilization of the world! This binds together by a vital cord all the nations of the earth. It is impossible that old prejudices and hostilities should longer exist, while such an instrument has been created for an exchange of thought between all the nations of the earth.”  

-- Charles F. Briggs and Augustus Maverick  in their 1858 book “The Story of the Telegraph”

 

December Operator-Agent Post

Happy Christmas Eve!
We hope you are all snug and warm and the wire is quiet.

Here is the third part of Larry Isenor's series on Operator-Agent's duties for Train Operations.
I can imagine that working the late trick in a station on Christmas eve was pretty quiet... or Not.

This month Larry shows us examples of real Train Orders and Clearances from his collection.

Merry Christmas!

You can start from the beginning of Larry's series with Part 1 here.

Enjoy
73

The job of the Train Order Operator 

and

Timetable and Train Order Operations

by Larry Isenor

Part 3

Train Order and Clearance Forms

The following forms are used in Train Order operation:

Form 31 train order requiring signatures of crew:

Form 19 to be delivered by train order hoop:

Clearance Form:

==========================

Next month Larry will cover how the orders were sent and received by the Operator via Telegraph.

Christmas Comes to the Prairie Central

 Christmas Comes to the Prairie Central

"Banker Management Had Nearly Wrecked the System;
 a Blizzard Threatened to Finish the Job."

By Harry Bedwell, Boomer Brass Pounder and Dispatcher,

from the January, 1943 issue of "Railroad Magazine".

The gray bowl of the sky had shut down over the Oberlin yard.  Snow fell in big flakes, sliding in quietly to make a clean carpet over rails and gaunt ties and the dark ballast between.  It washed the sprawling roof of the big station, with division headquarters above stairs.  It made the lines of rolling stock along the sidings look like the huge links of long white chains in the growing afternoon gloom.  The night air was tight as a drum.  You could feel the sullen pressure of the storm climb.  The wind gathered out there somewhere under the dull arch.

Eddie Sand, slim and light-stepping, came up the station platform heading for the dispatcher's office.  A boomer telegraph operator from every place but here, he'd be sure to drift on once more when his feet again became restless.  Right now the swarming flakes and the crisp air trickling in about the high collar of his overcoat stirred a random element inside him.  They shifted his thoughts beyond the lowering sky and the curtain of snow to far reaches of sun and desert.  Eddie felt good.  He was ticking like a watch.  Beside him loped Hi Wheeler, fiddle-footed trainman and comrade on many unseemly pranks.  Hi's sheepskin coat was belted tight about his gaunt middle.  A shrewd glint of oafish eyes showed from the nest of turned-up collar and low visor of his heavy cap.

The thick shutter of snow muffled and blanketed the restless area of the fanned-out sidings.  A yard goat stamped by, sluggishly dragging a string of open-top equipment.  Her exhaust shook the dead air, bouncing back from the low sky.

Eddie and his friend paused before separating at the foot of the outside stairs under the shelter of the wide eaves.  Hi's face cracked in an impish grin.  "I'll bet you got me something nice for Christmas, Eddie,"  he insinuated blandly.  "You wouldn't neglect an old pal."

Eddie gestured with his hands inside his overcoat pockets.  Yeah, it was Christmas Eve, he admitted.  So what?  To a railroader it merely meant more grief handling people and packages which were on the move at holiday time.  And on the Prairie Central it'd be a wearisome time, considering she was likely in the clutches of the Big Six Line which would probably kick her into the ashcan.  Anyhow, railroaders didn't celebrate.  They just fixed it so that everybody else could enjoy themselves.  "Also," Eddie admitted, "I forgot to buy you that stick of candy I promised.  I'll try to skirmish one for you in the morning."

Hi tucked his thin nose inside the collar of his coat as the wind whipped snowflakes into his face. "Mebby," he conjectured, "you're jealous 'cause I got me a date to take Sally to the dance and Christmas tree at the Elk's Hall tonight, which I can make, while you work."

The trainman was feeling very well about that setup.  He and Eddie had been feuding over a buxom blonde who worked in the millinery department of the Bon Ton.  Eddie's working hours didn't permit him to step Sally out except on his days off, while Hi was mostly on the road or at the other end of the division, so their rivalry had been sporadic.

Now Hi had maneuvered himself into a spot where he believed he had all the advantage on this festal night.  He'd worked it so he had been called to flag a light engine down to Hugo and help Thirty-three back up the hump, and he'd act as swing man coming back.  Thirty-three was a hotshot, due at Oberlin in the middle of the evening, usually on time; and this gave Hi the break he wanted.

"Sally told me she was going to wear all her pretties, just for me," he gloated.  "That gal is sure a hot sketch!  And can she dance!"  Hi whistled with satisfaction.

Eddie Sand glinted a brief, derisive smile.  His slim height matched Hi's ramshackle longitude. His hands were adept and sure, built to whip out clear Morse on the telegraph key.  Eddie and Hi were as incorrigible a pair as drifted the iron highway.  Firm friends on numberless escapades, they'd sympathetically cut each other's throat over a girl, and think it fun.

The wind was rising and its edge had been whetted.  A switch engine shoved Eighteen's train of day coaches under the long sheds.  George Nelson, her brakeman, came out of the station and stood beside them as he buttoned his overcoat.

"Mr. Nickerson's special is headed back this way," he said gloomily, "but there ain't no word that he's taken over the Prairie Central."  He looked at them as if he hoped they'd deny this.  "Guess the old boy didn't want us enough to buy," he muttered.  "Well, if the Big Six gets us___"   He ran an index finger around his throat from ear to ear and then walked dejectedly over to his train.

Most of the men of the Prairie Central would be feeling that way tonight.  They'd not be celebrating Christmas very much with prospects so grim. The caller trumpeted monotonously inside the waiting-room where a bulging stove glowed red in the afternoon dusk.  They'd put two extra coaches on Eighteen.  Passengers streamed from the swinging doors and across the platform through the curtain of sliding flakes___city folk going to the country for the holidays, shoppers returning home, commuters.  Most of them carried bundles;  all had the bright expectancy that comes at Yuletide.  They greeted George Nelson as he stood by the step helping the women with their packages.  Some paused an instant to bestow a gift.  George was gray and smiling.  He'd been on that local run for ten years, and everybody liked him.

Dan Cadagan, the conductor, came from the trainman's room as Eighteen's engine backed down from the roundhouse and tied on.  Big Dan was as blustering as a spring storm.  A ring of white hair showed around the edge of his cap.  Gold braid and buttons gleamed on his uniform.  He was proud of that uniform and the gold stripes of service, won in honest performance of duty. 

Tonight his broad, pink face wore a worried expression, the same look that haunted the PC these days, but it opened in a lengthwise grin as he saw Eddie and Hi.

"You two look like you'd lost your way in the storm,"  he said.  "Haven't you got any place to hang up your stockings?"

"Mister," Hi declared, "I got all my socks on; and believe you me, I'll likely need more before the evening gets late."

Read the rest of this tale here.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

November Operator-Agent Post

H ere is the second in a series of posts from Calgary Chapter MTC Board member Larry Isenor.

Today Larry discussed the Timetable and why modifications for that were developed through the use of the Telegraph to adjust train operations.

You can start from the beginning of Larry's series with Part 1 here.

Enjoy
73

The job of the Train Order Operator 

and

Timetable and Train Order Operations

by Larry Isenor

Part 2

Timetables

The first part of timetable and train order operation is the timetable. If everything goes according to plan the timetable would provide the authority for train operation and no intervention by the dispatcher would be necessary. In the earliest days of railroading there may have only been one train on the line and no method of keeping trains apart was needed. Later as more traffic was offered most lines were double track with one track for each direction. Still no problem with more than one train on the line. It was soon seen that double track was not needed on the whole line but only at points where trains would meet each other. Single track lines with passing sidings were constructed as they were cheaper than double track.

A way of keeping opposing trains apart was needed so the timetable was invented. In order for the timetable to work some standard time was needed as most towns set noon when the sun was directly overhead. The Baltimore and Ohio, one of the earliest railroads in North America operated all its trains on Baltimore time. Other railways operated on the time at their headquarters city. This became very cumbersome and Sir Sanford Fleming who surveyed a number of early railways in Canada developed the system of standard time we use today where most clocks are changed only when we have travelled far enough to be 1 hour different from the adjacent time zone.

The timetable showed the points at which each train would meet another. This was no problem if trains ran on time but of course delays often occurred which resulted in trains waiting for hours for the opposing train to arrive. Because some trains were more important than others (For example passenger trains were more important than freight trains and through freights were more important than local freights), a system of train superiority was developed. Canadian Pacific used 4 classes of train. Since trains of the same class would operate in both directions one direction was made superior to the other direction. In Canada usually Eastbound and Southbound trains are superior by direction. If you are an Eastbound First Class train you never have to wait for another train.

Of course this helped Superior trains but the less important trains could still be left waiting for superior trains to arrive. Even First class trains of inferior direction could be left waiting if the superior train was late. On September 22, 1851 this was the situation when Charles Minot the Superintendent of the Erie Railroad was left waiting for a superior Eastbound train in upstate New York. He telegraphed ahead to the next station and inquired if the superior train had left.

When he was informed no he told the agent to hold the train. He instructed the crew to proceed and under the rules they refused. He took the throttle himself and ran the train to the next station. He then repeated the procedure until he arrived at a station where the superior train had left the next station. This was the beginning of train orders. Over the next few years procedures were put in place to allow the use of train orders to modify schedules. The officials of the major U.S. railroads met in 1889 to standardize the rules for operation by train orders and this system continued with some modifications until the late 1970's. The last train order operations were on the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1984 when it was ruled that persons other than operators (usually the train crew) could copy orders and instructions to trains.

The system used dispatchers to issue the orders and operators at lineside stations to deliver the order to the crews and notify the dispatcher as the trains passed their stations.

Train Order Operations

Three major players are involved in train order operations. These are the dispatcher, the train order operators, and the train crews.

The dispatcher is responsible for the smooth operation of the railway and for ensuring that train orders do not compromise safety. The main tools of the dispatcher are a large trainsheet (very similar to a timetable) on which to record the times and locations of trains, A train order book, and the telegraph (later telephone) line to the operators.

The operator is responsible for relaying train orders to the passing trains and relaying train passing times to the dispatcher (OSing trains). Train orders are copied from the dispatcher and repeated back before delivery. In most cases the order can be relayed by train order hoop to the passing trains but in some cases they had to be signed for by the crew (We do not do this at Heritage Park.) When a train has passed it should be recorded on the train register and an OS should be sent promptly by the operator.

The tools used by the operator are the telegraph, the train order signal, the train register, train order and clearance forms and the train order hoops for delivering the orders. Currently we are making up train orders at Midnapore and delivering them to trains but in the future we may try to transmit them by telegram. We have also been sending an OS when the train has passed although it goes to no one at the current time.

The train order signal is used to notify the trains that we have orders for them. Some stations have a 3 aspect signal (red, yellow, and green) but our stations only have 2 aspect signals (red and green) The red signal indicates stop for orders so we modify the aspect with a yellow flag to indicate orders may be picked up on the fly.

===================

Next month Larry will show some examples of actual Train orders and clearances.
For all of Larry's Operator-Agent posts click Operator-Agent in the labels box on the left.

They heard it first!

 

Why a Cape Breton town knew about the end of WW I before the rest of North America

North Sydney, N.S., was the site of a bustling Western Union telegraph office
CBC Article

Yvonne LeBlanc-Smith · CBC News · Posted: Nov 07, 2018 3:00 AM MST | Last Updated: November 7, 2018

Listen to this article

Estimated 3 minutes

The North Sydney Historical Museum houses the telegraph machine that received the oversea message announcing an armistice would be signed on Nov. 11, 1918.

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After four harrowing years, the message trickled in via Morse code on the morning of Nov. 10, 1918 at a telegraph office in North Sydney, N.S.

And before anyone else in North America knew, people in the small Cape Breton town had already begun to celebrate the joyous news direct from the War Office in London: an armistice would be signed the next day.

There had never been a known leak from the Western Union telegraph office on Court Street before that day, but this news was simply "too good to keep quiet," said Richard Rose, chair of the Nov. 10 commemoration committee with the North Sydney Historical Society.

"As you might guess, they were overjoyed, so that word very quickly leaked into the community and the party was on," he said. 

"From what we can find in our research, it was just pandemonium​. People came out banging pots and pans."

Richard Rose, chair of the Nov. 10 commemoration committee with the North Sydney Historical Society, says celebrations broke out soon after the local Western Union telegraph office received word of an armistice. (Yvonne LeBlanc-Smith/CBC)

More than 300 U.S. personnel who were in North Sydney joined off-duty military personnel in a spontaneous parade around the town as part of a celebration that lasted all day.

In the evening, bonfires were lit and the festivities continued. Bars that would normally be closed on Sunday were opened, but they had to close early when they ran out of liquor.

"So effectively, by the time the rest of North America found out about the war being over, North Sydney was nursing a giant hangover," said Rose.

Tens of thousands of messages

The telegrapher that received the momentous message was Annie Butler Smith.

The key she used that day is part of a display at the North Sydney Historical Museum.

"Of the more than 600 Western Union telegraph centres around the world, North Sydney was by far the busiest," said Rose.

"In 1913, before the war started, that centre processed over 30,000 messages a day."

A new building opened near the beginning of the war in December 1914, employing 325 people. Soon, the number of messages doubled or even tripled as all messages between North America and Western Europe came through North Sydney.

Rogers Pass Station

 I previously posted a photo of the original CPR Station in Rogers Pass.

Here is another photo I just saw on the Vintage railwaystations,Round houses,Locomotives,coaches,cabooses of Canada Facebook group.

Old Rogers Pass Station in the Selkirk Mountains in British Columbia. This card shows the original CPR Rogers Pass station which was east of the summit. Sadly, it was destroyed by an avalanche in 1899, and 7 people died in the tragedy. Snow shed number 15 can be seen behind the water tower. After the destruction a new station was built further west where the present visitor centre is located.

It is hard to imagine just how isolated that station was back in the day.