October Operator-Agent Post

This is the first Operator-Agent post from Calgary Chapter MTC board member Larry Isenor.
Produced as a guide for members of the Heritage Park Morse Telegraph club. Larry has kindly permitted us to serialize it here and we will try to post each segment on the third Wednesday of a month.

You can see all the Operator-Agents posts by clicking the Operator-Agent label in the Labels box on the left side of this page.

Enjoy
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The job of the Train Order Operator 

and

Timetable and Train Order Operations

by Larry Isenor

Part 1

What we are demonstrating

As we are a telegraph club we will concentrate on the use of the telegraph and the job of the telegraph operator/station agent. We are currently building skills to be able to send and receive messages between stations by telegraph.

As part of our interpretation of the telegraph system we will demonstrate the following as our skills improve:

1. Telegraph -commercial service by sending telegrams between stations.
2. Train Order operations and hooping of train orders to the trains.
3. Train Reports OS by telegraph.
4. Transmission of Train Orders and Clearances by telegraph.

Because of the short distances involved between stations at Heritage Park and the lack of time we will need to work out procedures to allow greater use of the telegraph for train orders and messages.

One of the jobs of the station agent included handling of express and LCL (less than carload lot) freight.

We may be able to demonstrate this and the handling of mail by train sometime in the future.

Station Agent/Train Order Operators were the main contact with the railway company in hundreds of small towns across Canada. Although the job could be split into two separate functions, in most small towns one person served both functions.

The agent was responsible for the handling of freight both full carloads and smaller packages. He was also responsible for ticketing passengers and handling their baggage. In addition he handled express shipments (small packages handled on passenger trains) telegrams, and sometimes mail.

The train order operator worked under the instructions of the train dispatcher and received messages (including train orders) for the trains and informed the dispatcher of the passing of all trains at his station.

Duties of Agents and Operators

The stations at Heritage Park were small combination stations that served local communities. The train order operators at these stations also served as the local station agent and had a number of duties in addition to copying and relaying train orders. At the busier stations that operated 24 hours a day (Shepard and Laggan) additional operators would work the other tricks (shifts).

The operator copied and delivered train orders and relayed train reports (OS) to the dispatcher.

The telegraph operator handled messages for the company and the public. Different rates applied depending on urgency (overnight rates allowed longer messages for the same price as short immediate messages). Wire transfers of money were also handled at designated stations.

The local freight agent handled freight, both carload freight and smaller packages. If a local shipper needed a car it was requested by the agent and any billing for freight service was handled by the agent. It was fairly common for freight to be shipped collect or COD and the agent would collect freight charges before delivering the freight. Less Carload freight consists of smaller shipment that were handled in boxcars on a local freight train. These were loaded and unloaded by the agent and train crew. Some of these were boxes for local merchants and even larger items such as furniture, stoves, and even disassembled houses.

These could be ordered from mail order shippers such as Eaton’s and shipped to local residents.

The freight agent also handled express shipments which were urgent packages shipped in passenger trains. Common shipments included merchandise, produce such as strawberries and flowers, livestock including baby chicks, bees, and even horses and circus animals, beer and any urgent parts. Express service also handled valuable such as currency, securities, and jewelry. As with freight these could be shipped collect or COD and charges were collected by the agent before delivery.

The local passenger agent handled sale of tickets to passengers. They also would request sleeping car space by telegraph from a reservation centre. They also handled passenger baggage on trains providing this service. Passenger agents were the travel agent of the day and could sell tickets to most points in North America and also Steamship tickets to overseas destinations.

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

Next Month we will delve into the "Time Table" the master list of how things were supposed to work and how things could be adjusted for changes through the use of Train Orders sent to the agents by the telegraph.

New Regular Monthly Post Operator-Agent

We are starting a new regular monthly post series called Operator-Agent.
The plan is to post a new segment on the third Wednesday of a month.
Written by Calgary chapter of the MTC board member Larry Isenor this is a fascinating look at the duties of a Station Operator and Agent.

Originally written as a guide for the Heritage Park Morse Telegraph Club, Larry has kindly given us access to post this info in a serialized form.

Keep an eye out for these over the coming months.

Thanks Larry!

To give you a context for Larry's posts check out this wonderful Day in the Life of...  film shot in 1954 for the National Film Board of Canada entitled "Station Master."

"Finch, Ontario, is where the Canadian Pacific railway crosses the New York Central, a tiny but important link in Canada's railway network. This film looks at the daily duties of station master Dalton Henry and his staff."

Enjoy
73

Railway Days Mentioned in Dispatches

Calgary's local CTV station ran a series of on location spots just before this September's Railway Days at Heritage Park and one spot had us in it!
The Telegraphy segment starts at 4:20 minutes in.

Morse Musings

Todays bit of lore comes courtesy of Chris Hausler. 

“Morse Musing” 

 By Charles D. Dulin 

 Transcribed from “Railroad Magazine”, May 1951 

 The railroad telegrapher is a great fellow.  Other telegraphers call him “the brains of the railroad.”  He is a modest chap not giving to boasting unless there's a fair chance to get by with it. 

 Operator Vic Pardon told me he ran out of flimsies at Wichita and handed up an order written on pieces of orange crate.  I didn't have a tantrum.  I didn't even bat an eye.  I told him about that time at Norfolk, Okla. when I missed delivery on an order to the rear end of an oil train doing 35 mph and delivered it by Indian runner.  Old Vic, a gentleman to the last switch, walked away and we were both happy.  Incidentally I still believe, barring mishaps with his blanket, that Indian could have circled that extra before she went three poles.   

 

When a telegrapher transmits “trxn” for “train” and puts thirteen dots in the letter “P” you know he's a railroader.  That's not orneriness; we understand each other better that way.  The Morse code is not an iron-clad affair to a railroad op.   

 I used to copy consists from an oldtimer in Shopton, Ia. who had the code down so pat he didn't need to refer to it at all.  It sounded like something you'd expect from Saturn or Jupiter. 

 One time he tried to send me a car of  bologna for Henrietta.  After several breaks I decided it was a car of skudjum.  That was more like it.  At least it made sense.  Who ever heard of shipping bologna as dead freight!  I did wonder what Henrietta would ever do with a carload of skudjum but that was none of my worry.  I wasn't the mayor or superintendent of streets, and if Henrietta wanted a load of skudjum we were just the pair who could give it to 'em.   

 Faithful, trustful old boys, the railroad telegraphers.  Always up and at 'em looking horizontally between their shoes from under a hat set at a 45-degree angle over their eyes.  Once on a line set I was thus posed, batting the soles of my shoes together to hear them pop, when the trainmaster appeared suddenly – as if he ever appeared any other way.  I tried to put my pins under me too fast, hooked a shoelace on a sounder and nearly fractured my pelvis trying to gain footing. 

 I like to get around and talk to the old boys.  They know a lot of things I missed out on and they're dramatists when it comes to telling them. Operator Vernon Brower, now a dispatcher on the GM&O, tells me that when he was on his first job as an op the fellow at the next station got him on the wire, told him the wires were bad and that Brower should drive his ground in deeper.  Brower, anxious to make good, located the ground plug under the depot and had a tough time driving it deeper.   

 Another green op was asked by wire, “Did the agent tell you to keep a pan of water on the stove?”  Being advised that none was there the heckler said, “My gosh!  By now your switchboard is all dried out.  Get a wet rag and rub over it....might help some.”  They tell me the sparks flew out of the seat of the ham's pants but that's one story I don't believe.  I'd have to see that!  I'm going to see it too, if I run across a nice, new green ham somewhere. 

 Railroad telegraphers have fun out of almost anything.  Although it's generally agreed that only about one op in a hundred is dispatcher material, there's a stock saying among ops that a dispatcher is an op with his brains knocked out.  Even ops rib their own fraternity unmercifully.  I asked an oldtimer what the code was for an apostrophe.  “How in hell should I know?” he flared.  “Darn few operators can even read and write.” 

 Good Morse on a not-too-loud sounder is absolutely beautiful.  Even the spacing of letters and words, perfect characters render it quite as thrilling to ops as is the phrasing and intonation of Jascha Heifetz to musicians.  I've seen faces glow as the little metal tongue played through playful polkas, wonderful waltzes and sonorous symphonies.  Many ops can and do send great Morse.  Others, we must admit, sound like a jazz band's rendition of The Spring Song.  I've heard a lot of pretty fast work, but for cadenzas that swing you merrily along I favor the bug. 

 Know what I mean?  Great old boys, the railroad telegraphers.  Take old boomer Joe.  Joe's last actual railroading was done in Alaska but he's still at it in spirit.  Joe drops in on me every whipstich, sits down to my key and starts off with “GA horse.”  We talk on and on, side by side but seldom vocally;  just a couple of old bats thumping out insults and whatnot, making dashes while stalling for time to think and grinning like the famous jackass eating thistles. 

 That oil extra to which I missed rear-end delivery went a sixteenth of a mile before the Indian caught up.  We could have cut that down considerably had the Indian been on hand.  By the time I got hold of the Cushing station and the Indian covered the nine miles to Norfolk the extra had gone pretty well up the line. 

4:30 a.m.  Extra 4007 west passed at 2:50 and since then, with uninterrupted gazing, I've made a disconcerting discovery;  I'm going to need a new pair of shoes pretty soon. 

Story Time

 Miner's Silver Ghost

Centennial Stamps

 Received this email from one of our Junior Telegraphers, Hugh Cowling.
Thanks Hugh!

This framed sheet showcases the U.S. 3¢ Telegraph Centenary stamp (Scott #924), issued on May 24, 1944 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the first official telegraph message. The stamp’s design features a prominent telegraph pole with wires receding into the distance, symbolizing the dawn of electrical communication. Embedded in the design is the historic message “What hath God wrought”, the very phrase tapped out by Samuel F. B. Morse in 1844 during his first telegraph transmission from the U.S. Capitol to Baltimore

Jack the Signalman.

 

In the 1880s, a chacma baboon named Jack made history — not for mischief, but for working as a railway signalman in South Africa. And yes, he was paid in money and beer.

Jack belonged to James “Jumper” Wide, a railway signalman who had lost both his legs in a train accident. To help him get around and do his job, James adopted Jack in 1881 and trained him to push his wheelchair. But Jack quickly proved he could do a lot more.

Soon, Jack was opening gates, fetching keys, helping with gardening, and — most remarkably — operating the railway signals. James taught Jack to recognize which lever controlled which track. At first, Jack followed hand signals from James to pull the correct lever. But before long, he didn’t need any cues — he learned to do it on his own.

Jack never made a single mistake in his years of service at Uitenhage station. He worked faithfully under James’ supervision and became a local legend. What started as a practical solution turned into one of the most heartwarming examples of human-animal teamwork in history.

Junior Telegraphers mentioned in dispatches!

The TV network here in Calgary did a segment on the Junior Telegraphers at Heritage Park
Enjoy!

https://www.ctvnews.ca/calgary/article/at-heritage-park-the-morse-telegraph-clubs-junior-members-are-keeping-the-code-alive/