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
73

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.

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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.