I know what Chris is talking about. Prior to the use ballast car designs, they would load flat cars and pull a large v-plow down the string dumping the material off each side of the cars. I would imagine if you were careful you could use a locomotive and a cable instead of a gypsy winch. I doubt SVRy did this. Unless the handbrakes either dropped down or to the side, pulling a plow between the flats would shear off the handbrake staffs. Best bet - lots of shoveling though if the track was rough enough and the engineer ran fast over rough track and ran some slack they may be partially unloaded anyway.
Looking at the Dispatcher's summaries - the initials on the bottom are all "J W H" which I guess would be the name of the chief dispatcher or whomever created this document. Did they work 24 days straight or generate these after the fact using the train sheets?
You can also see the distribution list. "DCE" would be David Eccles probably mailed to him every day or two in Ogden. "EBD" is Edgar Pengra who is General Manager at this time, so they are put on his desk. And another copy for the railroad's file. These are all clearly marked for E.B. Pengra, so my question is how did these survive almost 100 years? It seems odd these survived vs. the railroad's file copies unless Pengra himself preserved them?
From Rails Sagebrush and Pine - "In 1911, the Oregon Railroad Commission cracked down on the Sumpter Valley for operating without a book of rules and dispatching trains without train orders. The result of such negligence resulted in several disastrous "cornfield meets". The commission demanded the Sumpter Valley Railway adopt the American Association of Railroads standard rules and operating procedures, then hire a superintendent that could enforce them. Edgar Burnham Pengra came to the scene from the Southern Pacific at Roseburg, Oregon, then part of the Harriman lines. ...."
Now to stir up some more trouble. I've looked several times trying to figure out the general operating scheme which is difficult without a dispatcher's sheet or timetable of the same era. Every time I thought I had it figured out, my idea didn't quite work out. Here is what I think at the moment, subject to correction.
Train 1 was the passenger train that originated in Baker and went to Prairie City daily, and its eastbound counterpart was No 2. the arrival and departure from Baker City would have been timed in part to meet the Union Pacific passenger trains as well as local convenience.
Trains 5 and 6 were the way freight that ran from Baker City to Austin. One of these trains was sometimes annulled, and was also supplemented by extras. The Whitney and Austin "helpers" actually functioned as roustabouts and could operate anywhere on the west end as needed. They would make turns to the summits moving a handful of loads each time, and would help trains 5 and 6 as well as the extras.
I know there were enginehouses and crews based out of South Baker, Whitney and Austin. The work trains in these reports appear to have tied up at Larch. Was there ever an enginehouse or hostler at Prairie City?
The report clearly indicates there was a "Baker Passenger" typically with engine 1, plus a Prairie Freight and Passenger that usually had engine 2 or 10 for power. The delays seem to only be listed for trains 1 and 2, but it offers some interesting clues.
1st - No 2 lost 10 min leaving Prairie a/c No 7
2nd - No 1 lost 2 hrs 35 min Baker to Prairie a/c soft track and No 2 late
2nd - No 2 40 min late out of Prairie a/c No 7 late a/c green wood and ...
5th - No 2 20 min late leaving Prairie a/c No 7 late arriving
6th - No 1 delayed 45 min at Tipton a/c No 6 derailment
6th - No 2 44 min late leaving Austin a/c No 1 late arrival
12th - No 1 40 min late leaving Austin a/c No 2 late arrival
12th - No 2 25 min late leaving Prairie a/c No 7 late arrival - soft track
13th - No 1 lost 13 min at Austin a/c No 2 late arrival
13th - No 2 25 min late leaving Prairie a/c No 7 late arrival
14th - No 1 lost 10 min at Austin due to No 2 late arrival
16th - No 1 25 min late out of Austin a/c No 2 late arrival
17th - No 1 delayed 5 min leaving Austin a/c No 2 late arrival
24th - No 1 50 min late leaving Austin a/c No 1 late arrival
(typo - should be No 2's late arrival)
24th - No 2 20 min late leaving Prairie a/c No 7 late arrival
No 1 and No 2 are dependent upon meeting at Austin. They are not independent trains because one of them should have superior right be direction and would be able to leave on schedule regardless of the other trains. Based on the fact that the same engines that leaves with No 1 arrives back with No 2 and vice versa, the crews and engines do not run one way, layover and return the next day. I am reasonably sure that each crew and engine meet at Austin, trade cars and return home each night.
Notice that there is a train No 7 is mentioned six times in 24 days as the cause of a delay preventing No 2 from leaving Prairie on time. My best guess is that No 7 was probably a freight or mixed that left Austin each morning, turned at Prarie as No 2, after trading cars with No 1 at Austin returned to Prarie as No 1. To get home, they came back probably as No 8 to Austin and tied up. The Baker Passenger crew and engine would run about 120 miles Baker to Austin and return. The Prarie Freight and Passenger hours are about the same as the Baker Passenger, so if they ran between Austin and Prarie as 7, 2, 1 and 8 they would have about the same miles explaining their time.
I haven't seen anything suggesting the existence of trains 3 and 4, was this a second passenger run between Baker and Sumpter during the boom?
The RPO clerk on 1 and 2 would have had to lay over in Prarie, unless the mail was handled as closed pouch between Austin and Prairie with the postal clerk returning on No 2 each day.
It's amazing how small railroads and branchlines can end up having trains running like streetcars sometimes. Imagine living next to the tracks on the west side of Larch in this era.
