Re: 99 Years Ago April 29th on the SVRy

These are interesting because it shows SVRy had their own brand of railroading a little more casual than called for by the Standard Code.

I'm guessing by 1930 that these forms were probably printed with at least three copies (engineer, conductor and file) or four (helper) complete with carbons. It looks like this is the "red copy" which makes sense that it would be more likely to have survived. There were two standard forms for train orders - Form 19 and Form 31. The difference was a Form 19 could be delivered to a crew as is, but a Form 31 would not be made complete until the operator had received the conductor and engineer's signature indicating they were receiving the copy. In other words, a Form 31 could not be hooped up to a train as it went by.

Many of the forms the operators made were on thin onion skin paper. The dispatcher would advise them how many copies were to be made. Three was usually the minimum, but two additional copies for each train affected were required. The operator would either hand write or type (all caps no punctuation) the required number using carbon paper.

I find it interesting that the trains seem to be stuck at Alder Springs, a blind siding, waiting for orders. A dispatcher could issue authority to an extra a step at a time, but most preferred to set up as much of the day as practicable. In these examples, if the phone system failed the trains would be at a standstill until the dispatcher could be contacted for more orders.

I hadn't seen the "No further orders" line before. Normally a train receives a clearance card at its initial station which lists the orders that the train should have to depart, or states "no" orders. Each time an order is delivered it would include another clearance card listing the order(s) included. Maybe because this was over the phone the "No further orders" line took the place of a clearance card.

Order 17 suggests that the train ran out of authority at Alder Springs so the dispatcher was able to see what the situation was before advancing them further. Extra 18 East gets to head for home but engine 19 will need a new order at Larch to go any further.

To me, order 21 suggests that the Extra 18 East was going to end up on the time of No 2 (the eastbound passenger) before reaching Larch so had contacted the dispatcher who gave them authority to run ahead of No 2. The odd thing is that this order is actually addressed to No 2 with engine 19 at Alder Springs which is very unusual. Extra 18 must be jammed up somehow and a confab between the two train's conductors figured out how to get both trains to Larch with the least amount of delay.

Shortlines are entertaining because they have their own casual way of doing things compared to the big railroads.