Re: Rights of Trains - Time-Table Meets

Dan,
Thank you for the examples and discussion.

There were the rights of trains and the art of dispatching. A good dispatcher could keep things moving and that is what the railroads wanted. At one time, many moved up from being a depot train order operator. If they paid attention, they saw now the dispatcher moved the trains. The other thing is to know the railroad -- where the sidings, grades, water, etc. are located.

Back in 1992, I was at a Railway & Locomotive Historical Society meeting at Jacksonville, Florida. On registration evening there was what appeared to be an impromptu visit for a limited number of attendees to the CSX dispatch center in Jacksonville (some of the local chapter members were mid- (or higher?) level managers of the CSX). We were told that some of the dispatchers were trainmen who had once worked the areas that they dispatched; they for one reason or another where not physically able to continue in train service, so this job was offered.

Brian