As a result of the recent conversations regarding the use of the telegraph
and actual operation of the railroad prior to CTC I happened to wake up in
the night, between coughing spells remembering that I do have a couple of
books to recommend.
RIGHTS OF TRAINS has already been discussed and it is a fine book. I had a
copy of the 1957 edition, but made the mistake of loaning it out to a
railroad officer now deceased and never got it back. I did order and have on
my shelf the most recent reprint. Keep in the mind that RIGHTS is primarily
for the help of railroad men, including officers, in rules application and
interpretation. It ass umes that you have quite a bit of basic knowledge
which those of you whose interest postdates the train order era would lack.
Try this one LET'S OPERATE A RAILROAD. It's written primarily for the layman
who is interested in how the RR operates. It covers everything from the yard
clerk to the train dispatcher with quite a bit of information on Train Orders
and their handling written in layman's terms. My edition is 1957 and I don't
know whether there is a newer one out or not. Mine is written to apply to
the railroad operation of 45 years ago which is what you want. The book is
authored by L.E. Roxbury and was published by High Iron Publishers of Warwick
VA. It might be available from Karen's Books who has a website and quite a
large inventory of books available. I've ordered from them several times. I
don't have the web address readily available, but if anyone wants it contact
me off list and I'll be glad to supply it for you.
Another book which I came across recently is MA KILEY, The Life of a Railroad
Telegrapher. It came out of a short series running in the old RAILROAD
MAGAZINE in the early 1950's The author Thomas Jepsen has done considerable
work and research on Ms Kiley's life and even interviewed her grandson. He
adds considerable depth to the subject my comparing the telegraph at the turn
of the century to the computer today. I found it a fascinating book. It's
available from Karen's Books also. Soft cover about $14.00
Incidently, John Mitchell my recent (albeit limited) reading on the subject
always refers to OS as "Train Report". "On sheet" I haven't seen
mentioned..but I'll keep looking. Aint it fun to talk about this stuff?????
Pete Hedgpeth
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