Pete,
If he’s tuning in I ask Dave Weber to chime in on the order cars were written on to the wheel report and where it was thrown off,etc. He was a Q operator for a few years before BN came into being. I can’t answer to most of your points because by the 1970s the computers generated the wheel reports. We were handed a multi copy wheel report and the waybills at the origin point. You threw off the bills wrapped in the wheel report at any station where you set out cars. The top original copy and remaining bills went through with the next crew at the division point crew change or to the terminating yard office. Any yard or interested party could make a computer inquiry and get a copy of the wheel report at their work station.
But I can answer some of the other points. The first,foremost and most carefully filled out item was the time slip. This generally was started and filled out as completely as possible before starting the trip. Next came the delay report. I used two Q delay reports during my time as a Conductor. I did so on my first round trip assignment as a Conductor and expected to hear about it but never did. The BN report was a multi copy either 8 &1/2” X 11” or 11”X14”. You filled at the header with the basic info. with things like loads,empties,tons, origin point destination, crew,info,etc etc. there was no entry for waycar number so many us would write it at the bottom of the report. As the trip proceeded you made entries as to where and why delays were encountered. Things like meet #3, or set out b/o BN 123 account broken train line,etc. You would also report time spent doing station switching, set outs and pickups. If you stopped to eat there was an entry for that. As you set out and picked up you would write the new car counts, and tonnages on the appropriate line. The Conductor kept one copy, one went to the the local trainmaster, or Sup’t. office and the original went somewhere that I no longer recall.
In Compass days if you picked up in route there would usually be a wheel report and the waybills for those cars handed or hooped up to you by the agent,operator,etc. An occasional rare event would be cause to actually write in a car number. In those days everything was listed from the headend toward the waycar. A car out of station order would jump off the page at you when you skimmed down the list. Then you as Conductor had to decide whether you “saw” the out of station car or not and therefore do some switching or not and just let the car go with the block it was in.
What I always enjoyed was scanning through the actual waybills to learn what was in the train, where were the products were going and how much “the company” was getting paid. One night it actually paid off in possibly preventing a derailment or damaged load and bridge. Any high wide/load would have all kinds of special engineering printouts attached to the waybill and there was a note in your orders if any of the restrictions applied on your division and what you needed to do about them. One night we picked up at Eola westbound and there were machinery loads out of CAT in the pickup. None looked to be either high or wide and there were no instructions with the waybills or train orders. As I was paging through the bills I noticed a small instruction on the waybill stating “car will not clear the overhead bridge at M.P..... east of Polo, car must be routed via Galesburg,Denrock,Savanna”. We were going to Savanna via the C&I with Polo located about 2/3 rds of the way. I got on the radio to the powers in charge and we were instructed to set the car out at Aurora on the incline which was worrisome in and of itself as the incline got it’s name from the steep grade. I could just imaging the car rolling away(see the commentary of one that did happen in the BRHS Bulletin entitled (Aurora and it’s shops 1900-1974). From time to time I’ve wondered who would have gotten time off if we had given that CAT tractor a haircut or worse, the Conductor or the yardmaster ?
On occasion a message would be hooped up to you or you would toss one out at a station. One handed up was generally additional work to do in route. One of the most frequently tossed off would be a request to make arrangements for the crew to eat at some in route station. This was not done on crack and even most secondary trains. But on the semi locals tossed into the freight pools,after 8-10 hours some crews were getting simply hungry. On many jobs the company offered something of an incentive of an additional hours pay for not stopping to eat. So you’d work the 10-12 hours and get a one hour bonus.
If you want to read about all those non paperwork items Pete mentioned get a copy of the Friends of BN January 2021 issue and go to “Of hot boxes and close calls” by me.
I end the article with “we weren’t just riding around....”
Leo Phillipp
On Jun 8, 2021, at 10:59 AM, jpslhedgpeth via groups.io <jpslhedgpeth=aol.com@groups.io> wrote:
Having NEVER worked as a REAR BRAKEMAN I'm not familiar with lots of the "Caboose Paperwork"...So'll IL need a bit of clailification here and there. I'm not sure whether the conductor was given a "train list along with the waybils in train order at the outbound terminal or whether he just "assumed" that the "bills" were in "train order"...The top (first entry" was always the rear end of the train so that anyting picked up and/or set out would not require the "whole thing" to be redone every time a pickup or set out was made.
Leo it would be nice if you would give us a detailed list of all the paperwork that the conductor was given at the Originating station..Of course there was always the train orders and clearance, and any messages regarding special handling of any intermediate work to be done ie "car of stock to be set out at abcd etc.
I'm not sure whether the conductor got a "train list" along with the bills or whether he just assumed that the bills were in train order. Could you favor us with a shall we say "compendium" outlining all of the "paperwork" the conductor would come out of the outbound yard office with.
Then, as you have outlined the Conductor would make out the "Wheel Report" with info as you described.
Then someplace along the line the conductor would "throw off a "Consist" ie list in train order of all the cars in his train and their destination. That list would be thrown off at a station with an Operator on Duty and said OP would "SEND" via telegraph the "consist" to the yard office at the trains next division point. From this info the "receiving" yardmaster and anyone else "who cared or needed" would make arrangements for handling, and/or switching at that point. This was a matter of "VITAL IMPORTANCE" at yards and stations where deliveries and/or connections with outbound trains were made in order that the receiving yard master would have his plan for handling "all set" in advance for "fast and expeditious" action.
Leo as a "Promoted man" could you give us...not so knowledgable folks a rundown of what went on in the waycar in addition to watching for hot boxes, dragging equipment, train order signals etc.
This "ongoing" waycar activity I have to admit is not something I know much about in detail.
Pete
-----Original Message-----
From: Leo Phillipp via groups.io <qutlx1=aol.com@groups.io>
To: CBQ@groups.io
Sent: Mon, Jun 7, 2021 11:16 pm
Subject: [CBQ] Switch list
Gentlemen simply as clarification, form 1645 is not really a switch list. The form on the flicker page that Rupert cleaned up was known commonly as a wheel report. As the one on flicker shows these were filled out by Conductors on freight trains. It shows the station where cars were taken from and left. The one on flicker is a train leaving Galesburg with most of the train for Congress Park, balance to Cicero/Morton Park/Hawthorne. I have attached the same form 1645 from an earlier time when it is used as a “statement of cars at” in the attached example it is at Rochelle. Filled out by agent instructing the southbound wayfreight to move cars on the Iron Sponge track to various other locations. This is much closer to a switch list. Hopefully it is attached and not deleted by the list filters.
But a Burlington switch list was made of card stock, was rectangular and much simplified. It had columns for car Mark and number on the left side.At the top the track name or number the cars were on would be written there. The next columns over would show which track the Conductor(way freight) or yard foreman or yard master wanted the cars placed upon. The actual Burlington switch list had only a form number but nothing designating it as Burlington. The Milwaukee had the herald at the top.
I have held both the Burlington and Milwaukee switch lists in my hands while working. It was a challenge at night to hold the list, shine your lantern on it so as to read it while trying to watch the cars go by, pass signs along with pulling pins and throwing switches. It was even more challenging in a rainy or snowy night when you had the list inside your bright red Burlington Route “timetable holder” so as to keep the moisture from obliterating the written info.
When I find my actual, blank switch lists I’ll post one and have the Flicker guys put one there.
Leo Phillipp
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