Springfield Traffic

 

Marc at work had a small stack of a little over 100 Home Route cards that came out of Springfield.  The cards are all dated from February and March 1946, although not all originally routed through Springfield. 

Springfield

For Springfield there are 29 roads represented (71 cars, one of which I can't identify the road).  They are not necessarily roads I expected.

• PRR - 10 - 14%
• B&O - 8 - 11%
• BM - 7 - 10%
• CP - 7 - 10%
• ATSF - 4 - 6%
• CNJ - 3 - 4%
• FGEX - 3 - 4%
• CG - 2 - 3%
• D&H - 2 - 3% 
• GARX - 2 - 3%
• MDT - 2 - 3%
• MEC - 2 - 3%
• RDG - 2 - 3%
• SRLX - 2 - 3%

• ARLX - 1
• ART -  1
• BLE - 1
• ERIE - 1
• IC - 1
• L&N - 1 
• MILW - 1
• NADX - 1
• NH - 1
• NP - 1
• PFE - 1
• SOO - 1
• SOU - 1
• VGN - 1

The mix of cars is also interesting:

• Box Cars - 25 - 35%
• Reefers - 14 - 20%
• Hoppers - 21- 30%
• Gondolas - 7 - 10%

I was surprised to see two Canadian Pacific stock cars and a ventilated box car (Central of Georgia).

Ventilated box car CG 55991 arrived via Springfield on February 18, 1946.  It went to Bridgeport on February 20. It appears to have been released on February 28, and was then routed via Cedar Hill on March 1 on its way back to Springfield, also on March 1.  It's interesting that it came into the NH via Springfield, but assuming it was empty on the way out, the car routing rules indicate it should be sent out via the same route it arrived. 

The selection of cars routing via other points is too small for any meaningful analysis, but still interesting. There was one Southern box car via Harlem River and one CN box car via New London. Via Worcester there was an MEC and Wabash box car. 

Bay Ridge (15 cars)

CP, PFE and SOO with 2 cars each, plus one each of ART, BM, GARX, NP, OWR&N, SAL, SFRD, and Southern.

Seven each of box cars and reefers, and one hopper (Boston & Maine).

Oak Point (10 cars)

Half were CP, 3 box cars, a reefer and a stock car.  Two Southern box cars, and an ART and MDT reefer.

Maybrook

Thirteen cards were for cars routed via Maybrook. Eight of those were reefers: 1 ART, 1 LRX, 1 MDT, three PFE and an SFRD. I'm not sure on the last one. Two CP box cars, and one each of B&O, BAR, and IHB.

--

Although the number of cards is too small to derive any real info regarding routing, I think there are still some interesting things to note.

I was surprised as the number of Pennsy and B&O cars coming via Springfield, but I have a probably explanation. I think many of these specific cars were on their return leg. That is, a B&O or PRR box car that originally carried a load to, say, Maine was unloaded when it arrived at its destination. Car routing rules specify a car that is not reloaded be routed back the same way it arrived. If the car was originally routed to the B&M via the New Haven, it would have likely gone through Springfield. So it would come back via Springfield too. They could also be loaded and routed via the NH.

What does that mean for my modeling purposes? That cars I might not have considered routing via Springfield could be part of the consist of a Hartford to Maybrook freight. 

This is the first documentation in my era of a ventilated box car on New Haven rails. I was also surprised the two stock cars were CP, one at Springfield and one at Oak Point.

The mix of hoppers is always something I'm interested in learning more. In this case it was B&O (4), BLE (1), B&M (2), CG (1), CNJ (2), D&H (2), Erie (1), NH (1), PRR (6), RDG (1), and VGN (1). The anthracite roads all make sense, although all of them were via Springfield. The D&H cars were probably loaded, but I suspect the others were all empties on their way home.

The B&M ones (one at Springfield and one at Bay Ridge) are more interesting. Without knowing the commodity, I'm guessing these cars may have been related moves since they had so few hoppers.

The CG and VGN were also unusual. If they were bituminous coal, they were a long way from home, especially when the bulk of coal from their region would have come by water via Baltimore.  Again, these went via Springfield, so it's likely that the NH was simply part of the routing.

I also didn't expect reefers to be the second most common cars. The mix was not quite what I expected (although being February would have an impact on what commodities were shipping and from where). PFE was the most numerous at six, but ART and MDT were second with four each. CP, FGEX, and GARX all had three, and SFRD and SRLX had two each. The LRX car is an interesting one too, not many of those.

There are no tank cars at all, but this is expected because they always ran on a waybill. They would not use Home Route Cards.

Confalone, and an interesting find

Where have I been you ask? Well, not doing too much modeling over the past year, unfortunately. But that's one of the great things about this hobby, it will be there when I have time.  But the NE Proto Meet is coming up next weekend and that's always gets things moving.  I didn't manage to get things together enough to host an op session on Thursday, but I'm looking forward to the meet. 

A few of us got up to Mike Confalone's though, a layout I've been interested in seeing in person for a long time. I didn't take too many pictures, because it has been so well documented, but I did experiment when he showed us how he does an occasional night session. He has blue light strips along the edge of the ceiling that provide a minimal amount of light, and the rest is from layout lighting.  Here's a look:

It is, of course, an amazing layout. I hope to get a chance to operate there in the future.

With my somewhat crazy schedule for the last year, I've had more opportunities for research than working on the layout. That's fine, I have several articles well on their way to completion and hope to wrap them up this summer after a trip or two to UCONN.  When looking for something completely different, though, I stumbled across something I have been trying to determine for years.

In one of my searches, testimony regarding whether a fireman was needed on certain runs with a 44-tonner in 1949, the New Haven provided the schedules for all of the DEY-4 class:

Wouldn't you know it?  Confirmation that the two switchers in New Britain did work staggered shifts.  Even better, I now know exactly what they were. My ops session is specifically designed around the switch crews shifts, so now I know it will be 7:00 am to 7:00 pm (because I'm modeling November and Daylight Savings is in effect). 

Hope to see you all next weekend in Springfield!

New Haven Traffic Density

I recently subscribed to Trains Unlimited, which provides digital access to every issue of Model Railroader, Trains, Classic Trains and other Kalmbach train magazines (including new ones as they are released). And I found something interesting in the March, 2002 issue:

They have a map of traffic density on the New Haven in 1955. There are two similar maps in the Characteristic Charts (once published by NHRHTA), but they are for 1918 and 1919. I won't reproduce the Trains map here, but let's look at the data for New Britain.

The maps in the Characteristic Charts indicate the number of trains and average daily tonnage:

1918

• 6 westbound, 3624 tons
• 6 eastbound, 5592 tons

What's interesting, though, is they indicate the traffic in each segment. In this case, between Plainville and New Britain, and vice versa. By looking at the next segments, we can deduce the traffic in New Britain:

New Britain to Hartford is:

• 6 westbound, 3221 tons
• 6 eastbound, 4846 tons

So on the westbound run, an average of 403 tons was added in New Britain, and on eastbound trains 746 tons were dropped in New Britain.

The Berlin Line doesn't have any traffic noted, but there's an arrow that indicates "Switching Service."

I can't do a similar calculation west of Plainville because there are 7 trains each way.

1919

• 8 westbound, 5826 tons, 1657 tons picked up in New Britain
• 8 eastbound, but I can't read the tonnage. 

Number of Cars

I don't know what the average load was for each freight car, but I do know that the average load was less than the capacity of the cars based on other research. So here are two estimates using the 1918 data:

• 30 ton cars, 13 cars westbound, 25 cars eastbound.
• 20 ton cars, 20 cars westbound, 37 cars eastbound.

1955

So how does this compare to 1955?

The cool thing about the map in Trains magazine is that it gives the number of cars instead of tonnage.

• New Britain to Plainville: 3 trains, 101 cars, both ways
• New Britain to Berlin: 3 trains, 113 cars
• Berlin to New Britain: 3 trains, 121 cars

Since all trains route over the Berlin Line, that gives us 12 cars dropped and 20 cars picked up.

One thing to keep in mind is that this shows us the net change but hides equal numbers of drops/picks. In other words, it could be 32 cars dropped and 40 cars picked, with a net 12 and 20. Those three trains in 1955 served the Canal Line north of Plainville or the New Hartford Branch.

• New Hartford Branch is 1 train, 8 cars both ways
• Plainville to Westfield is 2 trains, 88/86 cars
• Williamsburg/Northampton is 1 train, 14/15 cars
• Holyoke is 1 train, 51/34 cars

The imbalance in Holyoke is probably outbound cars being interchanged.

So it won't actually give us a specific count of cars to/from New Britain, but it does give us some more information to help make sure that the amount of traffic looks right. As modelers I think we sometimes have the tendency to run more cars during an ops session than is prototypical. That's fine, of course, and it's often because we want to have enough to do during a given session. In the near future I'll explore an alternative to adding additional traffic to provide enough work for your operators.

Maybrook Mix

With the recent announcement of new FA-1/FB-1s from Rapido (it's about time!), I'll want to be prepared for adding the Maybrook freights.

Modeling buddy Mike Clements recently pointed me (back to) Julian Erceg's fantastic site Moving the Freight. Specifically the Traffic Study of Maybrook Freight in 1957.

While it's a fascinating study, I'd recommend reading the whole thing and I'll be pulling more info from it, the initial use I'll get from it is working out a mix of routes.

For example, Maybrook to Hartford traffic in January '57 through Maybrook was routed via:

• Erie 31%
• LHR 34%
• LNE 8%
• O&W 24%
• NYC 2%

Maybrook to Holyoke was:

• Erie 23%
• LHR 55%
• LNE 9%
• O&W 14%

The Wheel Report data also provides great info. Traffic to Hartford in average carloads from:

• Maybrook 58 (44%)
• New York 44 (33%)
• East 16 (12%)
• Cedar Hill 15 (11%)

East would be from Boston as well as CV via New London, etc. The Cedar Hill cars probably include transloaded LCL and cars from locals and industries that route via Cedar Hill.

This will be great information to incorporate into the routing information on waybills, and may also impact the mix of road names represented in these trains.

Operations - The Crew Knows

As a follow-up to Bart's recollections and the very interesting and useful information that most of the time the crew knows where the cars belong, here's some more information from Dale along the same line. Actually, some very interesting information for more modern modelers. All photos by Dale Kritzky.

Even on the prototype, couplers may not match up. As long as it works...

Car Routing

One day when they got to Hartford, in the cut of cars was a CN box car. Dale initially said it wasn't theirs. They don't get CN box cars. The engineer checked the paperwork and said it was theirs. OK, Dale said, then it's not for (Home) Depot. They don't get CN box cars.

But his engineer said it must be, so they took it up and delivered it to Home Depot. A couple of days later, Home Depot told them it wasn't their car. As it turned out, it was for Hartford Lumber, an industry right at the junction, and one they have rarely had to spot a car.

When Dale had told me this, it confirmed that (most of ) the crew can often tell where a car is destined by the road/type of car. But there was something even more intriguing to me.

The Rules and Reality May Differ

But wait. Why was the engineer telling the conductor where the cars go? Or more specifically, why was the engineer handling the paperwork?

It's a great example of how the crew will find what works best rather than just following the standards or the rules. Since the CNZR is usually a two-person crew, the engineer had told the office that it was stupid that Dale (the conductor) had to manage the paperwork, and record the time when each car was spotted or picked up, etc.

While Dale is the conductor, he's also the brakeman, fireman, and everything except the engineer. As a result, it's much more efficient for the engineer to be recording the necessary information on the paperwork while he's sitting there waiting for Dale to throw the iron, or set/release handbrakes, etc. So that's how they do it.

In my era, the conductor wouldn't be busy on the ground, since there would be a head-end brakeman and a rear brakeman to be on the ground. There's more leeway on a shortline railroad where everybody does a bit of everything. I've heard many similar stories from railroaders on larger roads as well.

The saga of the CN box car continues. After they were informed it wasn't for Home Depot, they had to take it back down to Hartford Lumber. As I mentioned, they rarely had to spot a car there. In the meantime, a shipping container had been shoved back against a chain link fence, which was pushed too close to the rail. So the car peeled away several yards of fence, which then needed to be cut out so they could spot the car.

Misrouted Cars

There was a day when I had stopped by and there was another car that was a bit of a problem. The day was busy, and there were more cars than fit on the runaround in Hartford. This presented its own problem, and I'll explain how the resolved it in a moment.

The reason there was too many cars is because Pan Am had made a mistake a couple of days before. The CNZR crew had left a car for CSOR, but Pan Am had picked it up. So on this morning, Pan Am, after realizing their mistake, had brought it back.

So because of this extra car, they had to determine how to deal with the fact that they essentially had no runaround. One option was to shove a car or two up the Hartford Lumber track. That would provide enough space for a runaround. But it also added a number of extra moves.

Instead, they decided to operated in a push-pull configuration. First I should point out that they planned out these moves before they even got on the locomotive for the day. When they went to pull the cars from Home Depot, they left one locomotive on the main, pulled the cars, and then had a locomotive on either end of the train.

This meant that when they got to Hartford, they could run the locomotive with the cut of outbound cars down one side of the runaround and hold. Then they uncoupled the rear locomotive and used that to pull the cut of cars that fouled the other end of the runaround. That allowed the lead locomotive to escape from the other end of the runaround, after they added the extra car to the cut of outbound cars.

Bad Order Cars

On another day, there was a box car that had a broken bell crank, which meant that you can't set the handbrake. Dale told called his office and CSOR and told them that he wouldn't accept the car until it was repaired. They wanted him to accept it and have it unloaded first, but he still refused and they had to fix it first.

After the repair.

Here's the applicable rules from the 1943 New Haven Rule Book, under the section for Freight Conductors:

826. They must not handle a car which is found to be overloaded or improperly loaded or not in condition to run safely and report cars in such condition to the superintendent promptly.

827. They must, when bad order cars are set out of the train, report the fact to the superintendent promptly, advising nature of defect, where waybill or manifest was left and note on waybill or manifest the point at which car was left. 

This could be done on the model as well. I've seen some ops sessions that use cards to identify bad order cars for whatever reason. But on the prototype a cut of cars is walked to check for defects, set/release handbrakes, test the brakes, etc. On the model, the conductor should also be checking the train. If defects are found, issues with the coupler, damage to the handbrake, or things like broken sill steps, could be flagged as a bad order car and either refused or set out to be repaired. This would be useful for the layout owner, because they'll know which cars have broken parts

Empowering Your Crews

I enjoy this sort of operation since it provides some interest and work aside from just dropping off and picking up cars. It's more immersive, and also better models how the prototype actually operates. More importantly, it makes your crews a more integral part of the operations, and empowers them to make decisions and do the job like the real crews. Yes, there are rules to follow, and often a dispatcher or yardmaster who must provide permission to do the work. But once permission is granted, it's the crews that determine how to actually do their work.

Operations - Local Freights and Freight Houses

I've been meaning to put this post together for a while after asking more questions of Bart Hollis, former head end brakeman on the Highland Line at the end of the New Haven (he hired out in 1968 in East Hartford Yard, then moved to the Highland after 6 months, so really at the end...)

He worked NX-17 (Waterbury to Plainville) and has been able to confirm much of the research Chris and I have done. There were some surprises as well, but they make sense. 

The Work of the Local Freight

Bart says the conductor received, "a list of the cars in the train with instructions as to where they were to be spotted." 

He also says he doesn't quite remember, but thinks they were given the waybills too, but then indicates the waybills would be delivered to the agents in Bristol and Plainville, so they must have had them.

This would be a the Consist/Wheel Report that we've seen in earlier posts. From Hartford, Maybrook, Cedar Hill and others these would be printed via Teletype. From Waterbury it would still be a handwritten report. This lists all the cars in the train in order, from engine to caboose, and their destinations. In other words, for a local freight it tells you everything you need to know about the cars in your train.

As we know from other research, the waybills would travel with the conductor, and this confirms that they would be given to an Agent once delivered. That is, they don't go to the industry (since they are railroad documents).

I expect that if the Yardmaster knows of any cars to be picked up they would also tell the conductor at that point. 

Bart then provides a town-by-town description of the work:

"The first siding was at Terryville. There was a passing siding on the south side of the track which was only used if we had to double the hill. There was also a trailing point switch that went to the north side that went into the woods and ended. I was told it went to a clock factory years ago. There was a trailing point switch that had a short track that ended on a trestle and only once did we spot a loaded car of coal there."

DERS-1 (DL-109) 0733 entering the east portal of Terryville Tunnel. Tom McNamara

You can see Terryville station and the passing siding in the distance.

"The next switch was the passing siding at Bristol. Off the siding was the house track. When I first started we would occasionally get a car for the house. There was also a track that went just beyond the station that was used as a team track. There was an agent at Bristol by the name of Coffee (I forget his first name). If we had a car for Bristol, he would tell us exactly where it went and if there was one to pick up he would tell us the road and number. I don't know if the conductor got any paperwork, though."

Bristol 1948

There are a couple of interesting things here. First is that they received an occasional car to spot on the house track. More on that in a moment.

The second bit of info, of course, is that the Agent in Bristol told them what work they had. In a small town, this very well may have been a verbal exchange, although for a pickup the waybill would still be given to the conductor. 

"The next break in the rail was Bristol Brass. It was a facing point switch, so we had to work that place on the return. The Bristol agent was responsible for it and so the same instructions came from him."

They received their work while in town, but would work it on the way back.

"The next break was at Hildreth Press. A printing company. This was a trailing point switch that had another track off it. Again, it was handled by Bristol. This place had four spots. They would get a load of paper cars and we had to store them on the passing siding at the Bristol station. I remember as many as twenty loaded cars consigned to Hildreth Press."

By this era, with no passenger trains scheduled on the Highland Line, there were no passing sidings remaining. That is, the track was there, but they weren't designated in the Employee Time Table as a Siding. The Rule Book only defines two types of track:

• Main Track: A track extending through yards and between stations, upon which trains are operated by time-table or train order, or both, or the use of which is governed by block signals.
• Siding: A track auxiliary to the main track for meeting or passing trains.

There are three other related definitions:

• Single Track: A main track upon which trains are operated in both directions.
• Two or More Tracks: Two or more main tracks, upon any of which the current of traffic may be in either specified direction.
• Yard: A system of tracks within defined limits provided for making up of trains, storing of cars, and other purposes, over which movements not authorized by time-table, or by train order, may be made, subject to prescribed signals and rules, or special instructions.

In other words, the Main Track(s) refer only to tracks that are controlled by time table, train order, signals, or later forms of control.

A Siding was a track that was specifically identified in the Employee Time Table for the purpose of meeting or passing trains.

Yards only exist between Yard Limit Signs (a type of fixed signal) and do not require train orders for movements on those tracks. We know that additional rules govern the use of the Main Track within Yard Limits.

So what are the other tracks? They aren't listed in the definitions, but they are referred to in other rules ("Sidings and other tracks to the right of the main track" for example). In the Engine Restrictions section of the ETT we can see a number of examples, such as house track, bulk track, brick yard tracks, industrial tracks, run  around track, plus many identified by name, such as A.H. Hayes Fuel Co. track. They are also frequently referred to by track number.

 (Model) railroaders often call them sidings or spurs. When working with real railroaders, they tend to refer to them by name (Depot box car track, Depot flat car track, etc.) so there's no question which track they are referring to.

Anyway at this point the former Sidings in Terryville, Bristol, and Forestville are now used by the crew as needed, which is exactly what Bart describes. In my era, these were still in use as Sidings, and they would have had to inform the Dispatcher if they were to leave a cut of cars on any of them.

"Next was Wallace Barnes. Again, a trailing point switch. They received covered gondolas loaded with steel coils. Once more, handled by Bristol.

Two RDCs at Forestville in September 1956 (McNamara).

Eagle-eyed readers who know Forestville might notice something odd about this picture...

"Then came Plainville." 

Three trains at Plainville, 1948 (Cochrane).

I-1 1001 with a passenger train at Plainville station on the eastbound main.

DEY-5 (S-2) 0604 with YN-3 coming down the east leg of the wye onto Track No. 5.

Between them, you can just see the caboose of the Bristol local on the westbound main.

That's known as HDX-3 in 1948, but NX-17 in 1968.

There was an operator and an agent there. The agent's name was Ed Coffee, brother to the Bristol agent. Almost all of the loads bound for Plainville came via NX-25 out of Hartford. Occasionally we would be asked to spot one or more of them and once in a while we would pull a load back to Waterbury. I remember a few times we would take a car from Plainville north on the Canal Line to a lumber yard and/or a cement place. Not often. Then, a few times we took a car south on the Canal Line to either a lumber yard or a car of casting sand to a forge. I believe these place were within Plainville Yard Limits as I don't remember ever getting orders to go there."

I love the fact that the two agents on the line were brothers. But this also confirms that the Agent would assign work as needed to the crews that were available where there were multiple trains.

What about the lack of paperwork? I asked whether the orders were verbal or written, and his reply was very informative (and hinted in the notes above):

"For the most part, we could tell by the type of car and the road which one went where."

He also clarified, "As I remember, the only time we got a list was a hand written note with the road and number for Hildreth Press. The rest of the cars were obvious."

Another question I had is whether an industry would tell them to pull a car, or if they had to get permission from the Agent.

 "If the consignee asked us to pull a car, we would as a service to the customer."

This makes sense, although they would still need to get a waybill from the Agent before the car could move on the railroad. Because the Agents along the line would know the work (or the crew calls ahead), I suspect this would be relatively rare. But if they were pulling a car from an industry that is prior to reaching the station, then they would get the waybills from the Agent at that point. 

So while the New Haven had forms for switching at yards, and must have had something for the road too, the reality is that these sort of working documents (that didn't have to be saved for recordkeeping purposes) weren't needed as much for regular crews. They knew their industries, and how they would work them. In the era Chris and I are modeling, there are more industries, and they would be receiving more house cars. So the paperwork would still be important, although the crews will still be able to pick out the obvious cars. They would also use chalk marks to identify specific cars.

Operating a Local Freight 

From a model railroad operating viewpoint, while you may want to know what your work will be ahead of time, most of us won't know a model railroad as well as a crew that works it 5 days a week. After a quick glance to see if there's something unusual, I think the key is to approach it one town at a time.

The train should be blocked by town, as on the prototype. Prior to leaving one station (town), the conductor should already be looking at what work will be done at the next town. Identify the end of the cut, then start by identifying which industries will be served, and an efficient order on how to serve them. 

You don't have to worry about the specific cars at this point, just the industries and the order to serve them. It doesn't matter which order the cars are in the block at this point, because you'll simply cut the train just behind the car that is being dropped at a given industry.

The train may pass some industries on the way into a town. If there are cars to drop, then the train can stop on the way. To determine if there are cars to pick up, then can get that info from the prior station, or the industry can give it to them there. In either case, they can pull the cars, and pick up the waybills from the Agent prior to leaving town.

It's also not uncommon for a Siding or track to be near the center of a town. That is, the local freight would come to the station, pull into the siding to clear the Main, then go get their work from the Agent. They would leave their train on the siding and go back to work any industries in that town that they already passed. It wouldn't be uncommon to work both sides of town before putting their train back together and continuing to the next one.

For a layout owner, I would recommend providing some information for pickups at the start of a run, and the rest would be communicated along the way. When the train arrives in town, the conductor should have already planned out how they will work the industries, and usually they will get their additional work from the Agent (it could simply be a box with a card).

Don't be afraid to spend a few minutes finalizing your planned moves in that town. Again, I think the focus should be on how you'll work the industry itself, don't pay attention to specifically which cars. Then when you go to switch each industry you can look at the cars in the train and determine where to make your cut. 

Freight House Traffic

Chris and I had been told that some freight houses (such as Rocky Hill) were served by truck in our era. Combined with sources like the ETT which lists what stations are open for Train Orders, came to the conclusion that there wasn't an Agent at many of those towns. This is related not only to traffic at the freight house, but also how the crew receives work.

The funny thing is, I believe I've had the answer for several years now, and just didn't realize it. As I've been digging through paperwork, I missed a subtle but important point. The Freight Car and Package Car schedules list scheduled L.C.L cars to the freight houses. I originally thought any remaining traffic to the freight house essentially used it as a bulk/team track. I now think that's incorrect.

I think the freight house could still receive cars, or be used to load cars, they just weren't scheduled. These freight houses were on scheduled truck service from freight houses that received scheduled service, but traffic that wasn't part of those scheduled cars would have still gone direct to the freight house in that town.

Of course, even if the freight house only received from trucks (which I now know is incorrect), they would still have a Freight Agent, and that agent would still be the point of contact for local industries and the place where crews would receive their work. For example, by the 1966 ETT Bristol was not open for Day Train Orders (only Plainville). On the Valley it was Wethersfield and Middletown.

But industry work isn't a  Train Order. That is, they aren't orders that give them permission to occupy the Main Track. Train Orders aren't required to occupy an industry track. So whether or not a station is a Day Train Order station doesn't tell us whether there is a Freight Agent on duty, and Bart's recollections prove that.

So how can we tell?

Well, indirectly any freight house that has scheduled service by rail or truck must have a Freight Agent. That Agent would provide the local work for the crew. But there's also a publication that specifically identifies every station with an Agent.

Official List of Open and Prepay Stations

Open and Prepay Stations for 1949

Issued annually, this book lists every freight station in the North American Rail System, including Canada, Mexico and even Alaska (although from what I understand it wasn't directly connected to the rest of the rail system). Hawaii is not listed, although Cuba (!) is.

Like all such books, entries may have numerous notes.

The first note (designated by an asterisk) states: No Agent. Freight charges to this station must be prepaid. Except as otherwise provided, to order (or negotiable) bills of lading must not be issued to a station where there is no freight agent. In other words, every active freight house is listed, and it identified which ones have an Agent and which do not.

So for Chris' benefit (and to satisfy my curiosity), here's the Valley Line in 1949:

Essex, Deep River, Chester, East Haddam and Moodus, Higganum, Cromwell, Rocky Hill, and Wethersfield are all Open. South Wethersfield is Prepay (no Agent) and there are several notes that apply:

1. Carload freight only. (South Wethersfield)

76. A very long note: Shipments for the following points, except "Shippers' Order Notify," when consigned to the persons or firms named, may be forwarded "Collect," unless shipments are of such nature that the governing "Classification" requires prepayment: Shipments for all other consignees must be prepaid. There are then several pages of Stations and Consignees to which this applies. For South Wethersfield it only applies to B. O. Pelton. (South Wethersfield)

126. Nearest less than carload delivery for this station shown is: Chester > Deep River; South Wethersfield > Wethersfield. This rule likely always accompanies Rule 1 to inform shippers where to route L.C.L for that station. (Chester and South Wethersfield) 

1560. Carloads only, except that less than carload shipments in lots of 4,000 pounds or more will be handled from or to industries having private sidings. (Chester)

So my earlier interpretation was wrong. The freight houses in our era are still active, if low volume.

Operations - Paperwork for Stanley Works

 As I've been working on operations, one question has been what sort of paperwork, if any, would I be using for Stanley Works? They won't have waybills, since those are created by the railroad and must go to the Freight Agent when delivered.

Since I have switching lists for the New Haven, I figured I'd use something similar for Stanley. I recently found something on eBay that shows I'm on the right track.

This is a booklet of Conductor Car Reports from an industry -  The New Jersey Zinc Co (of PA).

The booklet also had a time card:

In the lower right of the time card it notes S&M Department Railroad Division. Presumably, based on the paperwork, this company has their own locomotives.

The New Jersey Zinc Co (of PA)

As this Sanborn map shows, the NJ Zinc Co was located along the Chestnut Ridge and Lehigh & New England Railroads. The CNJ (presumably the CRP in most of my era) looks like it may have served a plant at the other side of town. The Lehigh Valley was also across the river from this plant.

Here's a picture of part of the west plant:

The town of Palmerton was a company town, built by the NJ Zinc Co (of PA) and named after it's president at the time (who apparently didn't like that).

The company was apparently the largest producer of zinc in my era, which is useful since Stanley Works has a galvanizing building at their main plant in New Britain. I can believe that, here's an aerial view of the west plant from 1931, looking east:

From what I understand, they had from 2 to 4 Alco S-2 switchers, which replaced earlier steam switchers. I believe they acquired them at the same time the Chestnut Ridge Railway received theirs. 

It's clear that the west plant has a yard at the west end of this plant. The LNE has a direct connection to the east plant. In addition, the Chestnut Ridge Railway has connections to both.

Chestnut Ridge Railway

This was a small short line that, according to a newspaper article, hauled 4 million tons of freight in 1947 and 1948. Their primary (only?) customer by that time was the NJ Zinc Co (of PA). It clearly connects to the LNE at the east plant in Palmerton. Another article notes that it was originally built with a connection to the CNJ for passenger, mail, and the primary freight commodity of bricks before the Zinc plant was built. Passenger service, as on so many branch lines, ended in the '30s.

Zinc and zinc products for New Britain can come via CRP/CNJ then by carfloat to the NH and to New Britain via Cedar Hill. A more direct routing would be LNE to Maybrook to New Britain.

In the aerial photo above, you can see the LV (lower tracks) and LNE (upper tracks) on the other side of the Lehigh River. 

The Chestnut Ridge Railway crosses over the CNJ/CRP (on a bridge) in the upper left. Although not on the Sanborn map, I believe the tracks that come down the berm to the yard to the left of the CNJ Main is also the Chestnut Ridge Railway. The CNJ station is tucked up against the curve in that berm.

Right along the top edge of the photo you can see the LNE branch that's heading to the east plant. 

Operational Paperwork

It certainly looks like an interesting place to model, but what is of most interest to me is the paperwork.

The pages are perforated, several are missing, and it was clearly used because I may be able to figure out some info from the prior form since they had written with a heavy hand.

It would make sense that a company large enough to have their own locomotives would have their own railroad department. They would not only have to have an engineer, but also a yard foreman (conductor) and most likely a brakeman. In addition, they would needed a shop and crew to maintain their locomotive(s).  I don't know think they would fall under railroad union rules, but they would probably have operated much like any small railroad. 

The Conductor's paperwork is simpler than the railroad's. All of the traffic to/from Stanley Works interchanges with the New Haven. The Agent will also serve as the Stanley Yardmaster. I'll create a similar Yard Check paper for Stanley Works. I'll also need some method to release those cars through the session, as they won't all be ready to pull at the start of the session.

These forms can be used as they are designed, and issued to the Stanley switching crew as needed, just as the New Haven switch lists are given to the crews throughout the session.

Design - Greg's Layout

Dick and to a lesser degree I, among others, have been helping Greg design and build his layout. The space is relatively small, and complicated by the location of the mechanicals in the room.

Greg has built the Milwaukee Everett St. Station and train sheds (they look awesome) and owns four different versions of the Hiawatha, so that is a big part of the layout, but also wants to include New Lisbon, WI, which is somewhere between 150 and 200 miles away. He'd also like to be able to have some sort of operations so he can have folks over to run it.

It sounds like a very interesting concept for a layout.

He has a roughly 22' by 14' room to work with. However, the mechanicals are located in a position that means the main portion of the layout really has 11' by 14' to work with. While we can fit some things around the mechanicals, it greatly limits options. Oh, and it has to be single level with continuous running.

For a prototype-focused modeler like me, this is a challenge to wrap my head around, and from a layout design perspective a seemingly impossible task in the space and restrictions given.

Layout Design

When starting from scratch, my approach is usually to sketch out how to maximize the benchwork in the room. I start with a minimum 30" aisles, and assume up to 30" deep benchwork and start from there. It just helps me visualize where we can actually put track.

I did some early sketches to see what we could do with a helix. Although I'd prefer to see the trains as much as possible, I am a fan of a using helix to create distance between scenes where it makes sense, and it certainly would make sense here. Dick even drew one up with a helix around the mechanicals. But Greg wants to keep it to a single level, so those are out.

In this case, there isn't enough room for a peninsula with a loop, so it's pretty much a rectangle around the main part of the room. 

The next thing to consider is where the desired key scenes will fit on that benchwork. Greg had already worked out a concept with the Everett St. Station against the 14' foot back (south) wall, which is logical. He hopes to have some industry to operate, and then back across the room with something representing New Lisbon.

Although not the best picture of it, this is one of Greg's sketches. The rectangle at the top is the electrical box. Dick designed a swing out here to allow access, and benchwork has been built along the three walls so far. The rectangle in the lower right corner is where the mechanicals are located. 

The S-curve between the electrical box and New Lisbon also happens to be where a lift-up/out or some other approach to provide access is needed. This doesn't show any sort of staging at this point, although there is room along both sides of the room off to the right. 

The wye is going to be the biggest challenge, and I don't trust my drawing/math to know that I can get it right on paper. So we mocked up the wye with the Peco turnouts he's using, and 24" radius for the legs since we can't reasonably go any tighter than that. The goal would be greater. I have a few pieces of 24" sectional track that I use for mockups like this so I know that we are working with a true radius rather than an unintentionally optimistic one that I bend from flex track.

With our measurements, we determined that there are only three places it would fit. Right where it is, moved to the lower right corner of that section of the room so the stem of the wye goes down the other side of the mechanicals, or by moving New Lisbon to the other (right) side of the mechanicals altogether and turning it so the leg of the wye is in the same location, but facing the other direction.

Operations

But the other thing that I'm always mulling over is how the layout will be operated. This is partially a question of the movement of trains, but also where the operators will be, how they'll move through the space, and how best to maintain the illusion of a real railroad, rather than one just built in your basement.

There is an important question that I find is often forgotten as we design a layout:

What will the operators do while operating?

We often focus on the track arrangement, and maybe the specific trains, and even ensuring you have space (wide enough aisles) for people, but we often don't think about what those people will be doing for 3-4 hours or more. 

I think most of us are used to the approach of following the train for ops sessions nowadays. Each operator/crew is assigned a train, runs it through its job, and then takes another train out if there's time. Chris' Valley and Air Line locals are great examples of this.

My layout, on the other hand, is more of a switching layout. Yes, there are through trains, but they are on the layout for only a few minutes as they come up from staging, stop at the station (or drop off/pick up a cut of cars), and then go right back to staging.

Chris had to contend with that very question after the fact, like so many of us do.

Both Valley and the Air Line locals both occupy a crew for a full session. But there's another local that serves two industries in Saybrook, plus interchanges cars with the south end Valley Local. That only occupies a crew for an hour at most. What would that crew do for the rest of the time?

But by adding in the heavy passenger and through freight traffic, another crew (split between the two staging yards) are also busy for an entire session and can handle that short switching job.

For Greg's layout, the answer for me was a 1941 Trains article on the amount of activity in New Lisbon that Greg had. It covers less than two hours of (very) busy activity, but I later found some timetables to verify that there would be a good amount of activity during the entire session.

The article about New Lisbon details how two through freights both stop in town, uncouple from their cut of cars to get coal and water, and then move their cuts into a siding to wait.

In addition, two passenger trains also come into town, get coal and water, and then back into two stub sidings and wait.

Two Hiawatha trains (100 and 101) then come into town, make their station stop, get coal and water, and then continue. The other four waiting trains then start to go on their way. 

In other words, it's a perfect arrangement for a railfan style layout similar to Chris' Saybrook scene where the trains enter from and exit to staging, and the operators are in a single location handling the movements of all of the trains. The Everett St Station scene also lends itself to this sort of operations, with lots of passenger (and freight) passing through, and a little passenger switching.

The connecting track between the two, when scenicked, can act as hidden staging to supplement additional staging. A train leaving New Lisbon can pull out of the scene and stop, and at some later point the Milwaukee crew acquires it and pulls it into the station.

By moving New Lisbon to the other side of the mechanicals, it also gives us room to build an industrial area on the west end of Milwaukee.

This all goes back to answer the question too - what will the operators do?

• Crew #1 operates Everett St. Station and all trains, including passenger switching.
• Crew #2 operates New Lisbon and all trains, including getting coal and water.

Both of these jobs are full session jobs.

• We can also add Crew #3 that runs a switcher handling industries in Milwaukee.

Now we've got something to work with. Six crew members, all working in their own independent physical spaces, all with full session jobs. The distance between New Lisbon and Milwaukee feels prototypical, since you don't follow a train from one to another. In fact, the New Lisbon crew won't have any direct observation of what's going on in Milwaukee or vise versa. Other than keeping train lengths down, the scenes can be built and operated fairly prototypically and should be recognizable to anybody that knows the locations.

So I sketched up New Lisbon and while it will be tight with a few compromises, it will fit. The turnouts/crossovers may not be in those exact locations, but I tried to keep all of the important tracks for operational purposes.

Note that this is rotated 90 degrees to the right from the prior photo. The lift up/out will be a simple rectangular piece. Additional staging can be built to be semi-hidden on the left side of the Milwaukee and New Lisbon scenes, and also on the right hand side if needed. There will be a slight grade down to New Lisbon, and a grade up to the industrial area to allow the staging on the north end of the wye to go under that section to be hidden.

This uses 26" and 28" radii for the main tracks, and although they won't be exactly parallel, also for the station stub tracks where they will need to curve. In addition, the legs of the wye are 26" radius.

As you can see, the wye ends up about 30" away from the mechanicals, but anything else eliminates any possibility of modeling the station area itself, and to maintain the radii prevents it from moving any further to the right. All sidings, stub tracks, and staging tracks are at least 3 feet (one piece of flex track) long. That's quite short for passenger trains, but it's about the best we can do here. The only thing that's really missing is the dead straight trackage through town, and that's just unavoidable in this space.

The New Lisbon scene is a good example of how the track layout is crucial if you want to replicate the prototypical operations. With six trains meeting at the same location, and all getting coal and water while making their stops, you have to have at least four tracks long enough to move trains off of the main. Fortunately, two of them were stub tracks, which adds interest since you need to back passenger trains into both of them. There is a coaling tower at each end of town, one of which was built specifically for the westbound Hiawatha.

The Everett St. scene is at the top of the page (not drawn, obviously), and the peninsula in the middle will be an industrial location with lots of work.

This is just a sketch and recommendation, and as it's Greg's layout things may very well change as we help build it. But I'm pretty confident that this is the best (only?) way to fit New Lisbon into this space and we can ensure that he's able to model both of the key scenes that he'd like plus meet his goal of being able to have folks over to operate too.

Passenger Operations

I was recently going through a number of documents that I have regarding passenger operations. It's not something I have dug into a lot, simply because on my layout it's just a station stop for every train that comes through. But when researching what I had on the Conductors' Reports for the freight operations, I found that I had the information regarding Forms 1591-1595 for the Conductors' Passenger Train Reports.

I have three different copies of General Manual of Instructions for Conductors and Ticket Collectors.

This one dated February 1, 1937 is incomplete and only contains pages 25-34, 69-72, 111-121-A plus an appendix with a map. It also has a second, slightly different, set of 113-121 and the map which is evident because of slight formatting differences.

I recently acquired one of these other two. They are undated and, I thought, identical. It turns out they weren't. The Traffic Manager and Auditor are different at the bottom of the cover. 

At the bottom of most pages are notations indicating when that page was published. For example:

3rd revised page 71 - Eff. 1-1-44

Correction No. 137

Not all of them have this notation, and some that have a revision notation don't have the correction notation. But after looking through it, it seemed clear that the Correction No. was sequential and indicated the number of changes that had been made in the booklet as a whole over time. I was unclear whether the Revision No. indicated is was the 3rd Revised page in that issue of the booklet, or the 3rd Revision of that specific page. While pondering this, I noticed that the two later books weren't identical, and had a number of different pages that are easy to identify because of this notation. Curious, I made a spreadsheet to identify the differences.

It became clear that the Revision number was probably referring to that specific page. The book confirmed this and also another practice that I had identified in numbering the forms, but had never seen in writing.

INTRODUCTORY

(c) This Manual supersedes all previous Passenger Traffic Department and Accounting Department circulars. The instructions are issued in loose leaf form and all additions, cancellations and amendments will be published in loose leaf revised pages with effective date shown thereon. When page is reprinted the first time, it will be designed "1st revised page." Each subsequent reprint of such a page will be numbered consecutively, i/e/ "2nd revised page," "3rd revised page," etc. When there is not enough space on a single page for additions, changes, etc. additional pages will be added as may be necessary, and to which the same page number will be given, but in addition thereto, a letter in alphabetical sequence will be shown as "page 10-A", etc. On revised pages the symbol "*" will be shown against items which have been added or amended, but not against items brought forward to revised pages without change.

This entry confirmed the way the railroad identifies revisions of a form:

(g) Suffix number shown on forms after regular form number refer merely to the number of times that form as been revised; for instances, form 346-13 is the thirteenth revision of form 346. For this reason form suffix numbers are not shown in these instructions.

The section I referred to before, regarding the Conductors' Reports, is inserted in the books prior to the Index, and numbered from page 1 to 5. The Index uses Roman numerals for the page numbers (I-VI), and then the book starts at page 1 again. I find it interesting that it is inserted in two different books since it's not contained within the Index. It's the same format (size and number of holes punched) so it appears it was designed to be added to it, but for whatever reason was not incorporated into it.

Oddly, page V of the Index has the same revision and correction number in both copies, but differ significantly in their content. It is primarily a list of corrections, in one book from Correction No. 277 to 476 and in the other book from 400 to 583. Both are 1st revisions, Correction No. 276 and dated 7-1-55.

I didn't notice such an error elsewhere, but it seems like this is a rather important page to get correct...

The book is primarily concerned with the processes of collecting tickets, payment, and verifying that every passenger has paid (including checking the saloons). For example, I didn't realize there was a $0.90 surcharge for the Hell Gate Bridge that had to be collected if the ticket didn't already include it. The map I mentioned shows various non-New Haven routes for which passage over Hell Gate Bridge is free. The second (almost identical) version of the map doesn't reference the Bridge Arbitary at all, and instead is referencing free transfer privileges in New York and Grand Central Station.

Once I started digging, I decided it would be easier to make a spreadsheet and found that only about a third of the pages are the same across all three books. Another third is the same in at least two of them, and the final third is different in all three. I even started compiling a comparison of all of the differences but, while interesting, I decided it was an exercise better left for later (or someone else) since the minutia of changes in collecting tickets on the NH wasn't very relevant for what I'm doing.

Model Operations

Something that is often forgotten when operating passenger trains on a model railroad is that the time listed in the time table is the departure of the train, not arrival. Sometimes it will list both the arrival and departure. So to run on schedule it's important to arrive several minutes early, but not leave the station until the time noted on the Time Table.

From a modeling standpoint, there is little here that is likely to be used, but there are options. At RPI we experimented with some simple paperwork to simulate the basic job, and make station stops a bit more interesting (and probably last a little longer. 

In the bill box there were "waybills" for people and baggage. Each one had a train number, and either the number of people or pieces of baggage that got on or off. A simple table was used to track the number on the run and, if I recall, we experimented with either picking up or leaving the cards there for the next session. 

It would be easy to go a step further if one was more interested in passenger operations by using the actual Conductors' Reports, and replicas of the tickets and baggage check tags instead.

Model passenger trains are often run with just an engineer, even when the layout has two-person crews for freights. But with a passenger conductor, they could handle the tickets and complete the conductor's report. 

It would be educational, and interesting to me anyway, for a layout with long passenger runs. Particularly on our shorter-than-prototype runs, and makes the process more than just run-stop-wait and repeat.

At RPI, one of the few layouts I've run with very long (and frequent) passenger runs, there were often long waits after arriving at the station since the short runs (even with a fast clock) made it difficult to replicate travel time between stations. The paperwork helped fill these longer waits, and also drew attention away from them.

Completing such paperwork certainly won't be for everybody. But if your layout is particularly focused on passenger operations it seems like it could be an interesting addition.

Here's a variety of tickets, each of which is mentioned in the manual and serve different purposes. There are many others that I don't have copies of yet.

Exch 23

A ticket for cash fares beyond conductor's run to stations on:

B&A, B&M, and PRR. Also used for stop-over.

CFEX

To New York and return.

This is noted as a change effective 7-1-55. It isn't present in the 7-1-61 update.

OW3

A one-way ticket for all stations except Cape Cod Points.

Since there is text on the back of this one, here it is:

RT-3

A round-trip ticket for all stations except Cape Cod points.

Fu 2-X and LB-PSX

Neither of these are listed in any of the three books.

The first form looks like it is for furloughed military personnel. It's not dated, perhaps during WWII?

The second is for Pullman travel, which I think was needed in addition to regular ticket.

PA-861-2, -3, -9, and -10.

While the number after the dash is usually a revision, these all have different info on the front. They aren't listed in the books, at least under the forms, but the instructions indicate they are to be used to account for tickets that are not lifted (taken from the passenger). A physical ticket or form appears to be required to correspond with the report submitted by the conductor at the end of the run.

They had specific envelopes to return the reports/completed forms. Sleeping cars and club cars had separate envelopes from the tickets. I don't have any of these specific envelopes listed, but they can be recognized because they also have form numbers. This one is listed in the book as a plain envelope, small.

Operations - More on Train Orders

I have been reading through Rights of Trains by Peter Josserand, which is a fascinating book. I have the 1957 fifth (and possibly final?) edition. Peter was the Night Chief Dispatcher for the Western Pacific. The first edition of the book was originally published in 1904 by another Dispatcher, Harry W. Forman. It was updated in 1925 and both Harry and Peter are listed as authors, 1945, and 1951 and at some point Peter became the only author listed.

The format of the book changed quite significantly over the years though. As you can see in that first edition, it is focused on the examination for the rules, specifically the ARA Standard Code of Rules. As such, it's presented primarily as examination questions and their answers, with a copy of the Standard Rules at the end.

The 1957 edition, however, starts with the Standard Code of Rules (adopted 1949). The second portion, and bulk of the book, then looks at how the rules have been adopted for use on other roads. He lists 35 other roads that were studied as resources for this section of the book. In the process of comparing differences, it provides a lot of clarity on what the rules mean and why. Part III is the question and answer section, then a chapter on CTC and finally one on special instructions.

Suffice to say, if you want to understand how railroading under Time Table & Train Orders works this, along with a copy of your prototype's book of rules, is the place to start. I have a 1945 edition on the way to see how it compares with this one, and if there are enough differences I may look for the 1951 printing as well.

Reading through the book the first time immediately clarified some things, which made me look back at this post on several train orders.

The "Aha!" moment for me this time was: An Extra doesn't really "exist" without a train order. It also means, once it reaches the destination on its train order, it cannot operate until it receives additional orders. But orders could be provided at any Train Order Station on the way.

This seems simple enough, but it clarifies the way the rules work (at least for me).

Order No. 162

Dec 21, 1942

To C+E Eng 3013 at Berlin

Eng 3013 run extra New Britain to Plainville

Complete 1.06 PM (?)

Engine 3013 already had orders to run extra to New Britain, probably from North Haven where it would have originated. How do we know that? Because this order was delivered at Berlin, but didn't give it any right to run from Berlin to New Britain. So it must have already had orders to run to New Britain.

Once the train arrived in Berlin, the Dispatcher would know the state of the road from New Britain to Plainville. Remember that the train would be coming up the single-track Berlin Line, but then entering the double-track Highland Line in New Britain. So this order is indicating that the route is clear between New Britain and Plainville. 

To get this order, the Train Order signal must have indicated there was an order. It's interesting because the station is past the south leg of the wye that would have been used by trains going to New Britain. The order could have been hooped up, so the Agent may have walked to the leg of the wye to give the orders and the crew could have seen the signal as they approached it.

The order went only as far as Plainville, because there may have been a train coming from Westfield that hadn't arrived at Plainville yet. It could also be an indication that the train had work at Plainville. Or perhaps it was only running as far as Plainville.

Had this order not been given, it would have had to receive an order at New Britain. It's on Form 19, so the train wouldn't have to stop in either case, and just have it hooped up.

A later order the same day shows the reverse direction: 

Order No. 20

Dec 21, 1942

To C+E 3010 at Berlin

Eng 3010 run extra Berlin to North Haven

Complete 7.53 PM

The train had orders to Berlin, but no further. I would guess it stopped on the wye track prior to entering the Springfield main track and received this order there. This gave it authority to run on the Springfield Line to North Haven.

On the Layout

The most important aspect of this to me is understanding how to incorporate it into movements on the layout. Some of the train orders list Berlin to New Britain, which means they would have to stop at New Britain to get further orders. One question is whether there was an Agent at Whiting St. Yard that could give orders to crews. I think the Employee Timetable makes it clear that it's at New Britain Station. 

At New Britain, the Agent can hoop up orders for the crew. Since the majority of the trains during the day are passenger and scheduled, I won't need to prepare any orders for them. The switchers, of course, are operating within yard limits. So it's just a couple of freights, but it will still give the crews a taste of TT&TO operations.

Train Order Numbering

I had also commented that the Train Order numbering didn't seem to follow the rule that orders started with No. 1 at midnight. For example, I have four orders for December 29, 1942:

3.53 AM - Order No 108

6.11 AM - Order No 111

4.48 PM - Order No 35

7.22 PM - Order No 38

The first two were written by Dispatcher RHC, and the second by EWR. Considering the time span, I figured they were different shifts. While that must have been true, what I didn't initially catch is that they were also from different divisions.

The two earliest orders were to run New Britain to Westfield, and New Britain to Plainville, which are in the Hartford Division, while the last two orders were to both to run Berlin to North Haven, which are the New Haven Division. Furthermore, while I don't have any evidence other than the Train Orders at this point, I think that the New Haven Division Train Orders started at "1" each day, and the Hartford Division Train Orders started with "101" each day. In other words, I don't think 108 orders had been written by 3.53 AM, only eight.

Order No. 162 is still interesting. Running from Cedar Hill to Plainville (at least) it would have most likely been NY-2 or NY-4, expected in Berlin around 3:00 am and 7:50 am respectively. I originally thought the order read 1.06 AM, but based on the order number I'm now thinking it is 1.06 PM. These trains were usually assigned a J-1.