got a chance to test out my new eyeballs, both for seeing through and for the ensuing tears trickling down my trembling cheeks. Fun session in that chaotic way that the Western Bay runs, fun but frantic. I was part of a group of “northerners” who went down there – Terry B, John L, Jack F and Jim M. I’d be dispatching and Jim was my western Station Agent – Al would be eastern. Jim and I know how this goes and have worked it in the past. Al just beats the shit out of me (to be explained).

Started by giving a quick runthrough of the packet system to the conductors, causing many groans and moans. And as always, running the Western Bay takes a bit of care since they run by timetable with hard meets – no train classes, no adherence to mainline/siding discipline. Since you can’t fall back on classic TT&TO, you need to run with all due care.

Some of our boys depart Denver, running towards Alpine.

I did close the clinic by mentioning that I’d be dropping station train order boards to test that the conductors were checking them on arrival (like the real Southern Pacific did from time to time). Everyone listened to my warning, right?

So the first train out hit its second station (Dulce) and there was a red board for orders. The conductor didn’t mention it. The station operator didn’t mention it. Dead silence. Once the train was OSed in, I radioed over, as droll as droll can be, asking if they’d like a clearance card for the signal that everyone missed. Man, and this is literally twenty minutes after I’d warned them I’d do just that.

The dude behind the walls, Yardmaster Brooks

Deciding they couldn’t screw it up twice in a row, I did it immediately afterwards for train 22 at Placerville. Again, they missed the signal, conductor and station operator, both. This time I decided to reinforce with pain, stating that their goose (a school-bus passing as a train) would be loading a piano at their stop and would be running an hour late and issued a form E to that effect. Confusion ensued with 22 leaving anyway and Jim chasing it down to bring it back to the platform. At first, I didn’t think that they knew that running an hour late meant their timetable was shifted one hour later. But in the debrief, after my chiding them about this, Sea Lawyer John (who’d maintained his paperwork) whipped it out to show one and all that his written order stated “Train 2 run one hour late”, not “22”. Man, right there. It sucks when you bring disciplinary action against a crew and the union shoots it down. Can’t explain it – it was late in the day and we had a two hour drive so I didn’t run back to the railroad room and root through the trash to see what I’d written. Even with a readback, the order was embarrassingly screwball – either I wrote it down wrong, read it wrong, or it got misheard over the tooting of the engines and the bellowing of the crews. I guess that one goes to the dispatching squad for a goof.

But the real craziness happened much later in the session…

The Situation…

So out on the western end, you have the towns of Navajo and Dulce. Between them (helpfully buried in a snowshed) is Ute Junction, where a dispatcher-controlled turnout allows trains to climb up to the second division (and eventually Durango). Westbound trains are restricted by two signals that hold trains from running up on the blind turnout and derailing in the Ute Hellhole.

So, Westbound 124, running about two hours late because of slower westbound traffic (which had just cleared Navajo) was in Dulce to do some local switching. 391, another general freight, was in Alamosa Yard (west of Navajo) and waiting to enter. It would proceed up to the second division. With two trains facing and no established seniority, it was up to the handsome dispatcher and his plucky Station Operator Sidekick Jim to keep everyone safe.

According to the timetable, 391 only had a half-hour stop in Navajo that implied light switching duties on trailing point switches. 124 had facing and trailing to work. I asked the Dulce SO how long he thought they’d be but he couldn’t say – the aisle was too crowded for him to talk to the conductor to understand the work they’d do.

The proposed solution…

Since I was banking on 391 finishing up first, I aligned Ute turnout for the Second Division (which would drop the protective signal just outside Dulce and keep 124 honest). Further, if 391 really had its TT&TO big boy pants on, he might be concerned about that overdue westbound train (without rights, the DS would have to establish the running order). And so I did. As mentioned, I threw the turnout to second and, so that both crews would be clear, I issued each of them a form SC making 391 superior to 124 between Navajo and Ute. Station Agent Jim and I had worked out the details, so that 124 would know that the clearing of the Dulce signal would indicate that 391 had cleared Ute.

I mean, after all, 391 would be done quicker, and the actual distance between Navajo and Ute is about two passenger coaches (maybe). So I called the Alamosa Yardmaster (west of Navajo) and instructed him it release 391 out. Normally 124 should have been in by then and he might be concerned at running the moves out of order. I called him to assure him we had it handled.

The resulting shitshow…

I’d just settled back to rest my weary eyeballs then the cubby curtain was yanked back. And no, it wasn’t Toto revealing the wizard to all; it was Apocalypse Al, storming on how I was doing it in the wrong order. No no, a thousand times no! Not that there was any timetable authority that backed him (again, 241 and 391 had no established meet anywhere because they shouldn’t be on the line at the same time. Meanwhile, I have Alamosa Yardmaster on one radio, confirming I wanted to run 391 out and Station Operator Jim on my headset, either asking me about something or warning me that Al was on the warpath. I tried to explain to Al that 391 would be clear in literally a minute and that 241 would have a straight run into Alamosa but he wasn’t having any of it.

Look, I’m used to Al’s demands on his line. I’ve dispatched in dozens of lines over forty years of operations. I DSed in St Paul where the owner demanded that the two crack Empire Builders run through without delay – he stood over me as I cleared traffic off the line for the varnish. Also DSed a line in Atlanta that had never ever run on time – we clicked it through like it was nobody’s business. Of course, I had Bob Martin in the yard so we owned that railroad. The owner came up afterwards and shook my hand. And there was even that time recently when the LM&O ran at maximum capacity. Even with Zach (my DS equal) running the panel with me, we were right on the edge of deadlocking. Just managed to get everyone over the hill, but as they used to say, it was a near-run thing. Details HERE.

Adversary comes in all forms when dispatching model railroads. I am used to Al; he’s a hell of a guy who runs a very tight layout with an iron fist. And that’s fine – I accept it. So you need to know, going in, that you can’t run under any method than the one Al envisions. You just need to imagine it as a random event – the hysterical superintendent event. It’s par for the course.

Before I forget…

The solution…

The dispatcher with old-man readers, trying to keep the railroad running.

I mean, what else could I do? Al was standing over me with those red contact lens for eyes. I told Alamosa Yard to pop 391 out to hold at Navajo. I then ordered my other SO to go to both crews and reclaim those two SC forms we’d written and toss them. Then I set Ute turnout to Division 1 so the signal would clear. There is a line we say in the club – “It’s your railroad”. So yes, fine, we’ll do it your way.

But I still dream of the day when we boost the Western Bay timetable with train classes and shift the responsibility to safe operations to well-trained, on-the-ball crews.

The Western Bay is as beautiful as a china shop. Wanna guess who the bull is? 🙂

But thanks to Al for giving me this much freedom in dispatching his line.

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All photos: Al Sohl

Two trains meet at Alpine. It takes a lot of paper to keep the Western Bay running.