Train Orders

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Permit me an observation regarding the sample train order submitted by a
member
of this group  viz "Ex 302 West meet No.  4 at  Singer."  There are two
reasons
this order would never have been issued on the Southern Railway and later on
the Norfolk Southern, at least on the Piedmont Division.  We did not
abbreviate
the word "Extra."   In fact the dispatcher went to the trouble of spelling
out the
word when dictating a train order.   I cannot speak for the N&W but in the
later
years on the Southern Railway, whenever a meet order was issued for two
trains,
the order  MUST  stipulate which train is to take siding.  This rule  was
effective
after a disasterous head-on collision between two trains on the Carolina
Division
when there was a mix-up about who was to take the siding.  I realize that
trains
are superior by right, class, or direction.  In that sample meet order
above, train
No. 4 is superior to Extra 302 West, but there may be operational reasons why
a dispatcher would dictate that No. 4 take the siding, such as the siding
being
too  short to  hold the train of Extra 302 West.   Or it may be that Extra 302
will reach Singer first in plenty of time to get in the clear and prevent a
delay
to No. 4.   The Norfolk Southern rule book which I still have since I
retired in
1986   still indicates that when a meet order is set-up between two trains the
order MUST  specify which train is to take the siding.  In fact, that question
was always asked at every rules class that I ever attended.  I might add here
that one of the most often used abbreviations on train orders, other than "MP"
was   "C&E"  for Conductor and Engineer.   Incidentally, the clearance card
for  Extra 302  would be addressed to  "Extra 302 West", and not  "Ex  302
West."
Another much used abbreviation was "MPH"  for miles per hour.   A typical
slow order would  read, "Reduce speed to  25 Twenty Five  MPH between MP
   594 .6  and MP  595.0.     I  can understand why there is no such thing as
12 Noon or  12 Midnight on a railroad, but on the Southern there was no
such thing as an even  hour in a train order.   For example a work order
about passing
a T&S gang would begin  "Effective  801  Eight Naught One AM  until 501 Five
Naught One PM  etc."   Same thing with an originating train with high and wide
cars.   For example, "No. 142 One Forty Two on duty Inman Yard 401 Four
Naught One PM will have wide car extreme width 13 thirteen feet  2 two inches
which must be met and passed on tangent track only."   And so it goes.
Bill Sellers