Dispatcher train sheets

[Bill Pollard]

Dispatcher train sheets provide a detailed 24-hour snapshot of a particular section of the railroad, and are helpful from a historical perspective in determining locomotive assignments, traffic patterns and other details. Some train sheets include passenger train consists. Arkansas Division sheets as “late” as December 1966 have passenger consists, but Eastern Division sheets a year later – December 1967 – do not have passenger consists. Was there some operational or communication change in 1967 which ended the need for passenger consists to be recorded by the dispatchers?

Bill Pollard

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[Richard Ryker]

Interesting question. I wonder why MP even recorded the consists. Other railroads, such as UP, did not.

[Bill Pollard]

A sidebar discussion to the dispatcher train sheet review is a discussion of the MP dispatcher offices.

As of December 1, 1962, the following dispatcher offices/dispatcher seniority districts were listed in the agreement between MP and the American Train Dispatchers Association:
Chester, IL
Poplar Bluff, MO
Little Rock and Gurdon, AR
Monroe, LA
Kansas City, MO
Jefferson City, MO
Osawatomie, KS
Houston, TX
Palestine, TX

By this time, many smaller dispatcher offices had been consolidated into the above offices, and the above offices were in turn further consolidated down into fewer offices until the final consolidation into Omaha in 1990. A worthwhile project would be to establish the operating years for the various smaller dispatcher offices – some were located at rather surprising locations.

Bill Pollard

[Charles Duckworth]

Bill
How about starting a list of dispatcher offices with some known employee timetable or dispatcher sheets dates and then we can modify the years for those that have earlier and later employee timetables or train sheets.

Eastern Division
September 1900
St. Louis, Mo for St. Louis to Chamois, Missouri section
January 1939 – March 1942
Cole Junction, Mo (later named Cole, Mo) and Pacific, Missouri (K Tower) dispatchers still at Pacific in February 1961
September 1963 – July 1964
Jefferson City, Mo
Open question is when were the dispatchers moved to Jefferson City from Cole and Pacific?

White River Division –
December 1932
Aurora, Missouri
Nevada, Missouri
October 1936 to August 1948
Nevada, Missouri
1906-1933 (source Mike Adams White River Division book)
Cotter, Arkansas

Omaha-Northern Kansas Division
March 1943 – February 1959
Atchison, Kansas

Kingsville Division
January 1931 – January 1943
Kingsville, Texas

Palestine Division
October 1931 – September 1950
Palestine, Texas

Missouri Division
September 1935 – February 1943
Poplar Bluff, Missouri

Arkansas Division
April 1932 – May 1961
Little Rock, Arkansas
May 1961
Gurdon, Arkansas

Central Kansas and Colorado Divisions
February 1943
Osawatomie, Kansas
Pueblo, Colorado

San Antonio Division
October 1931
San Antonio, Texas
August 1943 –
San Antonio, Tx and Palestine, Tx
January 1956
Not shown in timetable

Gulf Coast Lines Goose Creek Subdivision
July 1943
Houston, Texas

Gulf Coast Lines DeQuincy Division
July 1921 – July 1931
DeQuency, La

Illinois Division
August 1933 – May 1943
Bush, Illinois

Memphis division
February 1943
Wynne, Arkansas

Missouri-Illinois RR
Bush, Illinois April 1932
Bonne Terre, Missouri July 1944 – January 1957

Wichita Division
March 1943
Wichita, Kansas

Southern Kansas
June 1927 – June 1944
Coffeyville, Kansas

San Antonio, Uvalde & Gulf
October 1925
North Pleasanton, Texas

[Bill Pollard]

Excellent idea, Charlie. As we fill this out, it could eventually be used for a stand alone article in some future Eagle. With regard to the move from K Tower in Pacific, MO… Per MP Magazine, May-June 1962:

Consolidation of three separate dispatcher offices into one location on the Eastern Division was completed recently. KC- St Louis and KC-Diaz are now located at Jefferson City. CTC machines at Pleasant Hill MO and “K” Tower in Pacific MO were moved to the refurbished booster hall adjacent to Jefferson City passenger station.

Bill

[anonymous]

1927 IGN RR(MP Lines) changed titles of Night Chief dispatchers to Division
Trainmasters, an official position. I am attaching a link to the award, as the Job at San Antonio was abolished and put back on numerous times from 1937 to at least 1940.
Michael Lowe Awards … Third Division, National Railroad Adjustment Board
United States. National Railroad Adjustment Board – Arbitration, Industrial
(4) — System seniority of train dispatchers prevails on the International- Great Northern Railroad under which all of the dispatchers, regardless of the office in …
award 3712 vol 35 third division.

[anonymous]

Train Dispatchers Bulletin
vol xx no 12 June 1916
page 21
MP, Monroe, La. Monroe district, Gurdon and Lake Charles districts
C. M. Andrews Chief Dispatcher and lists other names
C&EI 4 names at Evansville, Ind.

page 24 William Cotter, St. Louis , Iron Mountain and Southern,
was train dispatcher and trainmaster from 1880 to 1882 at Little Rock, Ark.
Michael Lowe

[anonymous]

Train Dispatchers Bulletin
vol xx no 12 June 1916
page 21
MP, Monroe, La. Monroe district, Gurdon and Lake Charles districts
C. M. Andrews Chief Dispatcher and lists other names
C&EI 4 names at Evansville, Ind.

page 24 William Cotter, St. Louis , Iron Mountain and Southern,
was train dispatcher and trainmaster from 1880 to 1882 at Little Rock, Ark.
Michael Lowe

[Author]

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