Working on the Railroad - My Story

Well, I am just about at the end of material and memories of my
Working on the Railroad series. After this chapter, there will be
one more to tell of my experiences after I transferred to
Jacksonville and Tampa Fl.

Former co-worker at Hamlet and '71 Rockingham High School
graduate Marion Craddock just happened to send me something I had
not seen in many years since I had left the railroad. And it coincides
with my series of Working on the Railroad.....the infamous Form 19
or Seaboard Coast Line Railroad Train Order.

Marion had emailed me a while back saying he was going to send me
some old train orders and they came just recently in the mail - just
in time to include in one of the last chapters of my series.

So, this chapter will be one of the longest because I am going to
include some of the train orders he sent and try to explain a little
about them and the peoples' signatures contained on those train
orders.

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Below is the Clearance Card. This would list all the train orders that
the crew would get that would tell them any specifics about their
trip as far as what trains they had right over, any track conditions
on the way to their destinations, what trains they would be meeting
and who would take the siding, speed restrictions, etc.

As you can see from this card, it is a classic, like all the following
cards and trains orders I will display on this page. It has been over
30 years since this clearance card and orders were issued. Notice
that this one was for Train 276 at Monroe, NC. The operator at
Monroe had 9 orders for No 276 and it had to be listed on this
card. He would repeat this to the dispatcher and then get the
complete time to insert on the card, showing that he had completed
the clearance card with all pertinent orders for that particular train.
The dispatcher's initials were required plus the Operator had to sign
the clearance card. Looks like Operator Danny Flow signed this one.
At the time, he was one of the operators at Monroe.

Rockingham Remembered

Joel's Memories

Working on the Railroad - My
Story - Chapter 8
written by Joel Bailey
August 25, 2009

So, as the Train of Life keeps
chugging along, another page
written of my Memories of....
Rockingham Remembered.

Notice that this
order was to
Trains East at
Monroe. It is telling
about camp cars
on a siding in
Rockingham, etc.
When the train
orders were
issued, you had to
sign them with the
Supt's initials, in
this case, at the
time it was WJ
Wilkes - thus
initials WJW at the
bottom and the
order was copied
by operator Curley
at 1122am.

This order was
also for Trains
East at Monroe.
Advising about a
speed restriction at
certain milesposts.
The operator was
Lee Jenkins. Lee
was a true RR guy,
worked at
Wadesboro I
believe most of the
time.

Same Trains East
telling about a
switch being
spiked, literally,
and cannot be
used. This was a
9th recopy of the
order, probably
because the
operator had not
made enough of
them originally and
had to redo it and
recall it to the
dispatcher to make
sure it was
accurate. The
operator is
Goodwin, whom I
do not remember.

Same kind of order
as above.

Same as above.

This order is
annulling another
plus gives more
info about track
conditions.

Another order
telling about track
conditions.

If I remember
correctly the single
or smaller digit
orders were the
running orders and
would tell what
train or trains had
right of way or
more specific
instructions about
running the train.

This order is like
the one above.

I remember Ed Gazoo well. He was a great railroad clerk - always worked 2nd shift in the Operator Office. Don't know
if he is still with us or not.

Looks like Wooten signed this order on the left....I believe that was John Wooten, friend that I worked with years
ago but has since passed away. The order on the right was signed by Altman...I believe that was probably O.W.
Altman, another fellow railroad clerk.

Another order on the left completed by O.W. On the right, I believe that was Julia Bryson that signed that order.

The two orders above were completed by Larry "Brown Sugar" Baldwin, great guy with a laugh that would crack us
up.

Above and below orders signed by Lee. That was Oscar Lee that worked the 1st shift operator at Hamlet Yard. Little
short guy but he knew his job.

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The clearance card below was for an Extra 914 North at Franklin, Va. Notice that it is dated June 6, 1969...quite a few
years ago.

Another order signed by Larry Baldwin above. To the right is a
check-off list it looks like, on the trains due on the timetable
that Conductor A.K. Maples had made.

The three orders above were issued and completed by
operator Mabe in Franklin, Va. Needless to say, I didn't know
this operator.

*******************************************************************************************************************************************************************

Clearance card below was for Extra 954 West at Rockingham. The operator was Wells but I can't remember his
complete name although I do remember him. This is when the station was still located right off of Highway 74 and
was still operational.

Only two orders above for the Extra 954 West at Rockingham. Notice that Order 37 gave wait
times at certain Mileposts for certain trains. I don't know for sure but this Extra 954 was probably
the Rockingham Switcher. If my memory serves me correctly, Hamlet MP was MP S 249,
Rockingham MP was MP SF 260, Wadesboro MP was MP SF 278, Monroe MP was MP SF 306, etc.

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Hopefully in this chapter I have shown and explained some of what it
was like when I worked at the railroad at Hamlet in the operators
office. This job was a demanding one, kind of like the crew
dispatcher. Because when the dispatcher buzzed you, you had to be
ready to copy orders instantly. I remember that I would always have
blank orders made up to throw in the typewriter when the
dispatcher called. As stated earlier in this series, my handwriting
left a lot to be desired so I typed my orders as much as possible.

Sometimes we had so many trains called, it was hard to get them all
cleared in a timely order. Once, I called on the Supt at the time,
James Terry, to call me in some help because I was drowning in
orders and could not get them all done in time for the trains to
depart.

Orders are still given for trains but now it is the trainmen and/or
engineers that have to take the orders instead of clerks.

So, another chapter written of Working on the Railroad - My Story
- and another memory of how it was growing up in Rockingham,
North Carolina - a small textile town in the South in the '50s,
'60s,'70s and '80s.