Dispatcher Operations

Dispatcher Job Description

1. From a CTC console, he controls movements of all trains over the entire railroad. He is to know all sections of the road at all times. He concentrates on mainline activity in his division. His job is to keep traffic moving safely over the line and knows the whereabouts of every train operating over the lines. He will assign the respective cabs and insure that train classification priorities are followed.
   

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3. He is to be aware of conflicts or delays which might affect the movement of trains. He monitors the progress of every train by CTC mechanisms or OS Reports from tower or station agents. He records on Train Sheets each time a train passes a check point. He controls trains by Train Orders and signal indications. He controls track side signals and turnouts at junctions, passing sidings and crossovers. He authorizes extra trains, annulling scheduled ones, dispatches work/wreck trains or writes Train Orders to affected trains delayed. He takes action to change meeting points, hold trains, etc. He uses a manual board (magnets representing trains) or a CTC board to record train movement on a painted track diagram.
   

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5. In addition to these responsibilities, the Dispatcher  should be familiar with schedules and all the types of trains serving the Coast Line. These include:
   

6. Passenger Trains(trains stopping at passenger boarding points)
   

7. Time Freights(merchandise trains which run on tight schedules)
   

8. Peddler Freights(trains stopping at all receivers along the coast)
   

9. It is also the responsibility of the Dispatcher  to set the fast clocks.
   

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11. Train dispatchers are union workers.
    

Dispatcher Locations

1. DivisionDispatch LocationEquipmentArea of Control
   

2. Coast  Line    SLO   CTC
   

3.     Roseville            CTC(South of Dunsmuir)
   

4. LA     Beaumont   CTCLA-Indio
   

5. LA (West End)    LA                   LA-Yuma
   

6.     Bakersfield   CTCFresno-Mojave
   

7. Tucson    Tucson
   

8. Shasta    Dunsmuir   CTCRedding-Black Butte
   

9.     Eugene   CTC         Black Butte-Klamath Falls (N. of Dunsmuir)
   

10.     Denver
    

11. 
    

12. T&L    Houston
    

13. SSW    Pine Bluff
    

CTC Machines

Coast Line Division

San Luis Obispo

1. The Cuesta CTC machine was located at, and was run from, the SLO depot until 1964, when it moved to Third and Townsend. It subsequently was moved to Sacramento (or Roseville). Signor's book, SP's Coast Line does indeed give 1957 as the year the Cuesta CTC machine moved to San Francisco (page 180). Later info from several people, including Mac Gaddis, led to the date given in the Coast Line Pictorial book (pg. 132), which is 1964.
   

2. Tony Thompson 
   

Reference

1. For a good photo showing the track diagram from the original San Luis Obispo to Santa Margarita CTC machine see the four photos showing the SLO CTC panel on pgs. 132-133 of "Southern Pacific's Coast Line Pictorial."
   

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L.A. Division

Beaumont

1. Originally the CTC for LA-Indio was done out of a small building at Beaumont California. Later the LA division's west end (LA-Yuma) dispatching was moved to the old P.E. office building at 610 S Main in downtown LA.
   

Fresno-Mojave

1. On the first floor more toward the center or northeast part of the depot corner of the passenger station at Bakersfield housed the Fresno-Mojave CTC operations. The northwest corner of the Bakersfield depot was where the ticket office and waiting room used to be located.
   

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Tucson Division

Tucson

1. Dispatching the Tucson Division was done out of a small building east of the passenger station at Tucson.
   

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Shasta Division

Dunsmuir

1. When CTC from Redding to Black Butte was completed in 1942, the CTC machine was installed at Dunsmuir on the Shasta Division (the first CTC segment put into operation on this line was the 32-mile line change between Redding and Delta). Some of this trackage may have been combined with the installation at Eugene at some later point in time. The CTC machine was removed from Dunsmuir in the fall of 1965. South of Dunsmuir, CTC dispatching control was transferred to Roseville.
   

2. Eugene
   

3. North of Dunsmuir, CTC control was transferred to Eugene (around the time CTC dispatching was discontinued at Dunsmuir, work started to extend CTC from Black Butte to Klamath Falls). Eugene was the site of the CTC dispatcher for Oregon.
   

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Subsidiaries

Houston

1. For the T&L, in the late 80's some dispatching being done from SP's big office building on Franklin St. in Houston.
   

Pine Bluff

1. The Cotton Belt was dispatched from Pine Bluff.