Once thedispatcher acknowledged the call byanswering
“Dispatcher,” the stationagentwould say “No. 2byat 7:27
a.m.”This formkept the call asquickaspossiblewithout any
misunderstandings. Thedispatcher then recorded this informa-
tionon the train sheet for that day. By lookingover the sheet,
adispatcher could see if certain trainswere running lateor if a
trainordermight beneeded tokeep thingsmoving.
Filled-in train sheets canprovideanenormous amount of
detail and insight into theoperationsof aparticular prototype.
TheYosemiteValleyRailroadwas a favoriteof the late railfan
Al Rose.When the railroadwasbeing scrapped, Alwas able to
savenearlyall of the train sheetsusedby the railroadduring
its 38-year life. Fortunately,manyyears agoAl gaveme full-
sizephotocopiesof all of the train sheets forAugust 1939, the
month that Imodel.
Adetailed look at a typical sheet
Anew sheetwas startedeach
daybeginningatmidnight.
Thisparticular sheet (3) is for
August4, 1939. Thedateand
dayof theweekwas recorded
by thedispatcherat the topof
the sheet alongwith thenum-
berof thetimetable ineffect
thatday.
Theweather atMercedand
El Portalwas recorded in the
upper left corner of the sheet,
while thedispatchers logged
their shifttimes in theupper
right corner of the sheet
(4). Inaddition topassenger/Pullman service, theYValso ran
log trains, starting in the springwhen the snowmelted in the
mountains, until fallwhen the loggingoperations shut down
for thewinter. Thenumber of log carsmoved that dayand for
themonthand seasonwas recordednext to the “Dispatchers
onDuty”box.
The center portionof the train sheet (5) lists the stations and
thedistance fromMercedandEl Portal (the twoendsof the
line), alongwith siding capacities in feet at each station. Keep
inmind that therewasn’t aphysical stationat each “station”
listed in thetimetablesor on the train sheets. Most of the
places listedwereonly sidingsor spurs. Space isprovided to
enter thenamesof the conductor andengineer for each train,
andtimes that theengine crewand train crewwent onduty
andtiedup.
TrainNo. 2, theeastboundpassenger train,was thefirst train
recordedon thisparticular day (5). As aneastbound train,
departureandarrival times
for this trainare recorded to
the leftof the stationnames
readingdown, just like the
employeetimetables. There
areplaces to record the train
number, enginenumber, and
number of cars in thepassen-
ger trains. As shown, there
were seven cars in thispas-
senger train that day. This
number of cars requireda
secondengine, or double-
header,witha2-6-0 (the
26) anda4-4-0helper (the
23). TrainNo. 2departed
Mercedat 5:45 (“am” is
MRH-Apr2014
