MercedandEl Portal Locals left their respectiveyards some-
wherearound5:30p.m. to6:00p.m. eachday (14). Their train
orders specifiedadefinitemeetingplace, typically the siding
atDetwiler (atMP40.9, very close to themiddleof the line).
The locationof themeetwasbasedprimarilyon theamount
ofwork requiredbyeach crew. However, thedispatcher also
specifieda sidingwithaflat or very slight rulinggrade toallow
the trains todepart themeetwithout problems.
After themeet, thecrewof theeastboundMercedLocal
boarded thewestboundEl Portal Local and thecrewof thewest-
boundEl Portal Local tookover theeastboundMercedLocal.
Eachcrew thus returned to theirownhomes for thenight.
The set-outs andpickups for the two locals, theMerced Local
andEl Portal Local,were recordedby thedispatchers along
the right sideof the train sheet (15). Since conductors could
not call thedispatcher about each set-out andpickup in real
time, I’massuming that the conductors recorded this infor-
mationandprovided it to the stationagent at El Portal or the
dispatcher inMercedupon their arrival after the run. The
dispatcher thenentered it on the train sheet for the record.
At least on theYV, thedaily train sheetwas thusmuch likea
“policeblotter,” keepinga recordof everythinghappeningon
the railroad fromextras, crewassignments, delays, etc.
I amvery fortunate thatAl Rosenot only saved the train sheets
when theYVwasbeing scrapped, but that healso realizedmy
passion for this railroadandprovidedmewith copiesof the
train sheets for all of August 1939plus thedispatcher’s journal
of trainorders. Together, theyhaveprovided real insight into
how thedispatchers ran this railroad.
GettingReal Column - 11
Abbreviations
Telegraphswereused to issue trainorderson theYosemite
Valleyuntil January1, 1931when the railroad switched to
telephones.Whenusing telegraphs, each stationwas typi-
callygivena two-letter abbreviation. Dispatchers continued to
use these stationabbreviationson the train sheets and in the
trainorder logbook longafter telephones replaced telegraphs.
Typical abbreviations included theobviousones suchas Sn for
Snelling,MF forMercedFalls, andBg for Bagby. However, not
soobviouswas theuseof Ro for El Portal.
YV railfanAl Rose toldmeabout theuseof Ro for El Portal over
30years agobut hedidn’t knowwhyRowasused insteadof
themore logical EP. I didn’t thinkabout that abbreviationuntil
manyyears laterwhenAl gavemeoneof the train sheets to
helpwithanarticle Iwaswriting. Seeing theabbreviationon
that single train sheet (Al gaveme theentiremonth’sworth
years later) gotme thinkingmoreabout it. I suspected that
theMorse code for EPwas too close to theabbreviation for
another placealong the routewhichmight have caused confu-
sionor errors. However, itwasonlyaguess.
Eventually, I took thetime to compare thedifferent YV station
abbreviationsusing theBoyScout versionofMorse code that I
tried to learnback in the1950s. However, thatwas adead-end
and I again set theproblemaside. It turnsout that Iwasnearly
correct –but Iwasusing thewrongversionofMorse code.
TheMay2006 issueof Trainsmagazinehadan interesting
articleonMorse codeandmentioned the InternationalMorse
TelegraphClub (IMTC) alongwithane-mail contact for the
president.What is calledMorse code today is actually some-
what different fromwhatwasoriginallydevelopedbyMorse.
TheModern InternationalMorse codewas created1848by
FriedrichGerke,who changednearlyhalf of thealphabet and
MRH-Apr2014
