Freight train procedures
Here I used the information from the prototype documents on
this subject [8-9], but collected and summarized the informa-
tion, rather than scanning the typewritten pages of the proto-
type document. I then made a small table to encompass the
schedules of the various trains, to accompany their definitions
from the prototype Schedule. Again, this material was set in
Adobe Caslon Semibold, 10/11.
I included on these pages some items which did not fit elsewhere,
much as the prototype document did, such as a safety slogan,
a Lompoc Branch timetable [11] and a list of watch inspectors.
Again, this is typographic scenery but is taken directly from the
19. My interim map for the layout town of Shumala.
Not all the graphic features of this way of representing
the town are entirely satisfactory, so this may change
– an easy process with a digital map. The intent here
was to combine and extend the styles of [16] and [18]
to create this graphic, but of course without SPINS
numbers for track and switches. Only a couple of
roads are shown in this version. The depot’s bill box
location is identified, as in [18].
19
Getting Real Column - 13
real thing. My front pages, again intended for the lengthwise fold,
are shown as [15].
Track identification maps
I mentioned that these are essential for those doing switching, and
although previous versions of my model timetable included hand-
drawn examples similar to [10], I wanted to go in a little different
direction for this new timetable. My first idea was to followwhat
Southern Pacific did in later years, an arrangement they called
SPINS, which stood for Southern Pacific Industrial Numbering
System. Unfortunately, the earliest one I have found for my area of
the SP Coast Line is dated 1972, just about 20 years after my mod-
eling date, so only of limited factual use, but suggestive of method.
Briefly, the SPINS concept was to define zones all over the railroad,
identified by two-digit numbers; identify all tracks in that zone by a
second two-digit number; and then call out individual spots on that
MRH-Oct 2014
