Getting Real column - 4
Of course, an employee timetable only lists regularly scheduled
trains. A railroad could also run extra trains under train orders
issued by the dispatcher. These extra trains (along with the
scheduled trains) would be listed each day on the Dispatcher’s
Record of Movement of Trains, also known as a train sheet.
The late Al Rose, a well-known railfan in the 1930s-1980s, was
able to collect nearly the entire set of train sheets from the YV
when it was abandoned, along with a number of dispatcher
train order books. After realizing how passionate I am about
the YV, Al gave me photocopies of all of the train sheets for
August 1939, along with the original train order book covering
that month.
From these train sheets I learned that the YV ran a pair of
extras every day, called the Merced Local and the El Portal
Local. These freight trains departed their respective yards at
around 4 p.m., usually meeting at Detwiler near the middle of
the line. A typical train order for these two trains would read:
Eng 26 run extra Merced to El Portal meet Ext 29 west at
Detwiler Eng 29 run extra El Portal to Merced.
After making up their trains, these two freights worked sidings
along the line, making set-outs and pickups as specified in their
switch lists. With a departure at 4 p.m. or so, the westbound
extra needed to be clear of the westbound passenger train,
which left El Portal at 7 p.m. and which would overtake it west
of El Portal. The eastbound extra likewise needed to be clear of
the same passenger train.
Compromises
I decided during the layout design phase to not plan for pas-
senger train operations. A typical passenger train in August
1939 would have included a 40-foot-long RPO car, a leased SP
MRH-Nov 2014
