Looking at pictures of Legacy SP Trainmasters, I noticed that, in two instances, the number boards differed from the road number: 1) Numberboard 118, cab 4803 2) Numberboard 145, cab 4809. Any ideas? Was this a common practice?
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Number boards were used to indicate Train Number.
Pete
The number board would be used a number to represent the entire train.
Thanks to you both. I haven’t seen that before on any previous releases from any manufacturer. Was this a common “real trains” practice?
@Mark V. Spadaro posted:Thanks to you both. I haven’t seen that before on any previous releases from any manufacturer. Was this a common “real trains” practice?
It was on the SP, but its the only one I am familiar with.
Pete
The KCS did that (train numbers in the bug boards) early on in their diesel years. Turned out to be a colossal nightmare for the dispatchers, operators, and crews on account of some of the engines had actual numbers that matched the train numbers. The concept was abandoned by the KCS in the late 1950s.
Andre
@Norton posted:Number boards were used to indicate Train Number.
Pete
. . . on a certain few railroads.
Union Pacific, Southern Pacific and the Alaska Railroad* did this. And Andre has informed us that KCS did too.
On UP and SP locomotives, there was always a container with number plates that could be slid into place to display the Train Number. Generally, this was the Fireman's duty.
There's a lot to this, but I will try to explain it clearly, without including a lot of variable conditions.
Train Numbers were only used for Regular Trains, that is, trains which had a schedule in the Employee Timetable. That schedule authorized that train to use the Main Track in the direction specified, from the Timetable time and for 12 hours thereafter. So Southern Pacific E9 6052 could display just the numeral 2 in the number board. Or if No.2, the Sunset, had a second section, the displayed number would be 1 dash 2 on the first section and 2 dash 2 (like this: 2-2) on the section section. The dash was there to avoid the train identifying itself as No.12 or No.22 regardless of the spacing between numbers. The inferior train had to remain in the siding until the entire superior train had passed, meaning all sections of No.2 in our example. On trains without a timetable schedule the number boards would display the locomotive number proceeded by an X with or without a dash, as in X4449 or X-4449.
Why bother, you may ask? In the days when timetable and train orders was the method of operation, inferior trains had to take siding for superior trains. If SP Extra 6190 West was approaching Anytown siding, and opposing superior train SP No.2 was scheduled to pass there at 10:15, then the crew of Extra 6190 West would have to decide if they had time to proceed to the next siding, get the whole train into the siding and line the switch back for straight track, and get all of that finished not less than five minutes before No.2 was due to pass the next siding beyond Anytown. If not, then the inferior train, Extra 6190 West, headed into the siding at Anytown. When a train then appeared, the crew in the siding had to know that it was the train they were supposed to meet, and having the train number displayed in the number indicator was one method of verifying it, allowing Extra 6190 West to then leave the siding and proceed on the Main Track.
It may seem redundant, but think about the steady stream of commuter trains that SP ran, between San Francisco and San Jose, sometimes only a few minutes apart, and all looked alike, composed of grey cars pulled by Fairbanks-Morse Train Master locomotives.
Let's apply this to you.
If you were the Conductor on a local freight crew in the SP Commute Zone, needing to come out of a siding and proceed to the next siding so you could switch the team track there, you would need to identify trains passing you on the Main Track, to know if all Regular Trains had passed (They might not be running on-time), and then see if the Timetable allowed enough time your local to get out on the main and run for cover at the next siding before the arrival of the next Regular Train, whether it was the Daylight, or the Lark, or another commuter train.
* The Alaska Railroad was owned by the United States Government, and was operated by the Southern Pacific Rule Book, and its Officials were employed by, and on loan from, Great Northern Railway.
