Railroaders' Nostalgia > Mad Dog Chronicles # 33: Second Trick Dispatcher on the

Second Trick Galveston Sub Dispatcher.

In 1971 the regular second trick dispatcher on the Galveston Subdivision was Junior Price. This job also handled the “Morgan” lines on the Lafayette Division. I spent a fair amount of time in Junior’s dispatching room. We talked a lot about what could be done to make things run more smoothly, with less delay.

It was always Junior that I was calling while trying to help Titlow and the Texas City Turn get back to Englewood. Junior liked to hold the TCT at Sinco. This allowed him to run several of the PTRR jobs to and from Manchester Yard. I started insisting that he let the TCT come at least as far as Manchester Jct. Then if the PTRA was delayed leaving their Yard we could advance to Booth siding. Titlow would tell me that Junior was holding him for far more time than it would take him to reach the south end of the double track. I started to watch that very closely, and sure enough, one evening Junior was holding the TCT at Manchester. I called Junior and asked why? “I have a PTRR job just coming at the south end of Booth and I have cleared the signal for him at Manchester Jct. He will clear up at Manchester in just a few minutes” said Jr. “He is real short tonight.” This of course also meant that he would fit between switches at Booth. What Junior Price did not know was that, that night, I was calling him from a convenient pay phone where I could not only see the North end of the siding at Booth but I could see almost to the bridge over Buffalo Bayou. And, the PTRR headlight was nowhere to be seen. I reported this little fact to Mr. Price. “Oh my. I’ll knock down that line up and turn the Texas City Turn loose just as soon as I can run the clock.” Said Junior politely. We had a little, face to face, talk about knocking off the Texas B.S. that very evening, before he got off shift.

I caught Junior one more time after that. He was using an old, out of date rulebook, with a formula response for passing a red signal that was not in the current rulebook. I made another little visit to his dispatcher’s cubicle. “Let’s see your Rule Book Junior,” I said, as he tried to cover his book up with his train sheet. “Where is your current rule book?” I asked. “It is in my locker” Offered Junior…. Maybe you ought to go and get it was my suggestion as I confiscated his old, out of date, book. After that Junior and I had a firm understanding.

Junior Price liked me. He even told the Superintendent of the Lafayette Division that if he needed a good Trainmaster that he only needed to look at the new Assistant Trainmaster on the Galveston Sub

There was quite a lot of traffic on the line on the second trick. There were the switchers and the haulers, the Strang Ballet, congestion getting in and out of Englewood, there were the PTRR jobs on the sections of joint track. There were the delays getting past Tower 86 caused by the HB&T. HB&T controlled Tower 86, not The Galveston Dispatcher.

The biggest joker in the deck was when the various haulers would be ready to leave Englewood. Frequently they would be several hours on duty, before their trains were even set by the local yard Yardmaster. At Englewood in 1971, the locals got their power off of the ready tracks at Hardy Street, assuming that the power was ready. Sometimes it wasn’t. Next the crew dug their assigned caboose out of the cab track. There was now a three mile run East on the Sunset Mains past the Tower 26 interlocking and then Tower 68 had to find a path to the local yard which was in the center of the west end of Englewood between the North and South side receiving and departure tracks. Once the train was made up and the local yard switch engines are in the clear. The local yardmaster would let the local put his own cab on his train and runaround to the west end to put the power on. Then we wait for the car department to perform the initial terminal airbrake test. Only then can the local ask tower 68 for a signal to enter the Galveston Subdivision. It was a very good night when the Bayport Turn and 221, the hauler to Galveston, both got out in under three hours from when they went on duty.

The Bayport turn had to stop at Sinco to give Goodyear Rubber a late evening switch. If the Bayport was really late and 221 got out of Englewood early, Junior would run 221 around the Bayport Turn either right there at Sinco or at Link Five. Normally the Bayport Turn made his set out at the South end of the Bayport Loop and went into the clear at Joyce to be passed by 221. And there the Bayport turn would sit, waiting for 221 to get by, sometimes for hours, because frequently, the Bayport turn was early and 221 was late.

Junior Price and I decided that we would find a better way for The Bayport Turn to get by 221.

To be continued.

mdo