Eastern Railroad Discussion > Signal Sunday Muncie Additions

I am hijacking Kim's post a little.  I did not want them to get lost in the original  posting.
These are of the "new Y" mentioned in the first post.

---

---

---

Inside the N&W dispatch office.  I taught science in Daleville HS in my first 11 years of teaching. One of my students dad worked as a clerk in Muncie the N&W yard..  I got a tour of the operation there.

---

---

---

The dad and student.  I keep in touch even today many years later.  The student now is a pilot for UPS.

---

---

Do the white dots, yellow dots, blue dots and others mean anything in dispatching?, the blues were around sidings

nick

 

I have no idea.
Others may speak up now.

Darthsimpletext Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Do the white dots, yellow dots, blue dots and
> others mean anything in dispatching?, the blues
> were around sidings
>
> nick
>
>  

I didn't work on a board like that, but I would say the white dot shows a switch locked and ready for use. Yellow must be track occupancy. Blue would be a block to prevent train movement.  Crescentville is near Cincinnati. At Muncie, Liberty is where the yard is, and the LE&W extends east from there to Buckland, and Lima. West, it goes to Frankfort, where the WY Tower is. I did post on the then New Castle District when it was dispatched from Ft Wayne. I can't recognize the dispatchers pictured here. ("Posting" is when you train with a qualified dispatcher on a desk in order to qualify on it) 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/30/23 18:53 by halfmoonharold.

Thanks.
halfmoonharold Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I didn't work on a board like that, but I would
> say the white dot shows a switch locked and ready
> for use. Yellow must be track occupancy. Blue
> would be a block to prevent train movement. 
> Crescentville is near Cincinnati. At Muncie,
> Liberty is where the yard is, and the LE&W extends
> east from there to Buckland, and Lima. West, it
> goes to Frankfort, where the WY Tower is. I did
> post on the then New Castle District when it was
> dispatched from Ft Wayne. I can't recognize the
> dispatchers pictured here. ("Posting" is when you
> train with a qualified dispatcher on a desk in
> order to qualify on it) 

In photo #4, I presume the right clock is eastern time and the left clock is central - so is the board under each clock where the time zone changes?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/31/23 07:26 by Cole42.

I don't recall the month other than late winter or early spring. The eastern portion of the dispatch area was in Ohio.  Indiana did not observe DST and that might be the reason.
Cole42 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> In photo #4, I presume the right clock is eastern
> time and the left clock is central - so is the
> board under each clock where the time zone
> changes?

Cole42 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> In photo #4, I presume the right clock is eastern
> time and the left clock is central - so is the
> board under each clock where the time zone
> changes?

The position of the clocks has nothing to do with the track under them. 

santafedan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I don't recall the month other than late winter or early spring. The eastern portion of the
> dispatch area was in Ohio.  Indiana did not observe DST and that might be the reason.

It looks like there was a 1978 calendar on the wall showing the second half of that year.

Back then DST was third Sunday in April to last Sunday in October (changed to the first Sunday in April effective in 1987 and the second Sunday in March through the first Sunday in November effective in 2007). The year was split nearly evenly between most of Indiana being on "Chicago Time" in the summer and "Ohio Time" in the winter (now we have 4 1/2 months of "standard time"). Two clocks certainly makes sense being that close to Ohio. (Indiana officially observed DST statewide beginning in 2006.)

Several things have changed in the New Castle District since these pictures. Hamilton Ohio has not yet been reconfigured on this board (circa 1984). Several sidings have been added (or put back in) since these pictures. Richmond Indiana is still being dispatched by Conrail on this board. Franfort District is no longer CTC operated outside of Muncie. 

Very neat stuff!

Jim

Frankfort Indiana was the division point with the Illinois Division and they operated on Central time. 

halfmoonharold, 

I hope your can help me with my memory. I have a vague recollection of visiting the Muncie dispatching office. Do you know when N&W closed it and was it moved to Ft. Wayne?

ts1457 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> halfmoonharold, 
>
> I hope your can help me with my memory. I have a
> vague recollection of visiting the Muncie
> dispatching office. Do you know when N&W closed it
> and was it moved to Ft. Wayne?

Short answer is no, but I might be able to scare up something.
Edit: I found a note that said on Jan. 1, 1986, dispatching from Lima and Muncie was moved to a new office in Ft Wayne. But the timetables I checked have no specific information about dispatching offices. From what I could piece together, the LE&W was dispatched from South Lima, OH. The only reference to the Muncie dispatch office concerned some territory near Peoria, IL. I would assume Muncie controlled the New Castle lines.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/02/23 18:49 by halfmoonharold.