Naming trains?

[Gary S]

Everyone has been great help so far. Picking up bits and pieces from all the ideas, and sort of going with the BNSF system that Reinhard posted, here is what I have at the moment:

Train numbers consist of 2 letters and 2 numbers:

|Train Type | Area or Industry Served | Section | Direction |

Train Type: F is general freight, U is a unit train, T is a transfer

Area or Industry Served: L is Local, G is GERN, S is Seabrook, M is Mountain King Potatos

Section: this is a number, for example, the first local freight of the day is 1, the second local freight is 2, etc

Direction: 1 is west, 2 is east (the only directions on the line)

Some examples:

First local freight of the day, heading West: FL11
Return trip of the above train, heading East: FL12

Gern unit train from BNSF interchange heading west: UG11

Seabrook train leaving BNSF interchange to Seabrook: FS11
Same train returning from Seabrook: FS12

If traffic warranted a second Seabrook train on a given day: FS21 and FS22 for the return trip.

Still need to expand on this, extra trains, yard jobs and such. I'm not married to this yet, so what do you guys think? Again, thanks for all the input.

[faraway]

Gary, I understood there are often two names for a train. A formal, like the system you derived from the BNSF rules, and an informal nickname. So you may have a LL11 (formal) called the rubber job (nickname). A nice coexistence of logic and fun.

[Gary S]

That's what I have in mind. For example:

The afternoon local freight would formally be named FL21 and FL22 but the crews would refer to it as the "Afternoon Sweep".

The Mountain King train would formally be the UM11 and UM12 but would be called the "Spud Job".

The train to Seabrook would formally be the FS11 and FS12 but would be called the "Seabrook Turn"

Still coming up with informal names for the rest.

Today I have been running the various trains and timing how long they take to get their work done. This will help me sequence the trains for when I have a couple crews operating at the same time.

[Brakie]

For Brakie's suggestion on trains 5 and 6:

5.The BNSF GERN-BNSFGE(empty) and BNSFGL(loads).

6.The UP GERN-UPGE/UPGL.Same as BNSF

What would the crews call those trains? Would they say all the initials?
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Yes,under railroad rules they would say the initials when calling signals or calling the dispatcher since that's the official train symbol.

The crew can call them anything they like just as long as they use the official number or symbol for proper train identification.

Now unofficial talk would be..Ed,the dispatcher has us lined up for a meet with the Gern man with engine 7177 at Middletown Road.

[railohio]

They won't always use the train symbol with the dispatcher. BNSF and Union Pacific rarely use train symbols on the radio instead relying on engine number to identify communication.

"Chili Sub dispatcher to the BNSF ten-six-niner west, over."

[Brakie]

They won't always use the train symbol with the dispatcher. BNSF and Union Pacific rarely use train symbols on the radio instead relying on engine number to identify communication.

"Chili Sub dispatcher to the BNSF ten-six-niner west, over."

Not very wise..I know they use to use train symbols like LAHOT,BSMF etc.
Railroading's going the firey place in a hand woven basket..

Back in the day one way of getting fired was not using the train number or symbol while calling signals or calling the 'spatcher.

[Gary S]

Now unofficial talk would be..Ed,the dispatcher has us lined up for a meet with the Gern man with engine 7177 at Middletown Road.

"The GERNman"... I like it!

Thanks Brakie!

[railohio]

Back in the day one way of getting fired was not using the train number or symbol while calling signals or calling the 'spatcher.

It's not part of their rules to do so. BNSF and Union Pacific trains are identified by lead locomotive over the radio. Different railroads, different rules. And they only call less-than-clear signals over the radio, too, and many of their defect detectors talk on defects only now. It's possible for a train to get from Galesburg to Joliet without making a peep on the radio.

[Brakie]

Back in the day one way of getting fired was not using the train number or symbol while calling signals or calling the 'spatcher.

It's not part of their rules to do so. BNSF and Union Pacific trains are identified by lead locomotive over the radio. Different railroads, different rules. And they only call less-than-clear signals over the radio, too, and many of their defect detectors talk on defects only now. It's possible for a train to get from Galesburg to Joliet without making a peep on the radio.

Another valid reason why railroads are going to that firey place on a slick downhill slope.

How does the crew even know the detector is even working?

I'm beginning to think the old ways of railroading is a lot safer then todays half asp railroading..

[FCIN]

[I'm beginning to think the old ways of railroading is a lot safer then todays half asp railroading..

One things for sure Larry, we got a lot more work done in a much shorter amount of time then what I observe on the big roads today! If we'd have had to switch just one of the distilleries here in town with all the restrictions imposed on crews today, we'd have dogged there every night!

[Gary S]

dogged?

[FCIN]

dogged?

Expired the Hours Of Service Law. We called it the Dog Law, other roads called it the Hog Law or perhaps other names. On the L&N, a train running short on time would be said to be "Running from the dogs".

[Justinmiller171]

Expired the Hours Of Service Law. We called it the Dog Law, other roads called it the Hog Law or perhaps other names. On the L&N, a train running short on time would be said to be "Running from the dogs".

I read in a Tony Koester book that the term "Hog Law" came from the law concerning how long livestock could be held in stock cars without stopping for food and exercise.

I feel sorry for train-crews back in the days of steam, I would most definitely feel like a hog if I was stuck in a hot steam engine on a long run.

[FCIN]

I read in a Tony Koester book that the term "Hog Law" came from the law concerning how long livestock could be held in stock cars without stopping for food and exercise.

I feel sorry for train-crews back in the days of steam, I would most definitely feel like a hog if I was stuck in a hot steam engine on a long run.

Very true. Not sure how the term got changed from Hog to Dog, but then what's true for one railroad isn't always true for another. On NS around here, I hear them say that a crew short on time is "Running from the Law" or "The Law's after them".

Speaking of steam locomotives and their crews, on the Southern Railway "Rat Hole Division" (the line I'm close to), engineers and firemen on their steam locomotives wore special hoods that resembled asbestos fire suit hoods to try and keep them from being chocked by the smoke in the numerous tunnels that once existed on the line (hence the name Rat Hole). Most of the tunnels were daylighted back in the 60's.

Here's a photo that I located:    

Didn't mean to hijack the thread