Operations I - Sample Train Orders

I don't have any trains in the train house yet, but I'm already thinking about operations. I occasionally buy train order from E-bay. These are Southern Ry. orders in areas close to my layout, but I haven't found any issued on the S-line in North Carolina yet. A recent order included a set of related orders issued at Severe Yard in Knoxville, TN. These orders are all on the Knoxville to Harriman line of the Tennessee Division. I'll start off with a list of the stations on this line. Sevier to Harriman is Westbound.

Miles from             Station                       Siding   Other
Knoxville
    0.0             West End Sevier Yard            -         yard
                     (East End Two Tracks)
    3.8                    Beverly Block
                     (West End Two Tracks)
    2.3                        Coster                          -          yard
    4.6                     Black Oak                      -            56
    8.2                        Powell                        104        10
   13.4                      Heiskell                        -            45
   15.6                 Chestnut Ridge                 -             -
   19.9                   East Siding                     116       160
   20.9                     Clinton                           -          yard
   24.6                      Laurel                           71          5
   33.6                      Poplar                           55          7
   35.6                  Oliver Springs                   -           15
   36.1               L. & N. Jct., Tenn.                -            -
   41.5                       Blair                            115         50
   46.0                   De Armond                       51         -
   50.5                     Harriman                         -           30
   51.5                 Harriman Jct.                       -         170

Train Order No   3     Date    Jan 30 1970
to C/E First and Second No 19   at    Johnsevier

First No 90 Ninety Eng 3071 Hold main track meet First No 19
Nineteen Eng 4172 Laurell and has right over Second No 19
Nineteen Dearmond  to Powell

                                   OED
Made Complete   Time 1230 AM  Hayes

---

Train Order No   6      Date   Jan 30 1970
to C/E Engs 4172 and 3147      at    Johnsevier

Engs 4172 and 3147 run as First and Second no 19
nineteen Sevier Yard to Harriman

                                    OED
Made Complete  Time 116AM  Hayes

---

Train Order No   14      Date   Jan 30 1970
to C/E Second No 19      at    Johnsevier

Eng 3109 display signals run as Second No 90
Ninety Harriman to Sevier yard take siding
meet First No 19 Nineteen Eng 4172 at Blair
take siding Meet Second no 19 nineteen
Eng 3147 at Laurel

                                    OED
Made Complete  Time 158AM  Hayes

---

Train Order No   25      Date   Jan 30 1970
to C&E Second No 19      at    Johnsevier

Second No 19 Nineteen Eng 3147 Hold main
track meet Second No 90 Ninety Eng 3109 at
East Siding instead of Laurel

                                    OED
Made Complete  Time 306AM  Hayes

No 19 was a first class Westbound train. Eng 4172 was an F3 purchased in 1948 and rebuilt to F7 standards. Eng 3147 was an SD45 purchased in 1967. No 90 was an Eastbound second class train. Eng 3109 was another SD45, also purchased in 1967.

Order No 3 allows First No 90 to run against both sections of No 19. First No 90 has a meet order with First No 19, and then has right over Second No 19 to Powell, where First No 90 would have to go into the siding for Second No 19.

Order No 6, completed 46 minutes later, authorizes Engs 4172 and 3147 to run as First and Second No 19.

Order No 14 instructs Eng 3109 to display signals and run as Second No 90, so apparently there will be a Third No 90 tonight. It also orders a meet with First No 19 at Blair (nine miles north of Harriman) and Second No 19 at Laurel. Southern seemed to prefer running sections instead of extras, and I can remember excursion trips that had green flags flying on the locomotive.

Order No 25 moves the meet between Second No 90 and Second No 19 from Laurel to East Siding. Apparently Second No 19 was delayed in Sevier Yard.

Note that there are a couple of differences between these orders and those written per the consolidated code. The consolidated code specifies that sections be referred to as "First 19" and "Second 19", leaving out the "No" in these orders. Also, the spaces were left out of "John Sevier" and "De Armond". These orders were all copied by hand.

Timetable Number 94, issued February 7, 1971, or about a year after these orders were issued, shows Sevier to Harriman as Northbound. In that timetable, the Northbound trains listed were:
     First Class:
          No 226, due out of Sevier at 11 15 PM
     Second Class: Nos 128 and 126
Southbound trains
     First Class:
          No 225
     Second Class:
          No 127 due into Sevier at 3 15 PM
          No 125 due into Sevier at 4 15 AM

Apparently No 19 became No 226, and No 90 became No 125. The traffic on this line joined the CNO&TP at Harriman Jct and it seems to make sense that listing this line as North/South would agree with the directions to Cincinnati. No 226 was the continuation of train No 223 from Spencer to Knoxville, and had blocks for Cincinnati, E. St. Louis, and Louisville. No 125 was a Cincinnati to Knoxville train, connecting to trains 162, 224, and 164 to Spencer and 166 to Charlotte via Statesville.

The train orders discussed here were purchased from sissys03 on Ebay. The information about the stations on this route were taken from a posting on rrpicturesarchive.net by Frank Green. The information on the locomotives was from Southern: A Motive Power Pictorial by Paul Withers and Tom Sink, published by P.K. Withers, © 1987. The train service schedules were taken from the Southern Railway Freight Train Schedules and Blocking Instructions, February 1, 1979, which I downloaded from the Southern Railfan site, by Tom Daspit.