Chapter 2
TRAIN MOVEMENT CONTROL
2.1. GENERAL
Control of train movements over main lines is a function of
headquarters and headquarters company (Hq and Hq Co) of the
transportation railway battalion (TRB).
Located in battalion
headquarters and chief of the train movement section of Hq and Hq Co,
the chief dispatcher is directly responsible for the movement of all
trains over a division. Because he cannot be on duty constantly, he
is assisted by the assistant chief dispatcher and a number of train
dispatchers, who, under the chief's direction, issue the train
orders.
These orders are the tools of the dispatchers' trade in
operating a division efficiently.
This chapter discusses the four
methods of military train operation in a theater: fleet, manual block
(hereafter referred to as block), train order, and timetable.
Particular emphasis is placed on the rules governing train order and
timetable operations.
A discussion on the hinds of railway signals
and how they are used is also included in the chapter. Finally, an
explanation is given on how trains should operate through areas
contaminated by radioactivity.
2.2. FLEET AND MANUAL BLOCK OPERATIONS
Of the four methods of train operation used by the TRS in a
theater--fleet, block, train order, and timetable--the first two are
the least flexible. The four methods are generally used in the order
mentioned, beginning with fleet operation when theater areas
immediately behind the combat zone are unsettled, and progressing to
the more flexible and precise timetable operation in stabilized rear
areas.
The following subparagraphs further discuss the fleet and
block methods.
a. Fleet operation. Immediately upon entry into a theater, where
there are usually little or no communications and quite often only a
single stretch of track with no sidings or passing tracks, fleet
operation is used. In military railroading, passing tracks
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