dispatcher. When the dispatching office is not located directly adjacent to
the tracks, the operator is relieved from reporting trains by "OS'ing."
Often, his work is purely telegraphic and involves wiring train consists,
messages
dealing
with
high-priority
freight,
and
administrative
communications from the superintendent's office to all points on the
railroad. Frequently, the operator relays messages to connecting railroads
delivering rush cars to their final destinations. When he receives consists
of trains moving toward his terminal, he relays them by telephone to the
yardmaster. Where teletype is used, they are received by the yardmaster and
the operator simultaneously. Messages from all departments on the railroad
as well as from connecting railroads are received by the operator, who sees
that they are transcribed and delivered to the proper officer or department.
He also receives telegraphic accident reports and transcribes them for use
by the pertinent officers.
2.11.
CAR DISTRIBUTOR
The car distributor is usually located in the dispatching office.
He
has the important function of seeing that enough empty cars are on hand at
all points on the railroad where they are needed for loading. In general,
he is not involved with loaded cars.
The following subparagraphs discuss
his functions in detail.
a. Duties. A car distributor's chief function in moving empty cars is
to act as a link between yardmasters and the dispatcher, and between the
freight department and commercial shippers.
From reports telephoned or
wired to him at regular intervals, he always knows where empty cars of all
types are located. He knows, too, from reports the freight department gives
him where and when empties are required for loading.
He advises the
dispatcher of this, who in turn arranges to have trains of empties moved
from where they have accumulated to where they are needed.
Frequently,
storing empties in a yard handicaps the yardmaster--he is almost always
pressed for clear tracks.
The yardmaster confers almost continually with
the car distributor and attempts to get his empties moved, especially when
they are occupying an entire track. If they are a type needed for immediate
loading, generally no difficulty is encountered in getting them moved. But
if they are a type not particularly in demand, the dispatcher is generally
reluctant to move them from one yard to another. While easing the crowded
condition in one yard, he may be creating a storage problem in another.
Unwanted empties may be moved along a division in stages to relieve
congestion if taken toward a point where they will ultimately
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