Glossary

 Some terms apply only to model railroading, some to prototypical railroads, and some apply to both.

Bad Order Card – This card is inserted in front of the waybill in the car card pocket for a car that has been identified as needing repairs to the couplers, wheels, etc.  The layout owner, thus notified, can repair these cars between sessions.

Brakeman – The brakeman inspects the train, assists the conductor, sets the brakes and assists with switching.  Unless there are a lot of operators and a layout has a lot of aisle space, the brakeman job will be handled by the conductor.

Car Card – Car cards are  heavy paper constructs folded and taped to create a small pocket to hold waybills, bad-order cards, etc.  Each car card displays information about one particular car.  Minimum information includes the car type, reporting mark (e.g. BM, ATSF) and car number.  Optional information can include car color, home yard, length, intended cargo and AAR Code.

Car Card Box – Small boxes located close to yard and industry tracks with a compartment to store a car card for each car currently occupying the track.  Car card boxes are typically attached to the fascia and have at least one compartment designated for each track.

Clearance Form A – The clearance form grants permission for a train to leave its originating yard or Timetable-specified train order issuing stations en route.  The form is issued to both the conductor and engineer and includes a listing of any train orders that have been delivered and the number of messages for the train.

Conductor – The conductor is in charge of the train.  If you are both the engineer and conductor you will need to know where you are going, what you will do when you get there, and will need to operate the locomotive(s) at the same time.  If you are the conductor in a two-man crew you will not operate the train and will work with the engineer to throw and close turnouts, but primarily deal with the timetable, train orders, waybills and/or switchlists, and other non-operating tasks.

Dispatcher – Schedules and monitors all train movements, responsible for traffic control and for communicating routine and unforeseen phenomena which may affect the flow of rail traffic.

Employee Timetable – Most railroads provide a copy of the Employee Timetable to each operating employee.  This document includes a timetable for each division/district indicating, at a minimum, the train identification, class of train, and time and direction of departure from each station for all scheduled trains.  The Employee Timetable schedules can also indicate station and their hours of operation, arrival times, and variations from the schedule for both weekend days and for holidays.  The Employee Timetable also provides general rules for the railroad that are not covered in the Standard Operating Code. Route-specific rules include speed limit restrictions and specific rules for any out of the ordinary or dangerous situations.

Engineer – The engineer will operate the locomotive under direction of the conductor.  The engineer’s responsibilities include following the “Standard Operating Code”, specific rules of the railroad, and working with the conductor to throw and close turnouts.

Hostler – A hostler is a railroad engineer tasked to move locomotives in and out of  railroad service facilities.

Standard Operating Code – this code is the nearly universal set of rules that are followed by most North American railroads.  The code includes standard whistle and horn warnings, establishes rules for superiority and movement of trains, and rules governing responsibilities and behavior of railroad operations personnel.

Station – A station is a location, not necessarily a building, identified in the Timetable, past which a train cannot proceed ahead of the departure time specified.  Some stations also are locations where passengers are picked up or discharged and/or locations where train orders can be conveyed to the trains conductor and engineer.  Any identifiable location can be designated a station such as a mile marker, a passing siding, etc.

Superiority of Trains – Train crews running on single-track main lines must know who has the right-of-way whether heading in opposite directions or when one train overtakes another.  This is determined in the following order:

1.  Trains granted rights by the dispatcher over another train.  (Even an “extra” can be granted rights over scheduled trains.)

2.  Trains listed in the applicable timetable with the higher class (First class over second class, second class over third class, etc.   Extra trains are inferior to scheduled trains.

3.  Trains running in the “Superior Direction” have superiority over trains in the inferior direction.  The superior direction is that specified in the timetable.  On U.S. railroads, the superior direction is usually eastbound.  A minority of railroads run north/south and usually designate north as the superior direction (The Central Vermont was an exception, specifying southbound as superior).  Some railroad such as the B&M specified superiority by direction in relation to Boston.  The B&M’s Rule S-72 stated “Inbound trains are superior to outbound trains of the same class unless otherwise provided.”

THE FOLLOWING ON “CARDINAL DIRECTIONS” IS TAKEN FROM WIKIPEDIA:

Cardinal directions

Most railroads in the United States use nominal cardinal directions for the directions of their lines which often differ from actual compass directions. These directions are often referred to as “railroad” north, south, east or west to remove ambiguity with the same compass directions.

Typically an entire railroad system (the lines of a railroad or a related group of railroads) will describe all of its lines by only two directions, either east and west or north and south. This greatly reduces the possibility of misunderstanding the direction in which a train is travelling as it traverses lines they may twist and turn or even reverse direction for a distance. These directions also have meaning in conflicts between trains running in opposite directions. For example, many railroads specify that trains of equal class running east are superior to those running west. This means that, if two trains are approaching a passing siding on a single-track line, the inferior westbound train must “take the siding” and wait there for the superior eastbound train to pass.

In the United States, most railroads use “east and west”. It is unusual for a railroad to use “north and south”.

Even numbered trains (superior) travel east (or north). Odd numbered trains (inferior) travel west (or south). An easy way to remember this: “ODD trains go to San Francisco (west). VERY ODD trains go to Los Angeles. (south)”

On the London Underground, geographic direction naming generally prevails (e.g. Eastbound, Westbound) except for the Circle line and Central line.

Switch – Officially, the moving part of a turnout.  For model railroading purposes the term “turnout” is used to designate the switch function (e.g. align the turnout for the main).  We use the term “switch” to refer to an electrical device (switch).

Switch & Interchange Card (Switch List) – For our purposes this form can optionally be used by yardmasters, conductors, etc. to list cars to be included in a train.  The source for this list will often be a set of car cards.  For Yardmasters, the “Switch List” provides an easy reference to aid blocking cars in a yard.  For conductors, a switch list helps to ensure that (all) cars designated for a destination are identified and properly spotted.

Switchman – Attends the switches in a railroad yard, switching trains from one track to another.  This task will fall to the Yardmaster or to yard-switcher engineers.

Timetable – See “Employee Timetable”

Train Order – Form 19 is used by the dispatcher to convey specific instructions to any trains involved in a situation that is not covered by the Standard Operating Code and the Employee Timetable.  Train orders are written without punctuation, usually in predetermined formats (forms of train orders), and are to be delivered to both the engineer and conductor of each involved train at as close to the same moment as possible.

Turnout –  A turnout is an entire track assembly for setting the route of a train.  The turnout includes both the main and divergent track, the frog, guard rails and the switch (points) that move to align the route in the chosen direction.  For model railroading purposes the term “turnout” is used in lieu of “switch” and the term “switch” is used to refer to electrical contact switches.

Waybill – The model railroaders waybill is traditionally a 4-sided form that slips into the pocket of a car card.  Only one of the four destinations is exposed during each operating session.  The waybill can include a “via” location to indicate how the car should be routed.  After the end of the operating session, the layout owner adjusts the waybills to indicate the destination towards which the car will be directed during the subsequent operating session.  Note: During the operating session a car may reach the destination on the waybill, but it usually will make it to a yard or other intermediate position in the direction of the listed destination.  (e.g. A car’s destination may be Kansas City and K.C. may not even be represented on the layout.  However, there will usually be a yard that is “towards” K.C.)

Yardmaster – Responsible for moving and arranging cars in a yard.  Yard engineers take directions from the yardmaster to break up arriving trains and make up departing trains.  Whenever possible, cars for each particular destination will be blocked together to enable more efficient switching on the main line, sidings, and spurs along a train’s route.