CTC Machine "Moving Day" 1984

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C&O Dispatcher
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CTC Machine "Moving Day" 1984

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The CTC machine for the Ludington Sub was located on the top (3rd floor) level at Washington Ave tower, right next to the drawbridge. The Wash Ave operator was located on the 2nd level, and there was one of those spiral stairways between the two levels. The "south end" machine and the chief dispatcher's offices were located at the east end of freight house building across the street, across from the Potter St depot.

In 1984 ( I don't recall the month) it was decided to move the Ludington machine across the street to the same space occupied by the "south end" and the chief. The Ludington machine was an "L" shaped GRS console installed around 1956 or so. The plan was to use a crane to lift it as one unit and make the move. This, of course, required a lot of planning by the signal department. The new location area had to be prepared and all of the wiring had to be in place to get it operational quickly after the move. There was a rather large window on the north (track) side of Wash Ave tower that was hinged and swung outward. However, it was not large enough to accommodate the CTC machine, so part of the inside wall and outside bricks had to be removed for access. I did not actually witness the removal on "moving day." As far as I know, the move was without incident.

During the move and set up the entire signal system on the Ludington Sub was out of service, so we had to operate it by train order. I believe the shutdown only lasted about 24 hours. They set us dispatchers up over in the Potter St depot to handle the dispatching during the change-over. Everything was pre-planned, including where the meets would take place -- I believe they were set up to be at either Clare and/or Anderson (just west of Midland). All other power switches, except at Walhalla and Baldwin where trains made sets off and pick ups, were spiked in normal position. Without signals, there would be no way of verifying if they were lined properly and trains would have to approach all of them prepared to stop. If they were spiked, they could proceed at normal speed. This was all covered by train order to identify any of the switches that had to be approached prepared to stop.

I had the "honor" of fixing up the first train to run by train order -- TL74 out of Ludington. We didn't have an operator at Ludington, so they gave one of the clerks over there a "crash course" in train orders and deemed him qualified to copy the orders. There was a night operator at the Baldwin depot who could copy orders to run 145 and ML18, and Wash Ave would copy orders for the westward trains. I assume they used Manistee to put out orders for 146. I had to put out at least a dozen or more orders at Ludington to get TL74 all the way to Mershon including a right over, a couple meets, some relief from rear in flag protection and several orders covering the CTC outage and switches. We did not yet have dispatcher radios, so everything had to be set up from the get go. I started at least an hour early putting out the orders and was glad I did!

By the time I went back into work the following afternoon, the machine was all hooked up and working. I was pretty amazed at how smoothly the move was made! Kudos to the signal department for that. In today's world with computer assisted "on screen" dispatching, I suppose such a move would be a piece of cake!

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Doktor No
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Re: CTC Machine "Moving Day" 1984

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They could do some amazing feats back then.
I just remember them TRYING to cut in the new/over the old signal system in GRP. More then once wying power over at Franklin/Market/Century they would completely lose us. More then once we were accused of running reds! The question, "Where are you now?" always solicited a groan from James and I. Also got a ton of OT late nights too. Naps under Franklin Street bridge became the norm for awhile.
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Re: CTC Machine "Moving Day" 1984

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Doktor No wrote:
Wed Feb 24, 2021 1:20 pm
They could do some amazing feats back then.
I just remember them TRYING to cut in the new/over the old signal system in GRP. More then once wying power over at Franklin/Market/Century they would completely lose us. More then once we were accused of running reds! The question, "Where are you now?" always solicited a groan from James and I. Also got a ton of OT late nights too. Naps under Franklin Street bridge became the norm for awhile.
Now you see em' -- now you don't! The worst for me was if the code line snapped somewhere. The trains are still moving (as far as they were lined), but the track lights are not! All of a sudden you have to figure out where the trains actually are, not where they appear to be! Gets even crazier once you start issuing authorities to pass STOP signals! Get a little edgy just thinking about it! Flasbacks!

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Re: CTC Machine "Moving Day" 1984

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C&O Dispatcher wrote:
Wed Feb 24, 2021 10:41 am
In today's world with computer assisted "on screen" dispatching, I suppose such a move would be a piece of cake!
I know at least two Class Ones keep full backup capability at one or multiple other sites in case of a main dispatching location failure. Theoretically, I believe, just about any computer workstation can become a dispatching computer with the new systems. However, there are some special keyboards in use which means that getting the hang of it might be a bit of a challenge.

Beyond that, there are many places were desks are combined routinely, with one workstation taking over both. No need to have one guy at two desks - just hand them over to a different workstation configuration. These are especially common in commuter areas - BNSF's Racetrack between Aurora and Chicago is two desks for the rush hours, and just one other times.
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R Bedell
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Re: CTC Machine "Moving Day" 1984

Unread post by R Bedell »

Thanks Doug for a good story from back in the time.

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