funny things you've heard the dispatcher say

[shekky]

yesterday, i heard dispatcher 74 (for the UP roseville sub) tell somebody "if you don't get your heads together, we're gonna go from a one track railroad to a none track railroad"...

 

[EMDGP30]

I work for a railroad contractor and our foreman toned up the dispatcher one morning to request time into our Form B.

The dispatcher told the foreman, "Call me back after five."

The foreman asked if he meant five trains and the dispatcher replied, "No! After 5:00!"

 

[Ballard Beaver]

I always liked when the old BNSF seattle terminal guy would give his initials as TCM "trains cant move"

 

[Ballard Beaver]

Also around here they used to refer to the amtrak as the "silver sausage" or "chrome chorizo" though i havent heard them say this in at least a year or two. As in, crew: "you gonna hold us here dispatcher?" Dispatch: "yup, i got sausages comin at you from all directions"

 

[Bill Anderson]

We bought our first home in the early 80's in Sacramento's Curtis Park neighborhood while I was attending nearby McGeorge School of Law. It was near the WP's South Sacramento yard and I had only to walk across the street to see the mainline. I would listen to the scanner while studying and heard one engineer always say "tallyhoo the fox" as he pulled out of the yard.

 

[EMDGP30]

I live in Shreveport, Louisiana and KCS has a major yard here, Deramus Yard.

As some of you know, in the 80s KCS ran a local with four F-units, 2 powered and 2 were converted to slugs. They were usually worked the Cullen Turn, a local that ran almost 60 miles northeast of Shreveport and it would leave Deramus Yd in the late afternoon/early evening and would return early the next morning.

Listening to the scanner one evening I heard the engineer call the dispatcher and request a switcher to help shove him past the old Silver Lake yd.

The dispatcher replied he didn't have a heavy train and should be able to make the hill and asked what the problem was.

The engineer replied one of the engines wouldn't load up.

The dispatcher asked if he could tell what the problem was.

The engineer answered, "If I could see through the smoke and flames I could tell ya!" The 567 prime mover in one of the old covered wagons had thrown a rod and caught on fire.

KCS parked the engine on a spur near where I used to work and I got a look at it. There as a whole in the side of prime mover big enough to shove a cash register through.

 

[shekky]

I live in Shreveport, Louisiana and KCS has a major yard here, Deramus Yard.

As some of you know, in the 80s KCS ran a local with four F-units, 2 powered and 2 were converted to slugs. They were usually worked the Cullen Turn, a local that ran almost 60 miles northeast of Shreveport and it would leave Deramus Yd in the late afternoon/early evening and would return early the next morning.

Listening to the scanner one evening I heard the engineer call the dispatcher and request a switcher to help shove him past the old Silver Lake yd.

The dispatcher replied he didn't have a heavy train and should be able to make the hill and asked what the problem was.

The engineer replied one of the engines wouldn't load up.

The dispatcher asked if he could tell what the problem was.

The engineer answered, "If I could see through the smoke and flames I could tell ya!" The 567 prime mover in one of the old covered wagons had thrown a rod and caught on fire.

KCS parked the engine on a spur near where I used to work and I got a look at it. There as a whole in the side of prime mover big enough to shove a cash register through.

cool story!

 

[ConrailQualiltySD80Mac]

Listening To Radio At cresson PA Dispatcher says " Aw **** I dropped my coffee. And I hear a loud spill.

 

[EMDGP30]

I work for a railroad contractor and while working on NS on former Conrail tracks, we were waiting on track time to get back to work.

The dispatcher had stacked up some trains and was trying to get them going when he asked a train if they were moving.

The conductor replied they were still stopped at the signal.

The noticeably upset dispatcher asked why they weren't moving.

The conductor said they were waiting on a better signal than the approach they had, (they were still in the block with the train ahead).

The dispatcher pretty much lost it at this point and told the conductor that he didn't tell him how to run his train and he wasn't going to tell him how to dispatch and that he gave him that signal for a reason.

Conductor replied that they would start moving.