How to Read a Railroad Dispatcher’s Sheet (Record)

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Clinchfield Railroad

How to Read a Railroad Dispatcher’s Sheet (Record)

The following is a DIY guide by Scott Jessee as to how to read, interpret and understand a Train Dispatcher’s Sheet. Below is a wide-view of a dispatcher’s sheet, which in real life for the Clinchfield is almost 20″x40″. Click here for multiple close up views of a 1980 Clinchfield Dispatcher Sheet, a few years before the Clinchfield became part of CSX.

Clinchfield Railroad Dispatcher’s Guide

There are several easy self explained items to understand such as engine numbers, crew members, and stations.

To read a train sheet and a train’s performance, northbound trains are listed to the right of the stations and their performance is read from bottom to top.

On the converse, southbound trains are listed on the left of the stations and their times are read from top to bottom.

When one time is shown, that is either the arrival, departure, or the time a train passed the station.  You have to remember which direction you are going to determine if the time is an arrival or departure time.

Regular scheduled trains are designated by numbers, Clinchfield Extras are shown as “Extra, while foreign railroads are shown as SOU(Southern) and LN (Louisville and Nashville).

Southern operated a local between Frisco and Kingsport while L&N trains operated between Loyall, Kentucky and St. Paul, Virginia.  L&N trains operated on L&N tracks from Loyall to Norton and then ran on trackage rights from Norton to St. Paul on the Norfolk & Western.

You might notice entries that have an X beside engine(s) or a crew and then an X at two different stations.  That means those items designated with an X operated between those two stations.  On the “south-end” of the railroad between Erwin and Spartanburg you will notice coal trains with a pusher crew/engines with X’s.  You will also see where those X’s are shown at Erwin and Toe River, which means they operated (pushed) from Erwin to Toe River.  If you look on the northbound side of the sheet, you will then see that same crew with engines returning to Erwin.

Work trains and yard engines are listed on the lower left while train delays for the scheduled trains are listed on the lower right.

Trains such as the Moss Turn, Nora Turn, and Rex Turn that operated out of Dante are shown both running on the main line and then on the branch lines at the bottom of the sheet.  Same for any trains on the south-end that may have operated into the Duke Power Generation Plant on the Duke Spur (Brice, North Carolina).  The Moss and Rex Turn when they “go onto the branch” they are shown as going north, but an oddity to the Nora Turn is when they go onto the branch they are operating southbound.

The red markings you see were made by the Chief Dispatcher clerk.  One of his jobs was to take the time tickets of each crew and check against the train sheet.  These tickets were filled out by the conductors for payroll, and each station mailed them into the Erwin’s chief office.  The clerk checked it against the sheet to confirm crew, on/off duty, overtime, HAHT(Held away home terminal), DH (deadhead/travel from one station to another).

When looking at a train, the sheet will show what the trains has in its consist…..such as 40/100 which is 40 loads and 100 empties.  You will also see cars handled and that is all the cars actually handled in that direction.  Those figures were used on an elaborate car/tonnage sheet the chief dispatcher filled out each day for “upstairs”(General Manger & Superintendent)

Clinchfield.org Sources and Resources

The following are excellent resources for those of you wanting to explore and learn more about the Clinchfield Railroad. These sources of information also serve as reference and historical materials for Clinchfield.org. Much of the content on the website is verified across multiple sources.

Clinchfield Railroad

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