SP5103 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> WP had originally intended to replace their
> secondary passenger service with service only
> between Salt Lake City and Stockton, allowing a
> single RDC to make the run. The ICC insisted that
> WP continue secondary service to Oakland, and WP
> had to order two RDCs resulting in the meet
> between them.
>
> Not long after RDCs were being placed in service,
> there was a bad wreck in the northeat where a team
> powered train rear ended an RDC. It turns out that
> the RDC does not reliably shunt signal circuits.
> The reason for calling the dispatcher would have
> been to confirm you were in the siding and clear
> of the main so he could line the signal for the
> opposing traffic. Somewhere in the WP's rulebook,
> special instruction or dispatcher's rules of the
> era should be the requirement to establish an
> absolute block to protect an RDC on the main in
> CTC, also this would apply to a Sperry car not
> under track and time.
>
> This requirement would not apply to freights,
> since they should reliably shunt the track
> circuits and not give a false clear. WP might have
> had a special instruction requiring crews to
> always check in with the dispatcher at remote
> sidings before radio service became available.
>
> I recently saw somebody's recent timetable special
> instructions that had the absolute block provision
> if the total count of engines and cars was three
> or less.

The issue of single car occupation of a track in CTC is nothing new, and is the reason that many railroads have for years prohibited leaving a single car (such as a caboose) standing by itself in CTC territory. UP recently revised their existing rule on this very subject.