LIKE IT USED TO BE
A Country Depot Agent on the Missouri Pacific Railroad
handing up train orders to the Sunshine Special passenger train at an
old country depot, using a coal stove for heat; note the train order
semaphore in stop position which indicates to the train crew they have
train orders at that station. Although drawn as stickart, it is a likeness to what an old day railroad scene looked like.
The life of a country depot agent on the old "Telegrapher's Little Rock District" of the Missouri Pacific Railroad Co.
in the 1940 through the early 1960s era was interesting and sometimes
exciting, but never boring. The small towns revolved around the
activities of the railroad along with those of the post offices. Almost
everyone in the community sooner or later did some type of business
with the depot agent. Often it involved rail or bus tickets, Western
Union telegrams, small packages by LCL (Less than carload) or REA
Railway Express Agency as well as carloads being shipped or received.
In many of the small towns the depot had only one person
employed who was the agent except during World War ll ( 1941 - 1945 )
when there were so many trains that telegraphers (called train order
operators ) were employed around the clock. During that time additional
telegraphers were hired and worked various shifts and locations on the
railroad. Many women were employed during the war, staying on afterward
and often married railroaders. Some that I recall are Mr. & Mrs.
Lambert, he was depot agent in Bonita, La and she was agent at Jones,
La.; Mr & Mrs J T Murphree - Wilmot, Ark.;
Mr & Mrs Carpenter - Dumas, Ark ( Another that is remembered well
was A L Gordy who married a young lady from Iowa named Mary Alice
Wilson - Both worked at Galion), all these were agents or telegraphers
or both.
Qualifications for employment were a high school diploma, be 18 years of age and telegraph 15 words per minute
(the 15 WPM was waived during WWll); also be proficient in the book of rules which at that time was the
Uniform Code of Operating Rules.
Most prospective employees broke in (no pay for breaking in) with a
telegrapher for about 3 months before qualifying to be employed.
Some went to a private telegraphers school such as
the one in Chillicothe, MO. Each new operator had to own a standard
railroad pocket watch prior to going to work. Watches were inspected
monthly and time was checked each day either with the train dispatcher
or at 1100 AM by telegraph.
The agent usually opened the depot at 700 or 800 AM daily
except Sunday, the first thing he did was to let the train dispatcher
know he was there (train dispatchers were in Monroe, LA). He then
cleaned the depot, sweeping and dusting. If it was cold weather he
built a fire in the coal stove, boy did they put out the heat when they
got red hot. Next he checked the cars on various tracks in the town,
after asking permission from the dispatcher to be out of the office.
Every time the agent left the depot he had to obtain permission from
the dispatcher, if his station was a train order station and most of
them were. After checking the yard for cars, he then made out his car
report showing the location, time of arrival and other information on
each car.
During the day trains would pass the station and the
agent would go outside and watch them by, looking for things that would
be a safety hazard to the train such as hot boxes (over heated
journals), equipment dragging, brakes sticking, etc. If it was unsafe
he or she would flag the train as the caboose passed the depot,
otherwise the agent would give an OK sign ("highball") and then tell
the train dispatcher what time the train passed his station and if
anything was wrong. The terminology was ( "OS Dermott, Number 168 eng
1525 by at 715 PM")
Many times the train dispatcher would issue train orders for the passing train and the depot agent would copy them and hand them up
to the train with a device called a train order hoop, later a modified
form of a hoop ( shaped like a Y ) with a string holding the orders.
When train orders were copied and held for a train, the train order
semaphore would be displayed in stop position indicating to the train
that train orders were to be delivered and that the train could not
pass without them.
The agent or telegrapher had other duties, such as making
out freight reports, waybills, bills of lading, ticket sells and
reports, copying Western Union telegrams in Morse code, Railway Express
Agency shipments. People in those days shipped and received almost
everything by rail, pigs, chickens, sheep, cattle, mules, cotton,
cottonseed, logs, lumber, gravel, automobiles, fertilizer, dry goods,
groceries. Customers were constantly in and out of the depots. Travel
was by rail except for short distances when buses were used. The MoPac
owned bus lines also, and the agents sold bus tickets. It should be
noted that as late as 1953 and 1954 mules were still being shipped to
the army in Ft Leonardwood, Mo. Cattle and mules were easy to count
going into the cattle cars but sheep were very difficult. Try counting
125 sheep all trying to beat the others to get up the chute and into a
cattle car at one time.
Please see crossing safety file Crossing Safety
See pictures and text about an old depot DEPOTS
73's Cliff Satterfield