Hooping up Train Orders

(Update: dispatching with train orders on the Rock Island)

Marty Bernard shared a Roger Puta photo
 ATSF 30C (F3A) with The Grand Canyon stopping at Chillicothe, Illinois to pick up passengers and train orders on October 7, 1966.
Marty Bernard posted
[There are several comments about the paint job.]
Clifford Prather: In the mid 60s, until the down grading of the Grand Canyon in the Fall of 1967, all the overland passenger train into LA ran with 5 units.
Steve Rippeteau: No, by 1966 the F-3/F-7 units were getting worn out so along with a longer train with mail and express it would take the extra power to maintain 90 MPH maximum authorized speed over the entire route LA to Chicago. Plus they were “bell ringers”, as in alarm bell warning the engine crew there was a unit dying or dead.

John Holmes posted
Any further info on this? Year?
Saint John - The engineer of the Canadian Pacific diesel gets his orders passed up to him without stopping in this scene in CP's Dever Road yard many years ago. Photo by Byron Thomas.
Rae Crunkilton Roth: By 1969 the CPR had already started their new "Multi-Mark" logo...and by 1970, the retrievable hoop was replaced by the "Y" and string method to get orders up to the crew. And there are still roof walks on top of those cars...at least on the box car and, what looks like, the covered hopper...they started to weed them out in the early 1970s. The photo could be any time up to about 1971 or so...but the cap and coat indicate to me earlier...but that is just my observation based on what I know.
Claude Langlois: The leading engine was painted in Script in 66.There were no Cab units in Script prior to 65.
John Harbaruk: Did that a lot of times when I worked as an operator for the CP. The worst was in the winter going by you at 60 and you were trying to see the caboose through the flying snow so you don't miss the conductor.

 

Darren Reynold posted

The operator at "Miller" tower hands up train orders to 

WM Eng# 36 westbound..

Photo By: Mason Cooper (No Date)

Brian Vieck posted
Westbound picking up the orders from Alan House at Mt Vernon, IN.
From the collection of the late Alan K House
Dennis DeBruler shared

Michael Harrison posted
A woman hold's up train order hoop for rear end crew early 1980s on a SCL freight. Unknown location.

 

Thomas Dyrek posted
Grabbing orders at Pioneer on the Chicago & Northwestern on an unknown day in 1979. John and Roger Kujawa photo, Thomas Dyrek collection.
Dennis DeBruler shared

 

Stephen N. Branon posted
Catching orders on the fly from the caboose of a northbound GM&O freight at Murphysboro, Illinois.
Richard Fiedler shared

Mark Stoeckel: Former Alton “Santa Fe” style caboose

Cliff Kierstead shared

Timothy D. Sievern posted
Westbound Burlington Northern Railroad taking orders in Hodges, Montana, on July 10, 1980. Photograph by John F. Bjorklund, © 2015, Center for Railroad Photography and Art. Bjorklund-11-13-20

Gary Davenport: Did they ever miss grabbing the orders and if so, what happened then? 🤔

James McAllister: If the engineer missed them and the caboose caught them they would read them over the radio to the head end. the other way around if the caboose missed them. At times when making a pick up the agent would rack the list and bills up to the caboose. When a list and about fifty bills were racked up sometimes the string would break making a hell of a mess to chase down, I know.

Jason Hill: What was more painful was after the brakeman missed the first try. He'd often be pushed by the rest of the crew into being more aggressive on the next try and not miss... and then he'd hit his hand on the Y-staff holding the orders. Not a fun thing to do at speed! 😛

Jeffery Lowry: Had to stop and get them and a big ass chewing

Don Marshall posted
The light is starting to fade as 4194 heads east at Altamont while being hooped up orders by the tower operator. 8/81

Marty Bernard posted two photos with the comment:

Handing Up Orders at Rondout

Rondout Illinois is north of Chicago where the ex-Milwaukee Road's north/south mainline to Milwaukee crosses the ex-EJ&E more or less east/west line from Elgin to North Chicago, a suburb on Lake Michigan.  The Milwaukee's line to Fox Lake, IL (now Metra) and central Wisconsin branches off just north of the diamonds.  The abandoned Chicago North Shore and Milwaukee's branch (now a trail) to Mundelein flies over the Milwaukee just north of the diamonds and over the EJ&E a little farther east.

For additional detail see: https://www.dhke.com/CRJ/rondout.html

These two photos show the operator of Rondout Tower in June of 1977 handing up paper work to the EJ&E engineer and then conductor or rear brakeman rolling at maybe 25 mph across the diamonds.  I don't know if the paper work included Orders.  Note he is holding both loaded forks in first photo.

Marty Bernard shared

Bruce Harris: I used to grab orders at 50mph. Had to keep that speed going to dodge scoots.

Jonathan Schor: Bruce Harris And it is real fun handing up those orders - I did it on the old B&M. Really scary when these huge locomotives coming around a curve - and not slowing down a bit.

Bruce Harris: Jonathan Schor The tower operator did not hand them up by this point. He would climb a short set of stairs and have them in the hoop ready for us. He was safely back in the tower by the time we rolled through.

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MSW Media posted
A temporary block station attendant hands up written orders to an eastbound NS train at Lyons, PA in February 2001.
Mark S. Wurst shared
Christafer Darnell: Didn’t think that written orders were still being given out that way in the modern era. Great capture of the past and present. [I was also surprised that train orders made it into the 21st Century.]
Earl Hampton: I probably have written thousands of train orders while working at NE Tower in New Orleans from 1980 to 1993. Wonder if train orders are written anywhere anymore?

Lawrence Thomas posted via Dennis DeBruler
[This is from a depot agent rather than a tower operator.]

Some of the pictures labeled by "depot" and "towerJunction" in this and the Towns and Nature blogs include the activity of hooping up train orders by the agent or operator. I've come across some postings that don't have enough information to locate the tower, but have insight into hooping orders. I'm using this posting to collect these hooping oriented photos.

The above photo shows that it can be quite a reach when it is done manually. Also, it appears the engineer is trying to grab the papers themselves. Normally, the engineer was supposed to aim at getting his arm in the middle of the hoop, a much bigger target. The string that holds the paper goes down both arms of the holder as well as across the end to make a triangle of string that holds the orders. Looking at the engineer's hand again, Don is probably using a telephoto lens, which compresses distances. The engineer's hand is probably still going down so it will be below the top string by the time the hand reaches the hoop.

Steven J. Brown posted the following two photos with the comment: "Iowa Interstate Paducah GP8 7979 approaches the Ottawa depot. The agent waits then hands orders up to the fireman - March 1986." The fireman has a closed fist instead of an open hand, so he definitely is aiming to get his arm through the middle of the hoop rather than try to grab the papers across the top.

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Mark LLanuza's 1983 photo in Tolono, IL, shows that both railroads used an Iron Man to improve the efficiency and safety of the tower operator. The Iron Man in the center of the photo would be for the NS/NW/Wabash whereas the Iron Man to the right of the train order semaphores would be for the CN/IC.
Another example of an ironman:

Stephen N. Brannon posted
Order Board is set and Orders are hung on the forks for a northbound GM&O at Ridgely Tower, Springfield, Illinois where the GM&O St. Louis-Chicago main crossed the C&IM.
Richard Fiedler shared

Stephen N. Brannon posted to Railroad Train Orders
Summer issue of Classic Trains Magazine just arrived including this photo of the Wabash Cannon Ball about to cross the north-south double track main of the IC at Tolono, Illinois with the fireman preparing to snag the orders.
Richard Fiedler shared

Patrick Hansen: Look like only one engine?

Ken Durkel posted
Eastbound grabbing orders at Pine, Gary, Indiana. Train is just leaving the B&OCT and an arm is extended to grab the orders on the fly. 
This was taken in the summer of 1986, and was a transitional time for cabooses. There is only one set of orders for this train, indicating no caboose. 
But there are also orders already up for a westbound, and that side clearly has two sets of orders, so will have a caboose.

Update:

William Billson posted
Mark Hinsdale Bethpage NY

I'll bet the person that specified that wooden platform was a "safety expert" who sat behind a desk and never tried hooping orders himself. The platform needs to be about a couple feet closer to the track. And if you are going to make a platform, make it higher. That is the longest stretch by the tower operator and engineer that I have seen so far.

Wayne Hudak posted

A westbound picking up orders at Porter Indiana Tower. You can tell this train still has a caboose due to a lower set of orders. Less than a year, Porter Tower would be gone.

Photo ©1984
[This is a different style of hoop holder than we have been seing.]

A comment in a Carl Wilson posting indicated that an elephant once got the train orders at Brinkley, AR.

Rochard Koenig posted a crew member waiting for an ICG train in Bloomington, IN, before reaching up the orders.

Raymond Story posted a tower operator holding the orders for a cab unit.

Marty Bernard posted a Roger Puta photo
This has got to be one of, if not, Roger Puta's best. Here is his caption, "Operator at White Heath, Ill. handing up train orders addressed to conductor of IC freight which is Champaign bound." 
He took this on May 6, 1966 just before he would receive his bachelors degree at U of I. White Heath is about 10 miles west of Champaign.
Because the light does not penetrate very far into the darkness and because of the sharp shadow of the fork, it looks like he used one strobe. The blur says he used a slow shutter speed, maybe 1/25 th of a second. It's a Kodachrome II slide.
It made my day when I found it yesterday. It deserves to be viewed full screen.
[This shows that it was a lot easier for the tower operator to hold the hoop for the conductor than for the engineer. ]

Phil McCall shared
[The comments discuss that the Monticello Railway Museum now owns this track and the local depot.]
Randy James posted
Dennis DeBruler shared
Chuck Jetton: What happened if you fumbled? Stop and back up?
Bryan Russell: Chuck Jetton they rarely backed up to get the orders, but they would usually stop (although sometimes if the engine missed the orders but the caboose got them they would just radio back and see what the orders were). Often times the operator would walk toward the caboose (pr engine) to meet the crew member walking back to retrieve the missed orders.

Marty Bernard shared

Charles Ritchie updated
Dad was a telegraph operator/chief clerk for the Illinois Central RR for almost 40 years.

Edward Wayne Bridges posted
TRAIN ORDERS ON THE FLY

Edward Wayne Bridges posted
TRAIN ORDERS ON THE FLY

Laird Barber posted as part of a collection
EB ICG GP-10 #8075 picks up orders in Rockford, IL. October, 1977.
[Note the paper is by the elbow and the string is still flapping around. Also, because of the lantern, he is not holding onto anything. Note that the photo clearly shows a poling pocket.]

 

Rob Conway posted

Has it really been three years since this incredible photo was taken? Man, how time flies!

Brandon McShane I'd guess more like 30 years.

Mike Polsgrove Maybe even 35-40!

[Since this was posted in a Rondout group, I assume this photo was taken at Rondout Tower.]

Steven J. Brown posted two photos:

1: Soo Line West Line westbound grabbing orders at Tower B17 in Bensenville, Illinois - May 6, 1988

2: Soo Line West Line westbound grabbing orders at Tower B17 in Bensenville, Illinois - May 6, 1988.
The guy grabbing has been identified as Conductor John Hensley

Since the Milwaukee used the CB&Q tracks through Rochelle, IL, it makes sense that they used the CB&Q Depot.

Mark Llanuza posted
Milwaukee Road's Mendota job is getting train order's at Rochelle Il station from the BN agent.

David Daruszka posted
I guess the southbound Flyer is running late.
[Bill Molony recreates a station agent being ready to hoop-up train orders at the preserved Wabash Symerton Depot.]
Dennis DeBruler commented on a post.

Brian Skrabutenas posted (source)
[It looks like the engineer had to stretch to get those orders.]

Northern Ohio Railway Museum posted
We continue with pioneering women in the rail world during Women's History month.
Leah Rosenfeld was born in California in 1908.  As a teenager she worked as a clerk in a law firm.  In the fall 0f 1944 she was employed by the Southern Pacific Railroad as a telegrapher and station agent.  Railroads at the time were hiring many women during World War II.  Later she worked at one-operator stations.  Eleven years later a position for an agent/telegrapher was available and with her with her ten years of seniority she applied.  The railroad denied that promotion due to the “women’s Protective  laws”.  Railroad workers though were covered by the federal Railroad Labor Act.   For over a decade she applied for many positions and was always turned down and the job given to people with less seniority.  In 1966, when Leah was denied for the fourth time, she asked for assistance from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.  The Commission encouraged her to sue the railroad.  The court ruled in her favor in August of 1968.  Southern Pacific appealed.  Three years later the Ninth Court of Appeals upheld the original decision.  Her attorney was quoted as saying “ You must realize that you were a pioneer in the battle for sex equality and you made legal history.”
Thomas Wentzel shared

Jerry Jackson posted two photos with the comment: "TwoferTuesday. SOO LINE 6014 West picks up their train orders in classic style from tower B-17, Bensenville, IL 1989."

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Charlie Whipp posted
Grand Trunk Western operator George Gall hands "down" orders to the GTW Extra 5829 West on the Mount Clemens Sub. at Tappan tower in Port Huron on Feb. 2, 1985, three weeks before Tappan was closed. The tail end received their orders in a like manner. The line that the front trucks of the 5829 is on is that of the C&O's Port Huron Sub., now gone from the rail scene in Michigan. Interesting tidbit: Years after this photo was made, the CN changed the operating directions for this Subdivision to North-South to more logically reflect the actual map.
[This is the first time I have seen train orders "hooped down" instead of "hooped up."]

Steve LaConte posted
B&O 7610 picking up orders at South Lima, Oh. 05-09-1981

Jim Arvites posted
Memories of a bygone era. Tower operator hands orders to crews of Soo Line steam engine at Rondout, Illinois. But this photo was taken last Sunday (August 19, 2017) at Rondout of Soo Line Steam Engine 1003 enroute between Chicago and Janesville. Wisconsin.
(Keith Pokorny Photos)
Jim Arvites Rondout Tower has been closed for a couple of years. Individual in picture is former tower operator Jeff Varney.

Steven J. Brown commented on the above posting
Opposite view of the same moment!

Ken Jamin posted
Here I am at Rondout tower, handing up the routine register check to a Milw RR commuter train, as it enters the Fox Lake Subdivn. Note the fusee in my hip pocket. Having a fusee "in [my] possession" was required by the rules when inspecting a passing train. The tower is closed, the loco is at IRM and I have the short train order "hoop" I'm holding in my left hand. So all three of us are "preserved." - Bill Christopher photo @ 1976.
[There are many comments that provide insight into railroad operations. It is well worth clicking the "posted" link and reading them.]

Jeffrey Schackart posted
[This post has some comments about how dangerous this job could be.]

Dennis DeBruler posted

Hooping up train orders to the conductor.

LC-USW3-021136-E

https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2017848761/

"DALIES, NEW MEXICO. CONDUCTOR C.W. TEVIS PICKING UP A MESSAGE FROM A WOMAN OPERATOR ON THE ATCHISON, TOPEKA AND SANTA FE RAILROAD BETWEEN BELEN AND GALLUP, NEW MEXICO"

When I read that the tower operator was a woman, I checked the date. Sure enough, this was during WWII.

Sam Carlson posted two photos of Ken Jamin hooping orders with the comment:

Here's something you rarely see anymore - orders being handed up to a train. We're at Rondout, IL in August, 1987; the train is eastbound headed west, and the handsome devil on the point is running backwards, making handing the orders up a more tricky proposition.

Ken Jamin Handing up to a unit running long end first is no different then heading up to one of the old center cab locomotives the EJE had. Actually it was easier because the center cab locomotives had a higher cab and I always had to stand just a little bit closer to the engine than I liked.

Dennis DeBruler shared with the comment:

Just a couple of weeks ago I shared a photo of Ken hooping orders to a Milwaukee train. Now he is serving the EJ&E at Rondout Tower. Sam's comment of an "eastbound headed west" made me think for a few seconds. Then I realized that "eastbound" was the timecard direction but "west" is the geographical direction. Since Roudout is on the north side of the metro area, https://www.google.com/…/@42.2893026,-87.9241…/data=!3m1!1e3, the directions are reversed.
Since most of the beltway railroads run about as much north/south as they do east/west, I asked a couple years ago about the timecard direction. I believe BRC, IHB and EJ&E all use east/west. I have read that CN uses north/south. So is a train going from Joliet Yard to Kirk Yard on the Matteson Subdivision going north or south?

Mark Nieting Now the J is single tracked there and the famous EJ&E manhole cover must be in someone's collection (I hope).
Dennis DeBruler http://www.railpictures.net/photo/576811/
Dave Ladislas Sr. commented: "Our GT pig trains would leave Mkm [Markham].,go thru Matteson to Gary,then N. to Canada.Our WC pig trains would leave,hit Matteson,then W. to Joliet and N. to Wisc. "

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Dennis Stanczak posted
Handing up the orders at KO Tower, Lake Forest IL on the C&NW New Line. This was from 1978 or 1979 and remains one of my favorite photos from my youth.
[At first I though the conductor did the mistake of trying to grab the orders rather than put his arm through the string hoop. But then I looked closer. He is so efficient that while he hooped the string with his left arm, he is already getting the orders off the string with his right hand.]

Cathy Lastiwka posted two photos with the comment: "Remember this?"
Al Lougheed Yup, getting that close to a moving loco made something pucker!
David Laird Al Lougheed I am amazed that I never took out an eye of a engineer. If the train was going too fast I would just walk away. The train would have to stop. Too Bad. I was worried about something sticking out and taking me out.
Larry Munson Especially on a icy platform..... 
Roger Edington Hey I recognizance that location in the photo, Nassau Tower in Mineola,NY. Soon to be removed when the 3rd track is installed, there is group trying to save the tower.
Charles Adkins Yes did that lots of times from the caboose and eng. At hi speed 50 + miles per hour.
Buddy Simons I used to hand up cups of coffee tied with train order string off the high speeder.... They got most of it!

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[It looks like the engineer is trying to grab the orders directly rather than hoop the string with his arm. NBut nne of the comments mentioned the engineer using bad technique.]

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Chicago Odyssey 1 Screenshot @ -4:05
[JO Tower]

Mark Llanuza posted
Its Sept 1976 I'm at Adams Tower just east of Fort Wayne on the former PRR with the tower man giving out train order's to this eastbound.

Paul Lutz posted
Warsaw tower operator Royce Burke hands up orders to an eastbound.

Mairk Hinsdale posted

"Handing Them Up"

"Throwing back" nearly 46 years, to a beautiful June, 1973 afternoon, when the operator at "SJ" Tower in Lima OH handed up orders to the engineer of a southbound Detroit Toledo & Ironton manifest freight. "SJ" was situated on Lima's southeast side and protected the crossing of DT&I and the Erie Lackawanna main line. Today, DT&I successor Indiana & Ohio still remains here, but "SJ Tower and the once busy EL are long gone. June, 1973 photo by Mark Hinsdale

Michael Matalis shared
Marc Malnekoff And if the crew didn't like the operator the tossed the train order fork down further away!
Bob Chaparro posted
I found this photo on-line. Photo information subsequently was provided by Glen Icanberry...
"Don Sims took this photo. Chard Walker was handing up orders to "The Chief" at Summit. The photo has been used by Santa Fe in several publications. An 11x14 is hanging on the wall, inside the telegraph office, at the San Bernardino History & RR Museum. Another framed copy was displayed at Chard's memorial, which hangs on my apartment wall. Both prints were obtained from Don Sims."
Bill Nimmo how fast would the train have been going when those orders were grabbed? anyone know?
Al Lyman Bill Nimmo I picked up orders at York NE at 80

Carl Venzke posted
Pennsylvania Railroad operator hoops up train orders to crew of a northbound coal train, Trout Run, Pennsylvania (1956) Jim Shaughnessy photo
Michael Caloroso Do I see a grade crossing guardman at extreme right?
[This is how it was done before they invented putting a string into a forked holder. The operator would then have to walk down the track to pick up the hoop that the crew drops after they remove the train orders.. I read a comment on another post that if the crew did not like the operator, they would delay dropping the hoop.]

Illinois Central Railroad Scrapbook posted

An IC company photographer climbed atop a baggage car in 1950 to capture this view of the southbound "City of Miami" snaking around a curve in Jackson, TN. A pair of E7A's are pulling the train, which is about to cross Sycamore Street. IC's Mississippi Division was headquartered in the large white building to the right, and an operator has come out to hand up train orders to the engine crew.

Meanwhile, a northbound freight powered by 2-8-2 1375 has stopped short of the crossing and is waiting for the "City" to clear. The coal bunker on 1375 is filled to the max. At the I.C. Cafe, on the left side of the photo, a small group of men are watching the action.

Nearly everything in this scene is gone. The "City of Miami" quit running in 1971 when Amtrak took over IC's intercity passenger service. The E7A's have long since been scrapped, while Mikado 1375 was retired in 1959 and scrapped. In 1988 the ICG sold its Fulton, KY-Birmingham, AL line to Norfolk Southern. Traffic on this route was moved onto other tracks through Jackson, and the tracks in this photo have been pulled up. The I.C. Cafe is long gone, but the division office still stands, though, and is home to a law office.

As noted earlier, this photo was taken by an IC company photographer. However, back in those days, if you acted responsibly and used common sense, many railroaders (but not railroad bulls!) would allow you to climb on top of cars, buildings, etc., to take photos. If you fell off, well, it was your own fault and you're on your own. Today, you'd never be allowed to climb atop cars like this, and if you got caught you'd be thrown off the property and/or arrested. And if someone fell off, they'd probably go running to a lawyer, claiming the railroad should have stopped them from climbing up there.

IC photo, Cliff Downey collection.
George Googe Nice to see this shot of my office posted! I moved the Public Defender's office here in July 2003 after a major tornado hit Jackson in May. It is on the National Register of Historic Places, and still wears the name "Illinois Central Railroad Division Offices."Dennis DeBruler  https://www.google.com/.../@35.6112718,-88.../data=!3m1!1e

Sam Carlson posted
Orders are being grabbed from EJ&E caboose 539 at Chicago Heights, IL, on June 24, 1982.
Charles Heraver That is a fairly substantial order stand.
Dennis DeBruler It's nice seeing a conductor in action. Most of the photos in my "train hooping" notes are of the engineer getting the orders.

John J Kulidas posted
Bryan Preslar: Started for the NS in 1976. They were still getting orders like this. Seems like one like the one pictured, ND one a little higher for head Loco.

Michael Riha posted three photos with the comment:

Picking Up Orders: Earlier this year, I attended an open house at a restored depot. One of the artifacts that the visitors found most interesting were the train order hoops the agent would use to hand paper orders to the crews on trains as they went by...in an era of wireless networks, this most basic method passing a message seems quite the novelty.
But they ran a railroad doing it this way. On a slightly overcast day in 1977, a westbound Rock Island freight on the main accelerates and picks up their orders at Blue Island's Vermont Street. (Photos by my late father, John.)

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Brian Watt commented on Michael's post

Sam Carlson posted
There was talk here about the bells bottoms that were in style back when there was no question who wore the pants in a family. Here's a Rondout operator in maroon bells, handing up order to a scoot in May, 1976.
Ken Jamin I had a pair like that but that’s not me and it doesn’t look like the regular RO oprs in 76. (Ed, Joe, Don and I) maybe Merlin Nelsen filling in?
Ken Jamin And it looks like there’s no orders in the hoop! What’s with that?
Sam CarlsonAuthor I zoomed in on it, and it sure doesn't look like there's any orders there. And I don't see anything on the bricks anywhere. Yeah, what is with that?
Tom Stone Looks like Merlin
Ed Fehrman ya prob Merlin

American-Rails.com posted
The operator at White Heath, Illinois hands orders to the conductor of a passing Illinois Central freight bound for nearby Champaign on May 6, 1966. Roger Puta photo.
Bill Molony shared
Don Meyer: That wasn’t as easy as it appears depending on speed, weather, personnel.

 

American-Rails.com posted
The old art of grabbing train orders is demonstrated here by an Illinois Central Gulf crewman on caboose #199456 as part of a northbound freight crossing the Norfolk & Western diamond at Tolono, Illinois on August 4, 1982. Jack Kuiphoff photo.
Greg Phelps In the mid-seventies I handed up train 🚂 orders with a forked stick! Had to stand close beside the train and hand up to the engineer, step back and then also hand up to the conductor on the caboose! At Horse Branch, KY handing up to a North bound coal train coming down a hill and around a curve at 60+ miles per hour! The engines would get to swaying so much you could read all of the number plates on the locomotives, six of them! First time I did this was a bit scary!
Justin Gillespie What happened when they missed or dropped it on a busy main line like that?
Terry Taylor The head brakeman , if it was the headend, or rear brakeman if it was the caboose started walking back and the operator ran toward the train knowing the dispatcher was going to eat his rear out for delaying the train and probably messing up his meet, whether it was his fault, or not.
Michael Megee My first time . . . I tried to grab it with my hand. I ended up walking/running about 1/2 mile each way to retrieve them.
Dan E. Brodigan Don't miss, or there's hell to pay!

Todd A. Warrick shared
Norm Alexander Pic is a great demonstration of why those IC cabooses were so long. Conductor has a level covered platform with a railing to stand behind when snagging orders. I understand those buggies gave a nice ride too.
Mark Rickert They got tired of losing crew out the side door overreaching.

Dennis DeBruler shared
Thomas Kaufman: Having done what the trainman i doing on the caboose, I can tell you all it is not as easy as it looks, lol.

Ken Jamin posted [to the Rondout Junction group]
A friend just sent me this photo. Anyone recognize the opr?
[Lloyd Weigert, around 1987]

Ira Silverman posted two photos with the comment: "Hobart IN 1970."

This is a rail workers group. There were 253 comments. I'm not going to bother to read them.

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Brian Vieck posted via Dennis DeBruler

Robert Jordan posted
May 1968 PC(NYC)Eastbound at Pence Tower(MJ), crossing C & EI. Momence, Il. Kankakee Belt, Terry Norton Photo.
Charles Heraver: Interesting train order board.
Robert Jordan: Charles Heraver Train Order Rule 221(C) I am told.
Dennis DeBruler: I've seen several action shots of train orders being manually hooped up, but this is the first one I've seen that shows an Iron Man in action. Of course, the lower hoop is for the conductor.

Steven J. Brown posted via Dennis DeBruler

John McQuigg posted
NYC 21629 receiving orders. This is a purchased slide with no information, but was likely photographed in the late 60's.

Dale V Rockwell posted
In 1970 No. 171 was the last of three Camden to DC weekday commuter trains. It was a single car train and had to slow to 30mph at all road crossings. On mornings where a late running CHICAGOAN was behind 171 it would receive a Train Order allowing it to run against the current of traffic from JD Tower to "WAS F Tower".. On this particular morning operator Johnny Sim does the honors. After years at busy QN Tower in DC John finally got 1st trick here at JD. He was this 19-year-old rookie's morning relief, and one terrific guy!!! Friendly, funny, helpful and VERY knowledgeable. (About the INSIDE too! 😜)

 

Doug South posted
This was dad at benwood depot in the early 50's

Malachi Brazzel posted
L&N 1602 arriving in Bedford May, 29th 1977
Taken from Lawrence county then and now
Jay Runkle: Crossing flashers on the order board, interesting...
[Note that the agent at the L&N/Monon depot is hooping up orders.]

Marty Bernard posted
Judd Tower, La Porte, IN, June 1988, Karl Miller photo. Note the train order hoops. The forks are there too. So to hand up orders to a passing train the tower operator came down from the tower with two strings and two sets of orders and fastened them to the forks then set the higher fork for the engineer to grab the orders and the lower one for the conductor to grab.

Bill Neill posted

Here's another occupational hazard for operators handing up train orders.  Look at the operator handing up to the head end of the IC passenger train as a freight train approaches from the opposite direction.

Given that the operator has two more sets of orders to deliver to the passenger train, he'll be literally trapped between the two trains.  And, given the physical position of the fireman or brakeman on the freight train, I have to wonder if he's going to p/u orders here, also.  If so, the opr will be truly vulnerable.

[Bill should have read the text he copy&pasted below because the freight train is not moving.]

Click on the image to enlarge it.

Here's additional text accompanying the photo in its original posting:

An IC company photographer climbed atop a baggage car in 1950 to capture this view of the southbound "City of Miami" snaking around a curve on the south side of Jackson, TN. A pair of E7A's are pulling the train, which is about to cross Sycamore Street. IC's Mississippi Division was headquartered in the large white building to the right, and an operator has come out to hand up train orders to the engine crew. At the I.C. Cafe, on the left side of the photo, a small group of men are watching the action.

Meanwhile, a northbound freight powered by 2-8-2 1375 has stopped short of the crossing and is waiting for the "City" to clear. 1375's tender had been filled to the brim at IC's Jackson roundhouse, which is behind the photographer and on the west side of the tracks.

The division office still stands, and now houses a public defender's office, but otherwise everything that is railroad-related in this photo is long gone. Mikado 1375 was retired in 1959 and scrapped. In the mid-1960's the U.S. 45 Bypass was built around the west side of Jackson, with an overpass over the IC tracks. The bypass was built roughly 25 yards north of the division office. The "City of Miami" quit running in 1971 when Amtrak took over IC's intercity passenger service. and those E7A's have long since been scrapped. The roundhouse was torn down in the late 1960's/early 1970's, but the foundation can clearly be see in satellite photos.

In 1988 the ICG sold its Fulton, KY-Birmingham, AL line to Norfolk Southern. Traffic on this route was moved onto other tracks through Jackson, and the tracks in this photo have been pulled up.

Zachary C. gillihan posted six photos with the comment: "All, curious if anyone knows a few things about the B&O train order signals, normally red and yellow lamps on either side for night indication and then a blank spot for a red or yellow piece of metal for day indications. Anyone have an example of these plates for measurements? As well I assume* that each side were controlled separately; anyone know was there 4 light switches? Two yellow for either side and 2 for red either side? Or was it 1 switch for red and another for yellow? Anyone know what they used to control them with???"

Gregg Gary: On the Akron-Chicago divn, the train order signal was lit either red or yellow and we had to display the appropriate colored board as well.

Jon Roma: The B&O train order signals I recall simply had white light(s) that illuminated whatever color board was hanging on the background.

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A conductor on the extended platform of an IC caboose spearing the orders from an ironman

Waybills are being grabbed in Tolono, IL.

Flickr photo at Rondout Tower.

There is a video of a hooping operation as a comment in this posting of three pictures of a train hoop. Skip the first 30 seconds unless you really like hearing train horns.

There are a couple of photos of hooping up to the engineer in Portage Tower.