Which rulebook does CSX use in the Northern Indiana area? Does NS use the same?
Ed
ns would have a different rulebook than csx.each district on csx has a book assigned to it.This is due to the diffent industries and crossings each district have.Csx’s book would be Garrett west.Another book for CSX would be a Barr yard or Chicago district.
stay safe
Joe
Hi, Ed! A belated welcome back!
NS and CSX would have different operating rule books that cover their entire systems. I suspect that what Joe is referring to are the employee timetables for each district. Timetables are published more often than rulebooks, and usually contain changes in the rulebook.
On UP, we had an intermediate level: a book of System Special Instructions that comes out every year or so. This has the operating rule changes, the signal rules, and other such things that distinguish UP rules from those of other railroads that use the General Code of Operating Rules (I presume BNSF does the same thing, since they’re also a GCOR railroad). Timetables are issued as needed on each division…it used to be as schedules changed, but not many schedules are shown in these timetables any more. So they change at the management’s whim, when the sheaf of general orders and so on modifying the rules, timetables, and special instructions gets too thick.
Hey Carl and Joe:
Thanks for the responses. I have a couple old copies of the CSX ETT. Quite a collection of stuff for those interested in RR operations and such.
I should have been a bit more specific…while UP uses GCOR rules, what does CSX and NS use in the east? It seems the western carriers use the GCOR.
I did find a CSX book of rules online and it went into quite a bit of detail, but I was under the impression they used a NORAC (or something like that).
Ed
Joe -
You are confusing the Divisional Timetables with the Rule Book. CSX has a single rule book that applies to the entire CSX System. Sections of the book of rules are written with NORAC rules and these rules are implemented by Timetable Special Instruction on appropriate Subdivisions where those rules apply, which is nominally most of the territory that was obtained in the ConRail split.
I’ve got copies of both the CSX rules and the ETT, in each case the most recently superceded versions, so they’re a little out of date.
The CSX lines that came from Conrail did run on NORAC for a while after the split. To the best of my knowledge, all of those lines are under the CSX rules now.
While everyone seems to have their own rulebook, I think you’ll find that most of the rules are essentially the same. Only the names have changed.
For what ever reason, both CSX and NS chose to abandon NORAC and maintain their own individual Books of Rules. It’s a real pain, because I have to be qualified on 3 Books of Rules (CSX, NS and NORAC) to work certain jobs.
Nick
Larry, you seem to be a little low on the totem pole, since you do not get the new issues.[:)]
Even worse was the status of agents at smaller stations when it came to receiving their copies of the Guide–a big wheel on the division would receive the new issue; when he received the next issue the previous issue would go to someone less important, and so on down to the end of the chain in a small town–where a bothersome kid could pick up the immediately superceded issue (about six months old) when the latest for that station came in. The boy could also get old ETT’s, which gave him information on the operation of that division.
Since I don’t run on CSX, current is not an issue. A friend who runs on a short line that also uses CSX trackage provides the hand-me-downs. The ETT also covers a line that runs near me, so I get to see what’s up and some other background info.
My copy of NORAC, on the other hand, it right up-to-date, as it should be.