The Lucin Cut-off is interesting, first because when the two lines met at Promintory there were MP’s from Omaha and from Sacremento that were so divergent some adjustment or explanation would be needed ‘if indeed MP’s were utilized in operations’ at that time’.
I presume that each RR created a solution to the given situation when new routes were created which diverted from and then rejoined an existing or a different route; with the objective to minimize confusion and to make the adjustment as inexpensive aspossible.
Equations or short/long miles and a timetable change.
Line changes don’t happen overnight, you’ve got time to plan how to cover the change. Mileposts in the field are just signs and they tend to wander. (The true location of the milepost is a theoretical location on a map - really confused? call out da mudchickens to mark the exact spot.)
Sat in more than one investigation where operating people argued semantics over position of Slow orders and Form B boards … kinda weird and wonky discussions. [D)]
Regarding slow order flags, if there are no flags in place and the area is not outlined by some other identifiable location (mileposts etc) we are expected to use the locomotive’s distance counter to find the start/end points. 0.1 miles = 528 feet, right?
Actual location for board placement seems to be up to a lot of discretion and interpretation. For example, a board that needs to be placed at MP 100.1 is only 50 feet beyond the actual mile post. That creative placement happens quite often. Unless the board location is an actual mile post or quarter post location, I’ll allow a little lee way for placement. If it’s too much of a stretch, it’s an unannounced yellow board.
We have about three large line changes on the west end of my working district. Only one was enough to require the mileage equation. The others were handled through longer or shorter miles. One of those resulted in a mile that’s about 3/4 of a fegular mile. Once as a conductor, I had student conductor doing his ojt. One feature most modern locomotives have is a “measured mile” timing feature. It’s a timer that calculates your average speed between mile posts. It’s used to check your speedometer. I decided to show this student how to use this feature on this short mile. Of course, the student didn’t know it wasn’t a short mile. We were just under our maximum speed when we timed the mile. I had the student concerned a bit when the feature said our speed was about 15 or so mph above what the speedometer was reading.
Then there’s the story in the anthology A Treasury of Railroad Folklore, by Botkin and Harlow: A track foreman was ordered to build a section house halfway between 2 mileposts. He built it, but then a few days later an official came along and measured the distances between the mileposts and the section house, and found that it was a couple of hundred feet closer to one milepost than the other. So he ordered the foreman to locate the section house exactly halfway between the mileposts.
A few days said worthy official came by again, and asked the foreman if the section house was exactly halfway between the mileposts, and the foreman said that it was. So the official then asked if he’s taken the section house apart, moved it, and then rebuilt it? The foreman said no, he wouldn’t waste the time to do all that work - he just moved one of the mileposts instead!