Got your attention, relax, it is just a rehash of something old
Some time back there was a big fuss over the terms authority and permission as spoken by UP dispatchers. Note this just happened today, WEST of the Mississippi, CTC territory.
Situation: a local was at an industry and was working the industry as mainline freight were proceeding West (actually South) via signal indication
As the local wanted to obtain the main to return South to the depot, they sought authority to enter the main to proceed South and was granted AUTHORITY by the dispatcher.
For whatever reason the local had to make a reverse move while on the mainline. Since they were authorized to proceed South, this move would have been contrary to that and thus the dispatcher gave them PERMISSION to make the move in reverse of authority
boy, do I ever realize NOW there is a GCOR and the east coast guys w/NORAC
PS. for me, if I have similar moves, we’d get permission to open up at M.P. Whatever… then if we have to go back the other way, we get permission to reverse from where we stand at M.P. whatever to CP-Whatever.
PPS. before the 251 was replaced, and we were controlled by an operator, you’d get permission to flag yourself west.
Under the CROR you can be “authorized to enter [a main track] and proceed [in any direction]”.
If the switch faces away from the direction you will be proceeding it is still ok to enter, that move is cover by the “enter main track” portion of your authority.
The bit about reversing direction and flagging yourself to the next signal is also still in the CROR, but I have never seen it used and would be hard-pressed to come up with a scenario where it would be needed in today’s world.
The Authority is to occupy the main/controlled track. Permission is to do something under the authority you already have.
Theorectically, under GCOR you can make a reverse move without permission has long has the movement doesn’t exceed the limits of the block you occupy. That is, you can’t s