Here are two recent scans from 1978.
Walter Parks, operator of WJ Tower in Ridgewood hands up orders to a train pulled by a U30C.
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=212156&nseq=19
A few months later, a U28C leads an all U-Boat SERU at Haworth in poor light.
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=212175&nseq=0
Corrections are welcome.
Charles Freericks
Great photos as always.
Hooping up orders had to be an intimidating task. At Rantoul, IC had a little tower that held the two string hoops, but many places relied on the operator standing next to the track (as in the picture), sticks in hand, hoping he/she was just the right distance to get the orders to the crew, but not get clipped. I’m sure there was a designated speed for such activities, but something that big moving even at 10-15 mph is a bit overpowering.
It seems that in the final days of hooping, the practice generally uses a mechanical stand to hold the hoops. Earlier, the hoops were held by the hands of the operator. When did this practice of handing paper messages to trains on the fly begin?
Handing up order to the head end of a train was the easiest part of the process. Measure your distance from the near rail using the hoop a a measuring device…hold up the hoop and keep it steady for the person on the locomotive to reach his arm through the hoop to catch the string the orders were tied to. The head end would be operating at 30 MPH or less as required by the display of the Train Order Signal, which the head end crew had to acknowledge with a horn signal. Once the Head End go the orders, they would notch out and accelerate and the rear end would be going much faster than the head end. The hard part of the job was handing up to the rear end…trying to stand clear of the train, searching for the markers on the caboose, and then getting to the proper position to hand up to the rear end crew. You wanted to stand clear of the passing train as much as possible so as not the be struck by something dragging or sticking out from the side of the train (banding, chains, dunnage lumber etc.). There is a regular dust storm the accompanies a train as it moves and trying to shield your eyes from the dust and still be able to see the approach of the caboose was always a challenge. Passenger Trains were there own treat. Not only did you have to hand up to the Engineer and Conductor, but also the Baggageman. Handling 3 order sticks in the short time it took for a passenger train to pass was almost like juggling.
Gotta love those old GE’s…pug ugly, but clean utilitarian lines to them…they look like a diesel locomotive.
And trust me, it only takes getting whacked once and you learn exactly how far away from the train to stand…it becomes second nature, that and having a swivel neck to keep checking your blind side.
I work around moving trains all day, and even as slow as 3 or 4 mph, having a grab iron clip your shoulder hurts like all get out…those things are rock solid and don’t give one bit!
Hey Charles…classic work and imagery
Of the thousands of pics I took during the early eighties…I only have a few images of orders being hooped to a train…
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=204362&nseq=41
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=168536&nseq=137
Add in hoping that nobody flushed while the train passed by.
Heck - they hurt when the train is standing still…
I’ve been informed by a gentleman with much RR experience that hooping up orders had to start when the 19 Form Orders were introduced, as the prior 31 form orders required a conductor’s signature, clearly not obtainable on the fly.
So to answer the question, we need to find out when 19 Form Orders began.
TRAINS had a funny story about that several years ago, set shortly after the beginning of WWII when the RR’s were hiring women in large numbers. On the Seaboard somewhere in the Carolinas a new female operator-trainee reported for her first night’s work wearing a wraparound skirt. One of her tasks was to hoop up orders. On the first train to come by, the engineer didn’t observe the speed restriction and passed the station running like a striped ape. The wind from the passing train came close to undressing the poor woman. With the help of her trainer she was able to exact suitable revenge, but I’ve forgotten how. I’m guessing she wore pants after that.
IIRC, she set the board against his train and wasn’t there to hoop up orders. Once the hogger got his train stopped, he backed up to find out what the heck the problem was, and when she came out, she handed him clearance to pass the station and said something about wanting to see what something or another (an animal, IIRC) looked like…
He always passed at a leisurely pace after that.
Here’s another shot of some six-axle Conrail U-Boat action.
This is a CR blue U25C and U30C on the Chicago Line in 1978. I overexposed the shot… but it’s the only leading CR blue U25C I ever saw in my life.
http://freericks.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=963535
Cool shots!
Adrianspeeder
…I witnessed orders being “hooped” up here in Muncie, sometime I’d guess within the past 10 years…{Not sure, time gets away}, but it was on NS, New Castle line…I took a pic of the operation too but boy, I’d have to hunt for the pic. I remember being surprised as I saw it, that it was still being done.