Anyone have an electronic copy of the SCOR to share?
I’m getting serious in designing a turn-of-the-Century operations based layout, and am hunting for resources to give me relevant data on that era.
Crews
If you’re referring to the turn of the 20th century, THE authority is Rights of Trains by Peter Josserand, a 1959 re-edit of a 1907 original. Not only the rules, but everything you would want to know about interpreting them, by the Western Pacific dispatcher who was THE authority on the subject.
I bought mine in paperback at Steamtown several years ago. Might be available on Amazon.
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
Rights of Trains is available from the publisher, Simmons-Boardman at www.transalert.com
In the early 1900’s the rule books changed significantly from the late 1800’s rules to the rules that lasted through the 1980’s. The current edition of "rights of Trains’ is a circa 1950’s era book. An easy way to spot a circa 1890-1905 rule book is to look at the forms of train orders. That era used the what I call the “international” forms. All the cities in the examples are international cities (Run extra Berber to Gaza, NYC&HR RR, 1902). After the “modern” rule book was made, they used letters (Run extra A to G, NYC RR 1956).
I don’t know of an on line copy of the earlier code (there might be one, just don’t know about it).
If you cruise EBay you can find 1900 era rule books for under $20.
Dave H.
Thanks, y’all,
$34.00 sounds pretty good if it has old data (and yes, I am referring to late 1800 and early 1900’s). I see used copies dating to the 50’s are going for $60.00 so I suppose the current version uses current rule books.
I cannot locate rule books addressing my era on eBay just now.
My great-grandfather worked for the railroad in those days. I am picturing what happened to his rule book and timetables as something like this:
“What is in that box?”
“Oh, it looks like just a bunch of your grand-father’s old work documents. Put that box in the trash pile.”
And while my parents had this discussion in the attic, I was undoubtedly downstairs playing on the rug with my trains.
Crews
No the “current” edition of Josserand is the 5th edition, copyrighted in 1957. Josserand has nothing about current rule books and does not address late 1800’s or early 1900’s rule books.
Current rule books do not use rules anything like what Josserand is talking about. those rules essentially died in the mid 1980’s when they were replaced with radically different modern rule books (such as the GCOR used by roads west of the Mississippi.)
Someplace I have a Word document where I transcribed the Philadelphia and Reading 1876 rules, which are also completely different from what Josserand is talking about and from the SCOR.
I cannot locate rule books addressing my era on eBay just now.
Dave H.
I would be interested in that Word doc. As for the SCOR, I was under the impression that it was begun in the late 1880’s-- 1887 I think.
Crews
The standard code was in the late 1800’s. In the early 1900’s they rewrote it, changed the rule numbers, changed some of the rules. So while the basics may be essentialy the same, the rule numbers won’t be. Josserand uses the more modern numbering system of the rule books in effect in the 1950’s, when the book was updated. So while the concepts are the same if you directly compare rule numbers in Josserand and an 1890 SCOR, they won’t match. Similarly when they rewrote the rule books in the 1980’s they completely renumberd and reorganized the rules, as well as creating completely new rules. So will some of the concepts are the same, you can’t directly compare Josserand to a 1985 GCOR.
Send me a email or PM with your e-mail address and I will send you the 1876 rules.
Dave H.