Whistle Operations

When the time does come to finally run some trains on my layout, I will run them in a prototypical manner. With that said, I am not an expert, and definitely have zero experience when it comes to actual train operations. So I have some learning to do, but that is part of the fun. In my recent quest to uncover some family train history, my Aunt and Uncle came across some old documents that belonged to my Uncles father. I know he worked on the Chicago Rock Island & Pacific Railway in at least 1941-1942, and then was hired on with EJ&E. Beyond that I don't know specifics at this time, we will see what I can uncover in the future. My Aunt and Uncle were kind enough to give me some pay stubs, and an EJ&E time table.

The table went into effect in 1942. Once again, I love history, and its amazing to me how much can change over 70 years, but its also interesting what does not change. Reading through this time table was very interesting. When it comes to engine operation, the 40 page booklet started with this inside the front cover:

Still the same today as it was long before 1942. Doing some research I learned that the typical crossing signal of 2 long, 1 short, and 1 long is morse code for the letter Q. This whistle signal was used when the Queen of England was on board a ship at sea, and the signal was sounded to make other ships aware that the queen was on board, signaling a yield to other ships. This practice eventually became universally known as a signal to yield, and was somehow picked up by the railroad industry. I have no idea if this is the entire history of the signal or not, but it makes sense. Some other common signals are as follows:

1 short - stopping
1 long - approaching station
2 short - 10-4 or acknowledge
1 short 1 long - inspect train
2 long - proceed forward
3 short - proceed reverse
4 short - warning or get off tracks

There are many more but when it comes to running a layout, these are the signals that would be most used in operation. I will share more from the time table in the future.