by Keith MacCauley
While no longer standing line side, I do recall seeing the little black pole mounted boxes with a phone symbol. Over the years I never gave them much thought. Who could one call? When did they disappear? No doubt they were connected to the line side pole mounted wires, now also gone (of course the poles and wires have been replaced by buried fiber optic cable, albeit for a different purpose).
Some help from George filled me in; ‘one would go down to the phone and call the dispatcher to get permission (a rule 564) by the signal when it was red and the dispatcher could also not set the switch route properly. There was 564 or 566 forms in the box to fill and take back to the engineman once completed or read back to him. At that time the radios were not used to contact dispatchers to take these forms. Almost every control point had a dispatcher boxes.’ So who did one contact by radio? Again, some help from George; ‘ radios are used for talking to train crews, section crews, yardmaster, car control and for the dispatcher to call. Things have changed most of the guys use their cell phones to make a lot of the calls required. I did not have a cell to use till after I retired although many of the conductors did. Not a lot of paper work to do also by the time I left...everything was on the computer including booking on and off duty which once was done on a paper ticket. The phone boxes were later used to hold bills and journals at locations lifts were made or setoff such as Paris Jct. BIT yard and Aldershot.
What about GP40-2L(W) CN 9427? The venerable ‘Safety’ cab equipped unit left GMDD London in May of 1974 and is still active on the railway; now equipped with remote control gear, ditch light and ‘Peeling Paint’ dress. While high priority intermodals and hot shot freights were early assignments, current duties appear to be mostly locals. Another long gone? The generous smoke cloud generated by the turbocharged 645 prime mover!
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| The phone box in a cropped view. |
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