Nomad of Mid-America
Lines of Another Time
Rows of glass knobs eight abreast, surprisingly intact despite their long obsolescence, cling to the single arm poles lining the Milwaukee Road's Iowa mainline as far as the eye can see. Endless strands of wire that once stretched continuously from Kansas City to Chicago are no longer present, save for the few miscellaneous scraps clinging haphazardly in spots, proof that this archaic code line, technology dating back to the earliest construction of this railroad, is nothing but a remnant, passed over by multiple iterations of train control and communication advancement that have allowed this transportation artery to adapt and thrive in the 21st Century environment. Gone are the days of dots and dashes, shorts and longs, taps of a key transmitting sounds from depot-to-depot interpreting and modifying the written scheduled operations of the timetable. Here at MP 246, within site of the west siding switch at Cotter, track warrant control is the way to permit movement these days, three initials from a place far away transmitting verbal instructions over the airwaves to the pen of a following conductor, the receiver entering the prescribed limits only after given the literal OK to do so and reading back said instructions in agreement. But even this type of control is on short time. Heavier traffic from the CPKC merger has placed strain on the low capacity TWC system. Work is well underway to upgrade the entire corridor to centralized traffic control, the implementation of which will boost capacity and enable the ease and efficiency of keeping ever increasing volumes flowing. As train 260 gropes through the early morning fog into the first reaches of its 45-mile-long track authority from Cotter to Rutledge, it is caught within the convergence of the past, present, and future of train control, the bygone particularly conspicuous residing in the glass and hardwood reminders that will line the trip all the way to Kansas City.
Lines of Another Time
Rows of glass knobs eight abreast, surprisingly intact despite their long obsolescence, cling to the single arm poles lining the Milwaukee Road's Iowa mainline as far as the eye can see. Endless strands of wire that once stretched continuously from Kansas City to Chicago are no longer present, save for the few miscellaneous scraps clinging haphazardly in spots, proof that this archaic code line, technology dating back to the earliest construction of this railroad, is nothing but a remnant, passed over by multiple iterations of train control and communication advancement that have allowed this transportation artery to adapt and thrive in the 21st Century environment. Gone are the days of dots and dashes, shorts and longs, taps of a key transmitting sounds from depot-to-depot interpreting and modifying the written scheduled operations of the timetable. Here at MP 246, within site of the west siding switch at Cotter, track warrant control is the way to permit movement these days, three initials from a place far away transmitting verbal instructions over the airwaves to the pen of a following conductor, the receiver entering the prescribed limits only after given the literal OK to do so and reading back said instructions in agreement. But even this type of control is on short time. Heavier traffic from the CPKC merger has placed strain on the low capacity TWC system. Work is well underway to upgrade the entire corridor to centralized traffic control, the implementation of which will boost capacity and enable the ease and efficiency of keeping ever increasing volumes flowing. As train 260 gropes through the early morning fog into the first reaches of its 45-mile-long track authority from Cotter to Rutledge, it is caught within the convergence of the past, present, and future of train control, the bygone particularly conspicuous residing in the glass and hardwood reminders that will line the trip all the way to Kansas City.