A historic method of traffic control where dispatchers issued typed or handwritten instructions to train crews, dictating meets, passes, and speed restrictions. Station operators would hand these orders up to moving trains using long hoops. This system has largely been replaced by direct radio dispatching and centralized traffic control.
Heard on the job
The operator hooped up a train order telling us to take the siding at milepost 42 for a meet.
Also heard as
- Form 19
- Form 31
Related terms
Track warrant
A written authority from the dispatcher, copied by radio, that lets a train occupy a set stretch of main track.
Meet
An arranged passing of two trains on a single-track line.
Centralized traffic control
A signal system that allows a single dispatcher to line switches and signals across hundreds of miles of track.