Railroad Forums 

  • US Locomotive Radio Commands

  • Discussion related to railroad radio frequencies, railroad communication practices, equipment, and more.
Discussion related to railroad radio frequencies, railroad communication practices, equipment, and more.

Moderator: Aa3rt

 #1006051  by richardspitzer
 
Hi,

I'm new here and I'm a big fan of American railroads. I'm using Trainz simulator with many routes and rolling stock. But for my own scenarios I would like to know what commands are used between dispatchers and engineer, for example command for starting the ride (leaving yard/station), for stops on siding or finish the shift in yard. Probably engineers have their own documents where to meet other trains on siding etc., maybe this topic could be in other place.

But I'll be glad for every help.
 #1072136  by Gadfly
 
What are you doing...talking to yourself? :) j/k Seriously, most of it is simple English. "OK, Joe, let's go if you've got a signal". Trainmen usually call signals to each other across the cab because it depends on which side the signal appears. The engineer may be blinded by the hood of the engine, or vice versa, so the conductor will call out the signal, (ADVANCE APPROACH! Or BOARD CLEAR) to which the engineer will call it back. ( ADVANCE APPROACH, DIVERGING ROUTE, or just CLEAR!!)
There's some lingo, too numerous to mention, and slang terms, too, but I won't go into that. It also varies from road to road...like the word "highball" meaning to go on the clear signal, but some roads don't do that. Mostly rail foamers talk like that, and NS, for example, so long as I worked for them, I never heard the term "highball"; more likely, "OK, JOE, LET'S GET OUTTA HERE SOON AS YOU GIT A SIGNAL, OVER!!" 'S' not rocket science or any secret lingo.

GF
 #1072241  by DutchRailnut
 
OK .