| This train order sets up a meet between second 138 and an extra headed west. The extra must have something on every train scheduled in the timetable and this is what he has on second 138. The engine number of the extra (3136, an SD35) indicates this is a mainline train that has lost it's schedule (schedules stayed in effect for 12 hours, after that they were void) or simply an extra move brought about by heavy tonnage. It probably was a surprise move since dispatchers did not like to have to run a train extra due to having to issue a multitude of train orders. If the dispatcher had known this move may have been forthcoming, he probably would have "put flags on" a schedule going west so he could have run this extra as a section of another train. A train could not be designated as a section once it had left it's initial station. |