Trains in Table Rock

it's the Story

the telegraph, the depot, & chiclets

this november 1, 1923 news item sparked quite a conversation 97 years later:

larry layden

When I hired out as a telegrapher in 1961 I joined the same union Rosco Zink belonged to. The Order of Railroad Telegraphers, or O.R.T.  In 1890 there were 27 telegrapher positions between Table Rock and Lincoln. There were nine between Pawnee City and Wymore. And this was on the Burlington only, there were more on the Rock Island, Missouri Pacific, Union Pacific. There were a lot of lighting slingers - fist pounders back then. A telegrapher could go anywhere in the country and find a job. Those that moved around a lot were called "Boomers."

Asked by Stan Sitzman if there was a telegrapher at each depot, Larry said:

There was a telegrapher at every station between Table Rock and Lincoln, and yes some had two. Some stations had an Agent, a telegraph operator, a clerk or two and a "helper."

The timetable shows some had a day telegrapher and some had a day and night telegrapher. I assume each operator worked a 12 hour shift. Elk Creek had one, a day operator, Tecumseh had two, a day and night operator. White Cloud had one, Rulo had two, a day and night operator.

They all were supervised, hired and fired by one man, the Chief Dispatcher. The first thing us operators did when we got to work was to look and see if we had a message from the Chief Dispatcher. I got a few, one read: explain by wire why passengar train at Cobb arrived at Lincoln on a yellow signal or explain why report of fuel usage at your station was late arriving at my office. Nothing escaped his attention. Mistakes were not tolerated.

pete hedgpath

Here's another little "tidbit" re the "Order of Railroad Telegraphers" union as described by Larry L.

That organization was founded at a small town in Iowa by a man whose name was "Oliver R. Thurston" Mr. T wanted the organization he founded to have the same initials as his Hence...ORT "Order of Railroad Telegraphers."

Well, here's my connection to this story. One of Mr. Oliver R. Thurston's lineal descendents whose name ALSO" was Oliver R. Thurston was one of my "bosses" when I was a Trainmaster on the Rock Island. He was a few years my senior and passed away just about a year or so ago.

That union still exists. The name has changed and it has merged with other unions. It is now called the Transportation Communication Union. I am still a member and in May of 2021 will have 60 years of dues paying membership.

W.F. (Bill) Giles was a General Manager or Supt. can't recall which..probably both.The name Giles replaced the name TOGO as the name of the junction of the "Straight Side" and the "Dirty Side" of t;he Chariton branch just north of Lamoni Iowa. I'm not sure where the name TOGO came from but, of course, that was not an acceptable name for anything during WW 2. It was about that time Togo was renamed Giles.

For the same reason, Berlin, Nebr was changed to Otoe, which is in Otoe County. Also Garland used to be Germantown. It was changed during WWI. May be others.
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a spin off conversation about the depot & about chiclets!

JOYCE WOPATA NEWTON

I remember going into the depot at TR. those polished wooden benches that were one long piece , but had arm rests to separate where people set. There was a little “gum ball “ type machine that dispensed little boxes of chiclets if I had a nickel . The floor was off white , always so clean.

Larry Layden

​I think the chiclets were two pieces wrapped in cellophane for a penny. The agent got to keep 10 percent of the deposit of pennies as payment for refilling the machine. Every month my sister Lois and I would go to the depot and count the pennies.

The floor was quartz tile. Each tile had a shiny brass border.

There were three employees who worked an eight hour shift. Martin Cumro worked midnight to 8 am and was responsible for cleaning the depot, He took great pride in his work and everything always sparkled.

No more telegraphers. I was one of the last hired.

The reason there were so many in the beginning was due to the system of moving trains. There was a station every seven to ten miles and the track between stations was called a block. When a train passed a station the telegraph operator would notify the station in each direction that the block to the rear was clear and notify the station in advance the the block was occupied. One opr would hold his train and the other would allow a train to enter the block just cleared. This was called Manual Block Territory or Absolute Block Territory. This was revised later by allowing a train to follow a train into an occupied block ten minutes behind the first train.. I used to do that at Table Rock by waving a red flag by day or red light by night.

Asked to tell more about the depot, Larry said:

An odd thing about the waiting room was that it had two doors for the public. One that faced the Reno that was to serve passengers on the Wymore Line and one on the opposite side which was to serve passengers on the Lincoln Kansas City line .

In later years the public used the door opposite the Reno.  ​The other door was mainly used by the operators when they left the train order office and went outside to hand up train orders

There were a lot of people from all over that bought tickets from my dad. He was an expert on ticket routing.

joyce wopata newton

Actually the chiclets were in a little yellow cardboard box (2 pieces). I loved them.

In case folks don’t know what we’re talking about. Except in the machine, it was a miniature box with 2 pieces. This is original flavor, may have been one other.  It may have varied.

​I was totally enamored with the whole process of getting them out of machine (metal handle one turned), inspecting them , the cute little boxes, and of course the gum.

It was only loaded once a month. I'm think there was a choice of maybe four flavors. Each box was displayed behind a glass covered chute. You had to push down a little lever to make a selection, then turn the round metal wheel you referred to, and the box would drop.  I think each box sold for a penny. 

Isn't it nice that we can still remember these goofy things from our childhood?

in memory of
rosco zink
he retired from the railroad in 1948 after 49 years of service