Cookie At Work 1997

[Ron Marquardt]

Here's one I found in an old box this evening.  I'll bet Sharon hasn't even seen this one before.  / Ron

[Geof Burns]

Ron,
Where was this dispatch office? Was it at the lower yards at Lafayette?

[Sharon Eberhard]

This was just before he retired in Aug 1997


Sharon

[Ron Marquardt]

Ron,
Where was this dispatch office? Was it at the lower yards at Lafayette?

The yard office, which included the operators office where Cookie worked, was out at the north end of the yards on the hill.  It had steps which led down to the yard.  The train dispatchers office was in the main office building down at 5th. and Salem St.  Cookie worked the AD's job there earlier in his career, but only for a very short time.  / Ron

[Ken Weller]

Why did Cookie have three (3) phones on his desk?
Were some of them "company" phones?

[Craig Myers]

The white phone is the actual phone and the other two are connected to the dispatchers towers.  One was connected to the Monon tower and the other was connected to the Bainbridge tower.  The range on the radio tower at Lafayette is normally between Crawfordsville and Monon.  If the operator needed to talk to a train that was farther away he could use these other phones to use the dispatcher towers at either Monon or Bainbridge to increase his raido range.  Also if a train crew needed to contact the operator they could hit tone 7 on the road channel and one of these phones would start ringing to let the operator know someone needed to talk to him.

Craig Myers