CB&Q Dispatcher's Logs

This is history in its best form! Recorded by the people who lived it. You will read about days before 1900 when over 100 trains were on the division in one 24-hour period with several trains running in 5 to 18 (yes 18) sections. There are days where over 100 train orders were issued. It mentions instances of four to five hundred carloads of livestock moving eastbound across the division on Sunday destined to the Chicago Monday-morning livestock market.
This book also contains several hand-drawn maps, newspaper clippings, station lists, and a first-day-of-the-year list of officers and dispatchers. There are almost a thousand entries in this book and is a great document of the operation of a busy railroad division.
Railroading was a dangerous game in the early years and there are many entries of train and yard employees killed or seriously injured. In the early years the dispatchers worked a 12-hour shift and their only communication was over the telegraph to the operators along the line. You will never purchase a book that has more real railroad history in it than this book.

Here are a few entries from these books exactly as they were written

09-23-1886

The Coal Palace and Barnum's Circus brings 25,000 people to town. Some suckers pay $1.00 to see the elephants and Criswell was among them.

10-02-1886

No. 6. engine 416 Anderson Engr. struck a cow on Crossing 2 3/4 miles south of Milo wrecking engine and four cars badly. The cow escaped with a few bruises. When last seen was headed towards Lacona at a 40 mile an hour clip with her tail and head both up.

04-02-1887

DuBois Engine 416 Anderson Engineer broke in three pieces going down Russell hill. Each piece ran into each other piece smashed up 15 cars loaded with meat and eggs. track blocked for 16 hours. DuBois got a black eye. No one else hurt.

03-30-1892

Waters goes hunting and after 15 shots gets a decoy duck. In his eagerness to capture the game lest it should come to life he plunged boldly into the surging waves just below the sewer near the packing house and came to work with another suit of clothes and his vision clouded by a horse laugh.

08-15-1907

Wilson started it. 6 cars outside the fence at Grays. No. 6 derailed at Russell - 6 cars off - 15 people hurt - both lines blocked 123 hours. - Clamshell upset on top of the gravel cars at Thayer - Hickey Ex. East got 2 cars off at Woodburn blocking south track 2 hours - Johnson Ex. West derailed one car on Whitebreast hill - blocked line for 2 hours - No. 71 derailed engine at Maxon - back track blocked for 5 hours - K-Line washed out north of Patterson - Trains detoured by Mount Pleasant. All this in one day!

04-16-1921

Real winter day - snowing 3 am to 8 pm. - Wires down east of Cameron - 75 poles down Mt. Pleasant to Cameron - B&W No. 9 stuck at Wyman and engine derailed - B&W No. 23 stuck in snow near Cedar. Also No. 3 at Pleasantville and No. 110 on Tracy line. Snow plows working between Burlington and Ottumwa.

03-08-1922

About 11:40 p.m. north side switch engine 1456 which was headed west was standing on yard track in Ottumwa yard. Engineer Mulcahy underneath it taking down a brake beam. No one on the engine and no one standing near it. She started east on her own free will and run through all the switches and started east on main line. Another switch engine 488 took after her and caught her just west of Agency. Engineer Mulcahy only badly bruised.