NS CP names

[rrnut282]

It seems NS is slowly rolling out new station names for their Control Points. It appears they are eliminating the East XX West XX name for the ends of passing sidings. For example, East and West Kingsland on the New Castle District are now Market and Wells. East and West New Haven siding is now Boyle and Tanglewood.

I assume this is being done to avoid possible confusion between ends with the same name and may not be related to the roll-out of PTC. How long will it take for everyone to learn the new names?

[hibbard]

East End Argos is now Walnut: West End Argos is now Juniper; East End Hibbard is now Redwood; West End Hibbard is now Marshall

[Bob Durnell]

Hey, why use a simple descriptive name when you can use a meaningless one that can easily be confused? After all these years, I STILL can't remember which CP is Sand and which one is Hill. I am slowing coming to the conclusion that Norfolk Southern as a company is slowly losing it's mind.

[alcochaser]

I had not heard about Hibbard.

Names across the whole damn division are changing

Here is the NCD changes.

[alcochaser]

Here are the Chicago and Fostoria districts.

Still need new names for Chicago and and Huntington districts.
Rumor is that a former southern guy got in a position of power in the Lake Division and is pushing the change. The names follow "Southern RR" practice.

[Bob Durnell]

For those of us not in th eknow, what constitutes "Southern Railway practice?" Giving control points names that don't mean anything?

[alcochaser]

For those of us not in th eknow, what constitutes "Southern Railway practice?" Giving control points names that don't mean anything?

No, not having East and West stations sharing the same name is SRR practice.

The name picking process is HUGEly political. Many of the early ones were named after people, but of late. They have been picking random names. Im not sure how hard it is to find a landmark/road name near the CP and use that.

[Bob Durnell]

In a related note, the signals at NE at New Haven now have nice little signs that say CP NE. It's the first time I EVER recall there being signs out there. On a strange note, the new signs are Conrail blue with the old Conrail font. Kind of hilarious for a NKP/WAB junction. Does Altoona have a system sign shop?

[Bob Durnell]

For those of us not in th eknow, what constitutes "Southern Railway practice?" Giving control points names that don't mean anything?

No, not having East and West stations sharing the same name is SRR practice.

The name picking process is HUGEly political. Many of the early ones were named after people, but of late. They have been picking random names. Im not sure how hard it is to find a landmark/road name near the CP and use that.

I would maintain that using East and West makes more sense. If you say East or West Dunfee, at least you can't confuse what siding you are talking about. With two unrelated names, it would be VERY easy to forget which names are paired. The fact that most of these control points were named after towns and old stations on the line which also makes them harder to confuse. You might forget where Hamilton (a road) is, but you aren't likely to forget where Dunfee (a town) is.

[alcochaser]

Hah wait until you see some of the OFF THE WALL names they used for the Huntington and Chicago district.

Apparently the guy in question saw things like East North Findlay and West North Findlay. Or East and West South Whitley.

Then noticed you had in places THREE names shared. Ether with the lap sidings. Or two siding ends and a holdout with the same town name.

If it had been just places with east and west. They would not have bothered. But the fact you had many Three OSes in the row with a shared town name, and the two confusing towns are what drove this.

[alcochaser]

Ehh NS is weird. The divisions are like little fiefdoms.

When they axed the division that covered the north end of the former southern, some of those management people got in on the lake.

Dearborn is 100% former Conrail guys.

NS lets a lot of stuff slide. Like those signs. Dearborne never stopped using the white on blue CP signs. Plus a lot of the signal guys are ex CR guys.

The biggest example is the switch machines. Dearborne uses GRS 5F, Lake uses US&S M23.

Even signal standards are different. Dearborne has the restricting aspect apear autmotically. To get a restricting to line on Lake the dispatcher has to send a call on code. No joke. Lake is still using call on signals!

[Bob Durnell]

Hah wait until you see some of the OFF THE WALL names they used for the Huntington and Chicago district.

Apparently the guy in question saw things like East North Findlay and West North Findlay. Or East and West South Whitley.

Then noticed you had in places THREE names shared. Ether with the lap sidings. Or two siding ends and a holdout with the same town name.

If it had been just places with east and west. They would not have bothered. But the fact you had many Three OSes in the row with a shared town name, and the two confusing towns are what drove this.

Well, my guiding principal with railroading is that if was good enough for the Nickel Plate, it's good enough for God himself. Those guys could run a tighter operation in their sleep (and probably did) than the current NS team could ever dream of.

[rrnut282]

Just a WAG:
The CP names of Wells, Blackford, Delaware, and Preble are because they are in/near the center of those counties.

Market is the name of a street (take your pick) in Kingsland near the old E Kingsland CP.
Salamonie is the river a mile or so from the old W Montpelier CP.
Going out on a limb, the old W Royerton is Redbird in honor of the Ball St Cardinals as is CP Ball.
I don't know where Yorkpoint came from the town of Yorktown is on another railroad and it's close to Oakville.
Flat Creek might be for the Flatrock River nearby.
Wilbur I would guess is for the nearby birthplace of the aviation pioneer Wilbur Wright.
Bailey and Walnut Level are unchanged.
Was there an IU fan who named W/E Richmond Knight and Hoosier?

[alcochaser]

[RDJ]

Where can the squirrel ATCS be accessed?
I tried to find it with no luck.
Looks interesting.

RD