Touring the Dispatchers Office

Mike Burgett built the centralized traffic control machine for the Chesapeake & Ohio model railroad layout himself, making use of original 1950’s hardware from actual railroad equipment. It is housed in its very own room upstairs from the layout. Mike visits the dispatcher’s office to exhibit the powerful CTC machine.

A Thorough Look at the CTC Machine

In part seven of the 11-part Chesapeake & Ohio series, Mike Burgett gives a tour of the CTC machine and explains the different components and functions of the apparatus. Along the way, we get a complete look into the operation of the OS session.

First, Mike identifies the representation of that location and the track diagram. Directly below that is the switch control lever. The position of a switch is listed as normal and reverse. Normal indicates the straight route and reverse indicates the diverging route. Switch levers have two indicator lamps. The white lamp indicates the switch in the normal position and the red lamp indicates the switch in the reserve position. Below the switch lever is the signal lever. Signal levers have three indicator lamps associated with them. They have a left signal lamp and a right signal lamp. The middle red lamp, known as the signals normal lamp, illuminates when all signals associated with the lever are at stop. Mike mentions the code start button last. This button is like the enter key on the computer. It must be depressed before any command is executed to the field. Following the run-down of components on the CTC machine, Mike also demonstrates a lineup through the interlocking.

The CTC machine built by Mike Burgett for the Chesapeake & Ohio series is very impressive. Join Mike in the dispatcher’s office as he takes a closer look at the machine and gives a comprehensive look into the operations of the OS session.