Employee Timetable Transition to Digital Format
In the quest for more efficient and safer operations and lowering costs, railroads have always explored new technologies. Some have been revolutionary which include automatic couplers, air brakes, improved signal and communications and the conversion from steam to diesel power. Change has usually been incremental (often slow) with one or two railroads experimenting with something with the help of a supplier. The development of diesel power is a classic example. What started with small box cab units developed by GE and Alco for industrial switching in the 1920's, grew to the larger, faster, flashier passenger models for the Burlington and Union Pacific in the 1930's. These were all intended for isolated, specific uses. The dam broke when the Electro-Motive Division (EMD) of General Motors introduced the FT model cab type locomotive in 1939. After demonstration runs all over the US proved its universal use, the orders started pouring in. The only thing that slowed down production and general acceptance was the war time shortage of copper needed for the traction motors and wiring. By the mid-1950's, even long time hold outs such as the Norfolk and Western were retiring steam engines and the associated facilities and personnel, replacing them with the far more efficient and cheaper to operate diesel locomotives.
What does the steam to diesel conversion have to do with a website devoted to railroad timetables? It is simply an example of railroads adopting new technology when it makes sense. We have seen railroad employee timetables (ETTs), change over the years to suit the needs of the companies and their employees. The information contained therein has changed. There is no reason to list the location of water tanks and coaling stations with the demise of steam locomotives. Detailed schedules of passenger and freight trains, establishing meets, direction superiority and rights by class aren't necessary in an age of Centralized Traffic Control, Track Warrant Control and Direct Traffic Control. You can see some examples of change over the years on the Timetable Evolution page.
Not only the content has changed over the years but also the size and shape have changed to fit that content and information contained inside. Up through the 1930's, ETTs were typically large booklets nicknamed 'horse blankets'. Usually they were about 11" x 15" but I have seen them as large as 12" x 24". Many railroads moved to a magazine size ETT (typically 8.5" x 11" and even down to a narrower version that could fit in an employee's jacket or back pocket. These were ideal to pass hand signals (see Anatomy of a Timetable for an example of this). Railroads such as Amtrak, Burlington Northern, Burlington Northern Santa Fe, Canadian National, Conrail, Illinois Central, Norfolk Southern and Southern Pacific issued their ETTS in a loose leaf format. These were designed to be included in a plastic binder with the necessary rule books and other operations manuals. This format was easier to change and amend reducing the need for additional Superintendent's Bulletins or the glue in change pages and completely new editions. All the Company had to do was print new pages to reflect the necessary changes. In more recent decades, this trend was reversed on many railroads as the individual divisions grew in size and they sought to jam more information such as more detailed information concerning hazardous materials and more detailed special instructions.
Employee timetable growth over the years:
Santa Fe Los Angeles Division
#118 February 8, 1942
10.75" x 14.5" 16 pages
Santa Fe Los Angeles Division and Los Angeles Terminal
#146 January 10, 1954
9.25"x10.5" 26 pages
Santa Fe Los Angeles Division
#4
April 5, 1987
4"x10.5" 56 pages
This Norfolk Southern Harrisburg Division ETT is an example of the growth of ETTs. It is a bound book measuring 5.25" x 8.25" consisting of 269 pages. It is too large for your pocket and too thick to hold comfortably and pass hand signals.
The Latest Step
In this 'digital age', the next logical step in the evolution of ETTs has been to entirely eliminate the paper timetable and go to a completely digital version that is automatically downloaded on a Company-issue laptop computer or tablet. This saves the cost of printing and distribution. It also helps the railroad to maintain tighter control of who has access to the information held inside of an ETT, an important consideration in the post 9/11 era of increased security. The days of friendly agents and operators giving spare ETTs to rail fans are over. Also gone are signed receipts for new ETTs, stacks of ETT's on the trainmaster's desk as well as the boxes of old ETTs in the depot attic.
Trainmasters and Road Formen no longer have to check train and engine crews to ensure they have the current ETT with all the supplements and Superintendent's Bulletins. The digital ETT can be automatically updated with a push of a key from a headquarters computer. Everyone is assured of having latest, complete version of their timetable. If an individual still wants to use a paper timetable, they can simply print it out from an on-line PDF file.
When I became aware of this transition, it had already happened! I was having a very difficult time obtaining more recent ETT's and just thought that it was the railroad companies maintaining tighter security and were printing fewer timetables because railroad employment has been decreasing over the years. When I heard of this transition, I started searching for information listing the final paper ETTs issued by the major railroads and found that no such list existed. Apparently, this huge change in technology had slipped by the railfan community unnoticed and unrecorded. So my quest to create that list began. I reached out to my customer base, contacted various railroad historical societies and posted questions on Facebook. The results of that search are listed below. I would like to thank Dave Malohn (National Association of Timetable Collectors President), Joseph Moretti and Ben Helsel for providing the information that has led to this article. I intentionally limited my search to the major North American railroads: Burlington Northern Santa Fe, Canadian National, Canadian Pacific, CSX, Kansas City Southern,Norfolk Southern and Union Pacific. If you have definitive information concerning other railroads, please let me know.
As mentioned earlier, acceptance and implementation of new technology is usually staggered among the railroads with someone taking the lead while the others waiting a bit to see how it works out. The transition to digital ETTs has been no different. It appears that the Burlington Northern Santa Fe was the first to go all digital. I have been unable to get a definitive list of the last professionally printed ETTs but can say that the April 1, 1998 series were definitely printed but locally produced loose leaf versions started with the 1999 versions. The locally produced versions were not 3-hole punched. If any of our readers can shed any light at all on this, please contact me at steve@rrpaper.com and I will update this article accordingly.
The final printed employee timetables for Canadian National US operations were:
Chicago Division #1 dated April 1, 2017
Gulf Division #1 dated April 1, 2017
Michigan Division #1 dated April 1, 2017
Midwest Division #1 dated April 1, 2017
System Special Instructions #13 dated April 1, 2017
Unfortunately, I have not been able to locate any definitive information concerning the final ETTs for CN's Canadian operations. If you can shed light on this, please let me know.
Photo copied from the C. Robert Craig Memorial Library archives
Canadian Pacific's final printed employee timetables were:
Alberta Service Area #60, May 28, 2008
British Columbia Service Area #70, May 28, 2008
Manitoba Service Area #40, May 28, 2008
Montreal Service Area #10, May 28, 2008
Northern Ontario Service Area #30, May 28, 2008
Saskatchewan Service Area #50, May 28, 2008
Southern Ontario Service Area #20, May 28, 2008
Vancouver Service Area #80, May 28, 2008
East Region (ex. Soo Line) #1, September 15, 2016
East Region (ex. D&H) #203, August 15, 2015
CSX's final printed division employee timetables were:
Albany Division #1 July 1, 2016
Atlanta Division #1 July 1, 2015
Baltimore Division #2 July 1, 2016
Chicago Division #1 October 1, 2015
Florence Division #7.1 May 1, 2016 (1/1/14 Rules Conversion)
Great Lakes Division #6.1 April 15, 2011 (1/1/14 Rules Conv.)
Huntington East & West Division #1 January 1, 2016
Jacksonville Division #1 October 1, 2015
Louisville Division #7.1 January 1, 2011 (1/1/14 Rules Conv.)
Nashville Division #1 October 1, 2015
In 2017, CSX abolished the 10 divisions and went to regional and zone for operations. It then issued paper ETT's for each of it's 100+ subdivisions through at least 2018 and 2019.
Photo courtesy of Bill Heiss.
The Kansas City Southern's last paper employee timetable was also the last ETT issued before the CPKC merger. It was:
KCS System #16 April 1, 2022
It can be assumed that any future ETTs will be in the CP format.
Norfolk Southern's final printed employee timetables were:
Alabama Division #1 March 15, 2018
Central Division #1 June 1, 2015
Georgia Division #1 January 1, 2012
Harrisburg Division #1 September 19, 2015
Illinois Division #1 February 1, 2013
Lake Division #1 December 1, 2017
Piedmont Division #1 January 1 ,2012
Pittsburgh Division #1 July 1, 2012
Pocahontas Division #1 August 4, 2008
Virginia Division #1 January 1, 2012
The Union Pacific continues to produce paper timetables. These are mainly for officers, staff and foreign crews. The UP crews usually will use the digital version. In 2024, I corresponded with a UP official with knowledge on this subject who told me that they will continue printing paper timetables for the foreseeable future. One other interesting tidbit he told me was that the Timetable Areas are completely independent from Division / Service Unit boundaries. The UP does this to provide stability to the limits as the other can change often.
If the proposed UP - NS merger takes place, this railfan wonders if we will eventually see Atlanta Area, Pittsburgh Area, etc. employee timetables.
Railroads have always looked for and adopted new technology to improve operations, efficiency and safety. Many have been obvious and easy to observe such as air brakes, automatic couplers, diesel locomotives, welded rail, etc. but the shift from paper to digital employee timetables appears to have slipped by the railfan community unnoticed even as we saw the elimination of paper Amtrak public timetables in plain sight. This digital evolution raises significant questions for timetable collectors. Is a digital ETT worth collecting at all? Moneywise, what are they worth? Does one collect the PDF file or a paper print out of it? Knowing the railroads' security concerns, if we have an ETT PDF file, how freely should we share it with other collectors? One last question: now that a generation of railroaders and railfans who have not used or been exposed to paper timetables, what is the future of the timetable collecting hobby as the old heads pass on? That, my Friends, remains to be seen and the subject of another article.