This is the on-line handout for a clinic entitled “The Role of the Agent.” The purpose is to provide documentation of the various published items shown in the talk, along with links to a number of blog posts which cover some points in the talk in much more detail. They are grouped below by topic area.
My point in the clinic was to indicate that many of us enjoy trying to operate model railroads in a prototypical manner, as in the photo below (Seth Neumann at left, and Steve Van Meter, switching at Ballard on my layout). I attempted to indicate how we can go about such imitation of the prototype, choosing the specific railroad that I model, the Southern Pacific.
Print Publications
Armstrong, John H., The Railroad – What It Is, What It Does (Chapter 8, Railroad Operations), Simmons-Boardman Publishing, Omaha, 1982. [there are several subsequent editions with updates; the original is closest in time to the era I model]
Benezra, Steve, and Phil Monat, editors, A Compendium of Model Railroad Operations, Operations Special Interest Group, Downington, PA, 2017.
Coughlin, E.W., Freight Car Distribution and Handling in the United States, Car Service Division, Association of American Railroads, Washington, 1956.
Grant, H. Roger, The Station Agent and the American Railroad Experience, Indiana University Press, Bloomington, 2022.
Koester, Tony, “In search of the perfect waybill,” Model Railroader, February 2012, p. 82.
Thompson, Anthony, “Prototypical waybills for car card operation,” Railroad Model Craftsman, December 2009, pp. 71–77.
Thompson, Tony, “Getting Real: A More Prototypical Waybill for Model Railroads,” Model Railroad Hobbyist, pp. 31–46, May 2012.
Thompson, Tony, ”Getting Real: Operating with Prototypical Waybills,” Model Railroad Hobbyist, January 2018.
Thompson, Tony, “Modeling Traffic on a Layout,” Model Railroad Hobbyist, September 2021.
SP Circular 39-1, “Instructions to Station Agents”
Thompson, Tony, “SP’s Instructions to Station Agents,” https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2016/11/sps-instructions-to-station-agents-part.html
Thompson, Tony, “SP’s Instructions to Station Agents, Part 2,” https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2016/11/sps-instruction-to-station-agents-part-2.html
Thompson, Tony, “SP’s Instructions to Station Agents, Part 3,” https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2016/12/sps-instructions-to-station-agents-part.html
Thompson, Tony, “SP’s Instructions to Station Agents, Part 4,” https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2016/12/sps-instructions-to-station-agents-part_10.html
Thompson, Tony, “SP’s Instructions to Station Agents, Part 5,” https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2016/12/sps-instructions-to-station-agents-part_25.html
Learning from Circular 39-1
Thompson, Tony, “Waybills, Part 88: Temporary Waybills,” https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2021/08/waybills-part-88-temporary-waybills.html
Thompson, Tony, “Waybills, Part 90: SP Form 704,” https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2021/09/waybills-part-90-sp-form-704.html
Bill Boxes
Thompson, Tony, “Bill Box,” https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2012/03/bill-box.html
Thompson, Tony, “Modeling Bill Boxes,” https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2019/05/model-bill-boxes.html
Salamon, Dave, N-Scale Magazine, issue for September-October 2017.
Other Points
Thompson, Tony, “Southern Pacific’s Circular 4,” https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2025/12/southern-pacifics-circular-4.html
Thompson, Tony, “Waybills, Part 39: SP Typography,” https://modelingthesp.blogspot.com/2015/04/waybills-part-39-sp-typography.html
With the help of these and many other publications out there, we can hope to capture the spirit of moments like the one below, with the C&NW agent (right) at Brookings, South Dakota, exchanging a roll of waybills with the conductor on the caboose in a light snow (H.R. Grant collection, 1940).
Tony Thompson
