The W. B. (Bill) Stephens AT&SF Plains Division Timebook Collection Part I
Introduction by Jerry Michels

A project of The Amarillo Railroad Museum

Timebooks are a fascinating source of railroad history. They are a record of an employee’s daily work and can be very detailed, containing records of train numbers, locomotives used, origin and destination of a train, time the run started and time the run ended, other crew members, and notes. The Amarillo Railroad Museum is fortunate that timebooks used by Mr. W. B. Stephens through his career have been loaned for scanning and transcribing.
The first compilation of this data is a timebook used by Mr. Stephens when he was a fireman on the Plains Division in 1950 to 1951. This file is arranged with the day-to-day entries listed first, then a summary of the locomotive numbers, type, and times they were recorded, followed by scans of the individual timebook pages. Keep in mind that these are the records for one individual’s day-by-day records. Obviously there were many more trains run each day.

This timebook illustrates a busy railroad where most of the freights Mr. Stephens worked were still powered by steam. And what a variety! Ranging from 2-6-2’s on local runs to the mighty 2-10-4s; which were the predominant type used on the line. Diesels are also evident, but in much lower frequency. Some FT’s, F7’s, GP7’s appear in the listing. An S2 and DS4-4-1000, in yard service, highlight the rarer diesel power.

Most of Mr. Stephens’ runs were back and forth from Amarillo to Canadian, however, he did run Amarillo to Clovis, Canadian to Waynoka, and a few side trips to Boise City, Borger, and turns to Pampa. He was called for runs every hour of the day. Many times he completed two runs in a day, say Amarillo to Canadian and return. These two-run days usually resulted in the next day off, but not always. There are examples of 10 runs made in seven days. Looking at the average time for runs on the Plains Division, Amarillo to Canadian averages right at five hours, Canadian to Amarillo was a bit longer at about five and one half hours. Amarillo to Clovis or Clovis to Amarillo averaged six hours. Canadian to Waynoka took about five and three quarters hours while the reverse run took a little over six hours.

Enjoy this compilation. Others will be offered as time allows the scanning and transcribing the data. One thing that makes the job easier is the legible handwriting Mr. Stephens employed. Other timebooks we’ve analyzed were not nearly so enjoyable to transcribe.

The 1961-62 timebook is now posted. Check out the trip on 6/24/61 - Amarillo to Sherlock via Etter on the Rock Island, on to Spearman, and dying on the line at Sherlock. Deadheading to Shattuck, then to Waynoka. What a trip!

Stephens 1950-51 Timebook
Stephens 1961-62 Timebook

The Amarillo Railroad Museum, Inc. is founded upon the idea that the incredible history of the Texas Panhandle cannot be told without telling the story of the railroads. Indeed, the growth and development of this vast, arid region could not have occurred without the railroads first crossing it. It is a story of greed, misdeeds, intrique, and shady business dealings. In other words, mankind at his best! Follow this link for an interesting history of the growth of the Texas Panhandle railroads, written by Bob Burton, and as published by the Santa Fe Railroad Historical and Modeling Society at their website, www.atsfrr.com!

A Branch Line Comes of Age - Part 1