@Bill N posted:A number of pictures of small town stations show the freight station located on the same side of the rails as the passenger station, and without a separate siding. So am I correct that if freight cars being loaded or unloaded at the freight station were occupying part of the siding/line closer to the passenger station then the passenger train would stop to pick up and discharge passengers from the siding/line further from the station?
Not normally. Timetables gave actual authority to scheduled trains, to use the Main Track at a specified location in a specified direction, at a specified time. If a local Second or Third Class (or if running as an Extra) freight train was working the freight house off of the main track at the time a scheduled First Class passenger train was due at that station, then the crew on the local would soon be getting an unpaid vacation. That is a serious rules violation.
Of course, the Train Dispatcher could issue train orders to both trains, permitting the local to occupy the main track and for the passenger train to take siding at that location. But the chances of it turning into a mess would dissuade the DS from ordering that move and getting the blame if it caused serious delay to the passenger train. Lots of things could go wrong.
So, that would not be normal practice. The local would normally wait in the siding for the passenger train to pass and then, if it had timetable or train order authority to occupy the main track, come out of the siding, do its freight house work, and either duck back into the siding or proceed to the next station on the Main Track..
And unattended freight cars would never be placed on spot for loading or unloading on the Main Track, and be left unattended.
The order of precedence for Main Track authority was: 1. Right (Train Order); 2. Class, and 3. Direction (both specified in the timetable).
