A dispatcher at work in the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad offices at Marceline, Missouri. The wall calendar tells us that this is March of 1943. The Standard clock says that it’s 11:13:25 am, with a message below advising that the clock is running 4 seconds fast. That’s an interesting telephone system that the dispatcher is using. And note the various shades and light reflectors he has rigged up.

There is another dispatcher’s desk mirrored to this one at the pipe columns.

Photograph by Jack Delano