I am not sure what example railroad he is talking about. Z
Here is a control panel display example for our example railroad using Railroad & Co.:
This is the way that an actual railroad dispatcher would control our example railroad.
Although the three sidings are not controlled by the dispatcher, they are still shown because the positions of their points have a material affect upon train operations.
A train approaching an open turnout would be put at risk, so the position of these turnouts is considered to be part of the control system.
These sidings would be manually controlled by the train crew that is switching these sidings, but the turnout points often were mechanically locked, being released by the dispatcher only when a train crew was authorized to do so.