The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1882-01-05
Railroad Tracks Moved by In.
Visible Hands.

Clip. clap, bangl" went the tracks
in front of the switch-tower on the
Pennsylvania Elevated Road yesterday
| as a Record reporter stood with won.
| 5crng eyes and watched the movements
Of the pieces Of steel. This section flew
two inches ove there, and that section
came this way, and the complicated
mass seemed to become more mixed
than ever. All this was done by invis
ible hands. The power that impelled
it could not be seen. Down went An
arm on the signal posts and up flew
another forty feet away red spots
turned white and blue ones became
red; but how it was done was mystic
rious. Not a word was spoken. There
was no shouting, the stiffness being
broken by the snort of the locomotives
and the tinkling of the horse-car bells in
| the street below. Trains moved in
| aud out the station, and the tracks
jumped and wriggled about as if uneasy
IA their bed of stone. The reporter
Sss mystified.
Up in tall tower at Seventeenth street
who held the key to the situation. To
reach them vas about as difficult as
gaining admission to a Masonic lodge.
Buckling on to one end of a speaking
tube in the side of the tower the newsman
soon had the yard master at the other.
Twill you let a fellow see how this
thing is done T. asked the reporter.
There was a hurried consultation, and
| the answer came back Go to the
door"
To the amazement of the scribe, the
door which he had vainly pounded half
an hour before in the hope of gaining
access to the tower stood open before
him. A man might as we'll have play
ed yankee Doodle" on the house
front where a chloroformed family slept
As to have kicked on that door in the
hope Of gaining admission without the
mystic cord being pulled from above.
Now for the tower. Standing erect
like soldiers on dress parade ffty-six
levers greeted the eyes of the Record
man as he stepped into the tower.
8 ,me were red, others green, a lew
blue, and now and then a black one.
All were of the same size, and each
| played an important part in the NOV
| ing of the trains. Two young men
| stood bel n these levers. Two Others
were in front, one at a telegraph lnstru
| ment and the others moved about I'm
easily between a telephone box and 4
number of signal boxes, while he kept
| an eve on 4 time-card in his hand. the
| clock on the wall and the signals clio
| on the tracks. Not one of these N ~
! was over 80 years of age. From this
tower over one hundred and fifty trains
| each day are moved and managed, and
| none can enter or leave the station with
| out the mute word as expressed in sig
| nal posts and lanterns given from this
place.
The apparatus on the floor is com
posed of titty-six levers, and known as
the saxby & Farmer switch. This is
the first one of the kind which has been
introduced into this country, although
it is In use on nearly all the great rail
roads in Europe. The levers are con
nected i. this case with seventeen
switches. by lights aud signals, and the
movement of one set of levers operates
switches as far west as Twentieth street
and eat to Fifteenth.
Wonder where the Belvidere train
ls?" asked the young man with the
time card. ''She is due here
Hardly had the words left his lips
when a little bell tingled in a box on
the wall, asking from the Twentieth
street tower whether all was clear from
that point east. A button was pressed,
and the answer sent back "All right"
Now, see that blue light out yon-
der?' said the young Englishman who
manipulates the levers. Keep your
eye upon it." He moved a lever, and
in a second the blue had disappeared
and a white light took its place. This
was a quarter mile off. A couple of
switches were set, and then all the
light on the track leading into No. 7 IN
the station changed from red and blue
to white, and in a minute the glaring
headlight Of the Belvidere locomo-
tive could be discerned on the bridge,
and in another minute the passengers
were alighting from the train. Five
minutes sufficed to clear the train Of
its load, and then a bell announced the
fact to the station master in the tower.
The danger signal fell, and Belvldere
ran out and on to the side track. Here
it remained for q few minutes, taking a
stand behind three blue lights on a
horizontal bar, where the train stopped
until the lights made a revolution.
which was the signal to come out.
Here, Parkesburg wants to come
out" said the assistant y~ard-master to
the lever-tender as the clock hands
showed 5.l5. There was a Changing Of
the big irons, the blue light at Tween
tieth street again disappeared like a
shooting star and the red light On the
bridge fell. The man in the Twentieth
street tower was notified, and he in turn
sent word % the next tower, and so all
along the line until Parkesburg was
reached, so that the track was cleared
ahead of the train all along.by the simple
system.
In time gone by it was the custom to
have one man to each switch IN the
yard, or one man had two or three un-
der his control. In addition they were
obliged to turn the signals, and at
night they waved their lanterns to cit e
come on or else held a red light station
ry as a notice for the train to stop. The
responsibility then was divided, and. of
course, among men of not great intel
ligeuce. Now four men in a station
supersede the crowd who controlled the
switches, and these four are men of con
siderable intelligence, as they must be to
manipulate the levers successfully.