News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1882-04-27
RAILROAD TRAIN SCIENCE.
from the st. Louis Post-Dispatch.l

"No, sir" said well-known railroad
man of this city recently, sit would be
utterly impossible to conduct the rail.
road traffic of to-day without the tele-
graph. Unaided, our roads could not
do a hundredth part of the business
they now do; and that is about equal
to saying that without the telegraph
railway transit would be fifty times as
expensive as it is to-day" Although
the railroad nte-dated the telegraph,
yet its workings up to the introduction
of the latter were exceedingly restricted.
When inventive man had gotten the
railroad into fair shape, he had acquired
highway which was too fast for him.
All he could do was to start the big
horse at one end and let him go. If the
horse had to meet other horses, he took
his chances of a smash-up, or else pro,
crossed very slowly. Then it was that
Mr.. Morse harnessed up electricity to
run ahead ON a wire and pilot the horse,
and ever since electricity has been
largely engaged in this kind of work.
No railroad of any length can exist
without telegraph.
What an exceedingly nice accurate
task it is to hurry fifty trains over a
road with fifty more to meet them. To
construct time table of g. road fol-
every train and every point is a difficult
thing to do at leisure; yet the whole
schedule may be, and constantly is,
upset, and then must be Immediately
readjusted.
But while we sleep or thoughtlessly
pass the hours of travel away, there is q
man far away who is watching us, and
watching every other train, too, upon
the road. He knows just where we are,
and can put his finger upon us at each
and every minute of the day or night.
If our train gets into any trouble which
causes more than few minutes delay,
he will be informed of the fact and take
charge of us by wire, and also take
charge of all other trains which can
possibly approach us either way. This
man is called the train dispatcher, and
he has his Office generally at that point
of the line where the main offices of the
road are. Upon him far more than any
conductor or engineer may depend the
safety of the traveller. A few careless
ticks with his right hand at critical
moment may cause fearful collision.
Every station agent or operator is his
agent to inform him of the time of the
passage Of every train. Even if one or
more trains are behind time, he knows
just the time at which they each left
their last station, and consequently at
what time they ought to arrive at their
next. Every item of such telegraph
information received from off the road
is, of course, filed for reference. As
long as every train is up to time, or 10
within certain agreed upon limit, the
train dispatcher has only machine labor
to perform. But suddenly, while in
this state of listless waiting, word comes
from Station % of delay or small
accident there. Now is the time for the
train dispatcher to open his weather
eye. He scans the road to see what
trains are near Station %. If there are
any such they must at once be "given
ORDERS" SO that they may avoid all dan
ger, and yet lose as little time as pos
sible. If the accident is one which it
will take several hours to repair, then,
of course, a greater number of trains
will have to be attended to. The dis
patcher must know where all switches
are and their capacity.
The work IS not very difficult when
there is trouble at only one point. Sup
pose there is trouble at two or three
points, so that ina few hours every
train each way is thrown out of time,
then it is that clearheadedness comes
into prominence. He has every train
''under ORDERS" and he is in communi-
cation continually with nearly every
conductor or station operator on the
road. He must still make the best dis
is open, move along all trains that can
be moved. The reader can we'll under
stand that the situation may become
complicated. Nevertheless,
the skillful train dispatcher will bring
erything out all right, barring, of
course, some delay to passengers and
merchandise. Mr.. Warder Cummings,
now Division Superintendent of the
Missouri Pacific, boasts that years ago,
when he was train dispatcher on the
line between Pittsburgh and Crestline,
O., he once had seventy trains on the
road (thirty-fye each way, and each
and every train out of time. yet he
brought them all through slick and
sound and without unnecessary delay.
There are, of course, many others of
the profession who have had similar
experiences.
When station operators lose their
connections with the main Office they
at once notify all trains on their division
of the fact, and conductors and engi-
neers have to use great caution and
run very slowly. The passenger never
allows himself to think of such a cause
as this when he finds the train creeping
along. He don't know that his train is
perhaps running haphazard, and feeling
for a train known to be approaching
from the opposite direction.
In sending so many dispatches to 20
many points and giving such diverse di
rections, there is, of course, liability
to error, both on the part of the train
dispatcher and the station operator.
Even when the order is correctly re-
ceived and the conductor tagged and
presented with it, there is still posi-
bility that the conductor may misunder-
stand its meaning. All this is provided
against. The station operator, when he
receives an "order," Immediately tele-
graphs it back to the train dispatcher
and receives his go. K" that it is
first place. Two copies he gives to the
conductor and one he files in his office.
The conductor reads aloud the message
to the operator to see if it is under
stood. Then he takes copy to the en-
gineer and asks the engineer to read it,
and state what ne thinks it means. ii
the conductor and engineer do not
agree upon the meaning, they must at
once telegraph to the train dispatcher
for more explicit instructions. In short,
the train can't move until onerator-