The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1883-05-01
THE TRAIN DISPATCHER.
His Work and RESPONSE
bilities-Gray Hairs at
Thirty.
A Week Crowded Into Eight
Hours Facts and Incidents in
the Business.
Cleveland Herald.

Cleveland Herald.
Great cares almost universally hasten
nailir. in heaping up the appearances of
age. Young ID, n suddenly falling heirs 70
great responsibilities. soon become prena-
turely old, and not a few have lost their
identity, even tn their Ne Arrest friends, be-
meath the weigh, vi care suddenly i'm
posed upon them. Men rushing through
Life with the burdens and responsibilities
Of ordinary mortals on their shoulders.
little appreciate the terribly heavy bur-
dens oOrne by men upon whose shoulder.
have been laid the lives Of hundreds Of
people and millions vi dollars cf prop.
erty.
Eyes, sir. i don't mind telling you why
il is" answered the conductor of one of the
accommodation trains running out of the
city, in response to a reporters inquiry as
70 why his hair was SO streakd With gray,
while his face indicated q Young man
scarce over thirty. "Many have asked me
if / had not at some time suddenly been
the victim of some sudden and awfnl Cd
lamity. You have read, OF course, of hair
turning gray in single night through
fright. Mine was not caused that wsy.
Was born that way? Oh, no; at TWEEN
~ my hair was as black as coal. These
streaks Of gray were caused by NV three or
four years experience as train dispatch
er on great trunk line running out Of
Chicago.
People who climb on passenger train
when she is two or three hOurs late, little
imagine what endless planning and man.
agement il takes to &c, her through safely.
Let freight get behind time and We can
handle her by running her on another
trains time; but a passenger breaks up
everything on the road. A train dispatch
er must be familiar with every circum-
stance and every possible combination of
circumstances.
He must know ON just what portions OF
the road fast time can be made, and give
orders accordingly. He must never give
an order for certain time to be made
unless he is positively certain that The
grade and condition OF the weather will
permit of such time being made. To-day
1 may order train to run from station A
to station Il, and another for train to
run from B to A, when the same order to
morrow would precipitats collision. You
have got to know all the men ON the line
whv, on the road worked ON there would
be engineers and conductors that could
never get train through Oh time. Then
there would be others that would never
be late except in case of Occidene Why,
sometimes dnriDg my eight hours of duty
/ would give $50 train orders. Just think
of that moment. Here is = passenger
train four hours late and q freight side
tracked at almost eve.y station. O course
that puts every train behind time First
l have to order the operator TO put out
his flag and hold the train for orders, and
then have to send the order and wait for
it to be repeated back. A, the came time
a train may be passing station i've miles
away, where / want to hold and side-track
her. All the time must not only keep
clear track for the passenger train, but
must unnecessarily de.aiu the freights.
right In tie middle of . rush
of business like this the wire sill break or
some operator will break or some operator
will have his key open. Then every thing
is to pay. Fortunately the train Dispatch
er's order is the law. Every employee is
bound to obey it. So We do not have to
worry about that.
"Did ever have an accident? No; but
I've come mighty near it. Once 1 left the
Office by permission in care Of my assist
ant, and when returned found that he
had two trains coming toward each 0ther
on a single track, and only u station be-
tween them. Fortunately, got message
to the station in tine to flag the first train
that got there, but if one had happened to
have passed, there would have been fear
iul accident. Ii was a very natural mis-
take. My assistant had been with me two
years He had everything side-tracked all
right, but had forgotten the 'unwritten law
of the road prohibiting two trains passing
on a single track On another occasion I
lost train"
Lost train '
"Yes, sir, lost it completely. It was .
local freight, and was . little late. IL
left F. twenty minutes behind time, and
was due At NJ. in forty nlinu.es, where il
was ordered to side. track for No. 8, fast
express. F. and NJ. were eleven miles
apart and No. 8 could not leave F. until
he local was reported side-tracked Ut II.
Well, waited IN nOur, and then called
w., who had the message for the local, and
,sked him where the freight was. He.
lidn't know. In he meantime the express
vas ut F., and the passengers were getting
mad. Thirty minutes more and still no
rain Then ordered No. 3 to run eau
iously to M. She did 20, but found no
Ocals. To say that We we're paralyzed 10
putting il mildly. Ten minutes later W.,
little station near the city, reported the
ocal there. She had got by N. in some
way without disturbing the operator.
Diogenes never hunted 80 diligently for an
honest man in the degenerate days in which
he lived, as We did for that train"
"Why did you leave the business ?"
because i was growing . year every
week. had the work of ten men upon
ny shoulders. You often hear about the
brave engineer clinging with firm resolve