The Emporia weekly news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1881-1889, 1883-12-06
ABOUT rRALH SIGNALS.

The change Ia time On all railroads
has also brought about another reform
that II calculated 70 simplify and Fegu-
late train signals and make them uni
form all over the country. As nftY-three
inharmOnious varieties OF time have
been reduced 70 four that are evenly
dividrd, H. 10 also desired BY most ROADS
Ut -. ~ wav- of sIghalizing shall
be- simplIiied into one common standard.
In the Ooe matter Of locomotive
whistle signals there are forty differ
ent systems Ia use, and these
systems agree only In OOe pa
ticulAr. They ali give the same sign %
back the traiB--sbree shOss tO0ts elnSe
togsther-but In al other mstisIS N
englneer trained on one big TOad would
b almost ~ IgnorSnt In an engine cab
90 another rnad = u he had spent his
life In . British baggage car. Il .
much the same 10 the matter o. coaduc-
tcrs' haad signals By day and lAntsrn
signals BY night, 0ad alsO with regard
90 bell cord signals. torpedo signals and
stationary or roadside signals.
A commitsee Of thoroughly represen-
tative railroad men. with Mr.. James
McCrea. manager Of the Chicago, ST.
Louis & PlttsbuFg. - ch airmAn. was in
trusted by the recent New York con-
Vention with the work OF bringing order
out OF this chaos Of movements. They
have made their report. They took
twenty-five big railroads as the basis of
their study. and thus found out what
were considered the most natural and
sficacious ways OF giving the various
signAla. With regard 10 hand and lamp
signalling they examined . number of
intelligent persons who knew nothing
about railroading In order to 1nd out
what the ordinary individual would do
II he wanted TO motion 70 another man
20 stop train or back II, or 70 60 ahead
with Il, or 20 tell him that the train had
broken In two. As . result the commit
tee will recommend the following hand
and lantern signals for all the railroads.
Go AheAd-A motion up and down.
8top-A motion crosswiSs with the
track.
Back up-A mOtiOn IN . vertical cir
Gle.
Train paFted-A motion In . vertical
circle q arms length across the track
given Continuously until answered by
the engineer.
The committee will recommend the
following bell cord signals: One bell 70
start. train standing; two bells to stop
trAin running; two 10 call In hagman
train standing; three 70 stop At mex
station, train running; three 70 back
tram standing; four 70 reduce speed
while running. For whistle signals
eleven are recommended. These are
the principal ones: Long blast for Ap
preaching stations, crossings and juno
tions: short loot for apply brakes. two
blaats for "off brAkes," two toots - an
answer 70 Aay sIginal, three blasts for
train parted, and three toots for back mp
Under the heading Of stationary and
fixed signals their recommendations arr
very thorough. For torpedo signals
they recommend one torpedo for danger
and two for caution. the latter 90 that II
one mIsSes IRE the other viii bring the
train to stop.
The report Of the committee will b.
received by the next railroad convention
and it is believed will be accepted. will
very slight notifications. II IL Is no
adopted outright Uulike the time
standard, this will afec, none bat the
railroad men, yet II will b. great COZ.
VOnisncs 20 them.