The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1884-02-06

at Hinsdale, and extra, Jones conduc-
tor, at Naperville. -"
''But do you never hold regular trains
for extras?h
''Oh, yes, often. If wild train can
gain more time. than a regular train
would lose we sometimes hold the regu-
lar train at a station until the wild train
gets there"
"How do you do thatP''
''Well, suppose Smiths wild train
was coming west and I should see that
it could reach HinsNale five minutes
later than the regular eastward-bound
trains time for leaving there; would
rather delay the regular train five
minutes than have the wild train wait
twenty or thirty minutes at Riverside, so
l send telegram thus:
"sTo the Operator, Hinsdale: Hold train No.
Il until l0:55 O'Clock for No. Is
Then to the operator at Riverside |
send thus:
To Conductor and Engineer No. Is. River
side: You have until 10:55 o'clock to make
Hinsdale for No. H.
There you see have one train held
while another train is on the road"
How does the operator at Hinsdale
stop No. 12.''
LAS soon as he receives orders to
hold the train, he shows green flag or
lantern which always means that there
are telegraphic orders for the train
That seems very simple said the
Daily Neos representative, but often
there are many accidents attributed to
the dispatchers.
Yes, but most of the collisions that
are so attributed are results of careless
ness on the part of the line operators.
Sometimes an operator receives an Or
der to hold train and forgets to show
his green signal. Ii the train does not
happen to stop at that station regularly
it may go whizzing by and get away
from the operator before he can catch
it. That is one cause of accidents, for
of course the other train thinks it has a
clear road and comes right along. An
other cause is the failure of engineers to
see the green light, This is not of very
frequent occurrence, however. for en-
gineers are the most watchful men on
, earth, believe. often wonder how
lACg LAuneiSo W SEQ Owl lillLS eAoASS
the road and keep watch of their ma
| chinery and clocks and steam-gauges
and time-cards all at the same time"
How do dispatchers keep this record
sheet Of which you speak,"
They have sheet ruled into squares.
| The lines across the sheet indicate the
stations on the road and the lines up
and down show the trains. Every time
train is reported as passing station
the dispatcher marks the time in the
square that indicates both that train and
that station. Thus, if train No. Il
leaves Riverside at $40 the dispatcher
makes those figures in the square that
is below the number of the train and tC
the right or left of the name of that sta
ton, A glance, therefore, shows hin
where the train was last reported Is
leaving. Ii in due time it is not re
ported as leaving the next station the
dispatcher calls up the operator and asks
if the train is in sight. If it is not, anC
the dispatcher has reason to think the
train is stalled or broken down between
stations, he gives the operators on eacl
side of it orders to hold all trains unit
the trouble is removed. There is moth.
ing intricate, you see, in the system
If every man does his plain duty there
is no danger from running trains by
telegraph. The main trouble is, CHEAP
operators are apt to be stupid men, anc
the companies rarely pay enough to ge
good, smart operators at the the small
stations. u Chicago Ncaos.