The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1884-01-14
How Railroads Make up Their Schedules.

One of the most laborious things con-
nected with the management of rail
road is the instituting of changes in the
timetable governing the running of
trains. Instead of it being done with
pen and paper, as many suppose, the
| entire running arrangement of all pas
senger and freight trains, their crossing
of other tracks or passage of other
trains, their stops and lost time are cal
calated by simple, common pins and
spools of different colored threads. Be-
| fore a timetable or schedule is pre-
pared the time chart is first perfected
To prepare time chart large sheet of
| drawing paper is first stretched Oh a
| smooth surface and mounted on an
easel. The chart is ruled either for two,
| five or ten minute time by horizontal
lines and perpendicular cross lines.
| The ''time' is marked above the hori-
zontal line, and the distances, or sta
| tons and terminals, down the first per-
pendicular line. For illustration, II
midnight is the mark on the first hori-
zontal line, and each hour is marked
, until the twenty-fourth, or the follow
| ing midnight hour is reached ON the
| last horizontal line. Between the hour
lines the space is divided into minutes
and graduated as fine as desired. On a
two-minute chart the space between the
| hours is divided into ten minutes time
and, the ten minutes time into two
minutes time. The hour lines are
made heavy, and the lesser lines
are of a lighter shade to dis
tinguish them. The one terminus of
the Milwaukee, for instances
marked on the first line beside the first
time-mark, u midnight. The other
stations follow down the perpendicular
line until the other terminal is reached.
Then all is ready to prepare for the run
ming arrangement, provided the pins
and thread are ready A blue thread
means passenger train, red thread a
freight train, and if the trains of other
roads use part of the track they are
designated by different colored thread
1t is calculated that the running time
shall be, say, twenty-five miles an hour,
and for the purpose of illustration the
tracing of one passenger train will an
swcr the purpose of explaining them all.
A passenger train leaves Milwaukee at
eight a. IN. A pin is placed on the hor-
izontal line at the eight a. m. time-mark
and the end of the blue thread fastened
thereto. If the train runs without
stopping for fifty miles, the blue thread
is stretched over opposite to the station
at which the stop is made, and directly
under the ten a. m. time-mark another
pin is stuck and the blue thread wrapped
about it to keep it taut. If this is a
stop, say of forty minutes, the blue
thread is stretched to the 10:40 a. IN.
mark on direct line with the same sta
ton, and another pin stuck and the
blue thread wrapped The train starts
and its entire course is thus timed and
distributed along the road. If the rail
road has say forty or sixty passenger
and freight trains running daily, the
tlme-chart, when it is completed, looks
like great SPIDERS web stretched out
with pins. But little work then remains
to transfer the time and stations to the
timetable and the schedule is ready foI
the printer milwaukee, Sentinel.