The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1889-08-14
IN A RAILROAD SIGNAL TOWER.
A Lady Operator Describes Her Lonely
Watch at Night.

The block signal system of the Penn
sylvania railroad is a great success,
says the Pittsburg Dispatch, but one
scarcely realizes how much depends
on the carefulness and wakefulness of
the telegraph operator until he spends
o night in one of these telegraph
towers.
II was the misfortune of Dispatch
reporter not long since to have such
an experience. Caught at night in
the country, with the only hotel in
the village two miles away, and the
farmers for miles around sound asleep,
ono of the lonely towers Of the Penn
sylvania road was not uninviting under
such circumstances. The newsgatherer
had long telegram to send, and the
young lady operator vowed thousand
times, as she admitted afterward, that
she would keep the door locked here
after and admit nobody but railroad
men at night. But when the hard job
had been performed, and after vigor-
GUS rubbing the blood began to re-
turn into her numb arm, she was
pleased with the prospect of having
even reporter to talk to until morn
ing.
How these poor girls in the towers
must suffer from loneliness none but
themselves can tell. If man had
wife that talked too much he could
easily effect cure by having her learn
the telegraph business, and then
secure for her position in one of the
Pennsylvania towers. 1t is surprising
how many lady operators there are on
the railroads, and invariably they
work at night. One OF them accounted
for 1t by saying that their chiefs are
men. and they try to discourage women
from entering the business as much ps
II wish didn't have to work" said
the lady operator in the course Of the
long chat. Certainly we get lonely,
and the night is always terribly long.
have two revolYers in this drawer,
but am awfully afraid of firearms.
In my experience so far ! have had
plenty Of scares, but never was really
frightened but once. A German tramp
was determined to come into the tower
one night, and, placing skid which
the men used in handling freight
against the building. he climbed up as
far as the windows.
al pointed the revolver at the fell
lows head, and he cried out to me in
broken English not to shoot. didn't,
and l confess felt as much relieved rs
he did when he found himself on the
ground again. He slid down that skid
almost like shot.
'.Most of the night operators on the
Pennsylvania road are girls. About
the hardest work we have to do is to
pull the lever back and forward which
changes the lights. In the winter
when the long bar becomes covered
with ice, 1t is almost impossible to pull
1t, and it requires all our exertion.
my greatest trouble is to keep
awake after o'clock in the morning.
We help each other, and If think an
operator is asleep try to warn her by
making all the morse over the wire i
can. remember when the eastern ex-
press was put on early in the morning.
The operators were so used to DOING
about that time of the night that tho
express had to make number of stops
ON its first trip. You see the red light
hangs out continually, and this the
engineers are guided by. II the
operator goes to sleep the trains are
blocked, and If she is reported she is
fined 81.
"Well have forgotten how often
that train was stopped the first morn
ing. At some towers they had TO break
open the door to see what was the mat
ter. Generally the conductors and
engineers are good fellows and do
little reporting, but there is limit to
their patience. The train made num-
Der of trips before tho operators got
used TO the new run, and now we all
manage to DO awake