News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1889-06-27
GIRLS IN SIGNAL TOWERS.
Lonely Nights in Order that Travel
ers May Speed in Safety,

The block signal system OF the Penn
sylvania Railroad is a great success, but
one scarcely realizes how much depends
on the carefulness and wakefulness of
the telegraph operator until he stands q
night in one of these telegraph towers.
1t was the misfortune of a Dispatch
reporter not long since to have such an
experience. Caught at night in the
country, with the only hotel in the vii
lage two miles away, and the farmers
for miles around sound asleep, one of
the lonely towers of the Pennsylvania
road was not uninviting under such cir
cumstances. The news gatherer had o
long telegram to send, and the young
lady operator vowed thousand times,
rs she admitted afterward, that she
would keep the door locked hereafter
and admit nobody but railroad men ut
night. But when the hard job had been
performed, and after vigorous rubbing
I the Hood began to return into her numb
arm, she was pleased with the prospect
of having even q reporter to Talk to I'M
til morning.
How these poor girls in the towers
must suffer from loneliness none but
themselves can tell. If a man had n
wife that talked too much he could
easily effect cure by hlving her learn
the telegraph business, and then secure
for her a position in one of the Pennsyl
wanna towers. 1t is surprising how many
lady operators there are on the railroads,
and invariably they work Mt night. One
of them accounted for it by saying that
their chiefs are men. and they try to dis
courage women from entering the bust
ness as much as possible.
al wish didn't have to work, said
the lady operator in the course of the
long chat, Certainly we get lonely,
aud the night is always terribly long. |
have two rcvolvers 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 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.
II pointed the revolver ut the fellow 8
head, and lie cried out to 1ne not to
shoot. didn't, and [ confess L felt as
much relieved as he did, when he found
himself on the ground again. He slid
down TINT 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,
it is almost impossible to pull it, and it
requires all our exertion.
"My greateat trouble is to keep awake
after three o'cloc'l in the morning. We
help each other, and if think au oper-
ator is asleep try to warn her by max
ing all the noise over the wires I can. L
remember when the eastern express WAS
put on early in the morning. The oper-
ators we're so used to doing about that
time of the night that the 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. If the oparator goes to sleep
the trains are blocked, and if she is re-
ported she is fined 50.
"Well, / have forgotten how often
That train was stopped the first morning.
At some towers they had to break open
the door to see what was the matter.
Generally the conductors and engineers
mr., good fellows and do little reporting,
but there is limit to their patience.
The train made number of trips before
the GENERATORS got used to the new run,
and now we all manage to be awake. -
rPittsburg Dispatch.