St. Landry democrat., 1890-02-08
rain Dispatches.

ONE OF THEIR NUMBER TELLS SOMETHING
ABOUT HIS DUTIES.
"Tell me something about the train dis
patcher's work, said ths young man from
The He0r0ld to the handsome, brown
bearded young train dispatcher of the
Fitchburg road the other day.
''There is nothing to be told" the train
dispatcher said, modestly. ''Nothing
more than an outline of the details of the
work, he added. You see, there have
been so many queer stories told about the
experiences that we fellows meet that
everybody is disappointed in the truthful
account of our actual duties. We are not
heroes, you know, or anything like that,
and We do our part of the work thorough
ly, know, and unostentatiously, | hope
A train dispatcher must be quite perfect
workman or he is totally valueless 1t
isn't business where man may make a
mistake and then fecbify it and go ahead
The excuse of didn't know doesn't 90 at
all, and the plea of never do it ..gain can t
be considered for an Instant. OLe mistake
is fatal. Therefore, train dispatcher is
kept SO busy thinking all the time that he
never gets d chance to be romantic or seBt-
NE ntal. There is a certain exhilarAtion of
conscious glory, suppose, in the position
OF the HAN WHO hO)ds his uand ON The lever
and peers steadily into the darkness,
whittier his engine Is plungng, but it is
the least ex -itlng kind of work to sit quiet
iy a. u little deoA in stutfy room, and lis
ten to the dreary monotone OF the clicking
telegraph"
Despite ILi5 di:cou'aging prelude, the
Herald maH found much to interest him in
what he learned OF train dispatchers and
their work. The office where these u.s.
full servants of the railroad company sit is
never empty, aud the sound of the tele-
graph instrument is never still there. At
any hour Of the day or night somebody
may be found in the room with pencil in
his hand and paper before him The train
dispatcher records each train and it's posi-
ton rs fast as the information comes in
over the wire The train sheet is the
record. 1T is a great sheet of paper with
blanks for the names of the engineers and
conductors, and the number of the engines
and cars on the road at any given time
This train sheet is made up OF the reports
that each Station operator sends in. at
any time of the day that train passes the
operator the number of the engine and thu
number of the cars are Ielegraphed im-
mediately to the train dispatcher, with the
names OF the conductor and engineer. By
this means the train eli. patcher manages TO
keep every train located and to know its
precise situation and the persons RESPONSE
BILE for it,
"To give you an idea of The work, " said
the tram dispatcher, "iet me submit some
illustrations The rule of the road is tt at
freight trains must keep ten minutes away
from passenger trans. If They get nearer
than ten minutes ahead of passenger trains
they must lay off on to the side track
Sometimes the calculation Of the freight
conductor is wrong, because the train be-
hind him is late. He would have to keep
the train shunted, nevertheless, if it were
not for tbs train dispatcher, who disc,
taagles what might be serious STARTS.
" It'll his knowledge Of the situation of
each train, he can provide for the relief of
the freight. Tue train dispatch-r's func-
tions are anomalous Where nearly every
other employe follows orders literally in
all things, the train dispa cher is called
upon every hour of the DAY to exercise his
individual judgment And there is hardly
an employs on the road about whom the
public has so vague and inadequate an i'm
preston Whiie the details of his work
are innnmerable. they are details that are
self born every day and that cannot be
foresetn. Boston Herald.