Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-12-13
CNTY MILES AN HOUR A mile minute

CNTY MILES AN HOUR! A mile a minute
~ These are suggestions that suggest to
everybody . sudden roar Of an iron monster. a
Wild shrek o. piercing whistle, the dazing
fash of the engines headlight. the hot rush of
air and the slowly ceasing thunder of vibrat-
ing rails. What else does il suggest To the
unreasonably timd it brings visions OF the bor-
rible crash and shock OF colliding trains, the
deafsning reverberation of the last mad wild
echoes that hover above the wrecked coaches
on tho lonely road. To those who have conf
dence in the eye that looks out beyond the glar-
ing headlight, and in the hand that handles the
shining lever, IL brings the comfortable re1ec-
ton of conscious safety, and as the tired eyes
close dreaIningly the last thought is one of
perfect trust in the providence of intelligent
vatchfulness that sits in the glowing cab.
THE RESPONSIBLE TRAIN DISPATCHER.
Orce in a while, however, the long train car
ries somebody whose duties in life are those
which the solitary engineer is performing If
he thinks about the matter at all his thoughts
do not center In the figure in the cab ahead
They revert TO n long room in a big depot
where the only sound that disturbs the weird
stiffness Of the place Is that Of sharply clicking
telegraph Instruments white sleevcd young
man sits at his little brass arrangements of
keys, PAGES the floor. overlooking the labors
of his assistants at the boards. This is the
train dispatcher. and on him devolves the re-
sponsibiity for every engine and every car that
travels along the road. IL is he who must pro-
vide against possible disaster or delay. and
with his finger he speaks to every glstcning
raj AMI every grlmy smOkestack on the long
lines of railroad. The engineer rests his hand
the throttle with an easy mind. His
thoughts nay wander away to the crib of
his sleeping babe the couch that
awaits his weary limbs when his labors
are ever, and the reflection of the light that
streams from the lamp above him may be TO
his jaded eye the glows of the hearthstorc.
But for the train dispatcher there is no surcease
of mental effort. He cannot browse for an
instant. and he may not permit his fancy to
roam from the business iii hand even for tho
space of time occupied by the stroke Of the
clock on the wall. len miles an hour sixty
miles al bOur-it matters very little 10 the
Observation-Disclosures figure in the cab. He
knows where he IL expected at u certain mo-
ment: be knows. too. that the Young man who
directs his movements has cleared the way for
him and made everything safe for al easy run.
SOMETHING OF HIS WORK.
.'Tell me something about the train dispatch
ers work, said the young man from Tue
STAR to the handsome young train dispatcher of
one of the local railroads one day this week.
There is nothing 10 be told the train dis
pateher said, modestly. Nothing more than
an outline of the de tails Of the work he added
You see there have been so many queer
stories told about the experiences that we fel-
lows meet that eyerybod La 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 company work thor
o0ghly, know. and unostentatiously. hope.
A train dispatcher must be quite o perfec.
workman or he is totally valueless 1t isn't a
business where man may make mistake and
then rectify it and go ahead. The excuse of
didn't know' don't go at all. and the plea of
never do IL again can't be considered for an
instant One mistake il fatal. Therefore a
train dispatcher is kept so busy thinking all the
tune that he never gets a chance TO be romantic
or sentimental There is a certain exhilaration
Of conscious ylorv. suppose. in the position of
the man who hold his hands on tho lever and
peers steadily into the darkness. whittier his
engine IL plurging. but 10 Is the least exciting
kind of work to sit quietly at = little desk in a
stuffy room and listen to the dreary monotone
Of the clicking telegraph"
TEE TRAIN SHEET RECORD.
Despite ths discouraging prelude The STAR
man found much 10 interest him in what he
learned Of train dispstchcrs and their work
The ofice where these useful servants of the
railroad company sit Is never empty. and the
sound of the telegraph instrument is never
sill there. At any hour of the day or night
somebody may be found IN the room with q
pencil III his hand and paper before him. The
train dispatcher records each train and its posi-
GoE - lasl a. TIE INFORMATION comes III over the
wire. The train sheet IL the record. 1t il
great sheet OF paper, with blanks for the
names OF the engineers and conductors and
the number of engines and cars on the road at
any gwen time This train sheet III made up
Of the reports that each station operator sends
IL At any time of the DAY that n train passes
the operator the number of the engine and the
ramDer of tine cars are teiegraphed imme-
6iately 10 the train dispatcher, with the names
of the conductor and engineer. By this means
tho dIzyR.a her IN EP1V.
located and to know it, precise situation and
the persons responsible for it,
INDIVIDUAL JUD0hEsT MUST BE EXERCISED.
TO give YOU idea of the work" said the
train dispatcher, ''let me submit some illust-s-
tons The rule OF the road is that freigh.
trains must keep ten minutes away from pas
senger trains. IL they get nearer than ten min
utss ahead Of passenger trains they must Law
OH on ~ the side track. Sometimes the calcr-
lation of the freight conductor is wrong be
Cause the train behind him is late. He would
have TO keep his train shunted nevertheless if il
we've not for the train dispatcher. who olsen
6ngles VIVA. might be serious snarls- With his
knowledge Of the situation of each train he can
provide fer the relief of the freight. Nearly
every other employe follows orders literally in
al things. but the train dispatcher is called
upon every hour Of the day TO exercise his IN
Gividual Judgment And there il hardly an
empIOye on the road about whom the public
has so vague and Inadequate an impression
"Ellc the lie TAILS OF the NOrk lnNumeYuble
they are details that are self born every day
and that cannot be fo-eseen.
Suppose freight train is disabled on the
road between two stations. The fact is u,ade
known 10 the train dispatcher who knows that
passenger trains are dine along that wav in both
directions He telegraphs orders 20 west-bound
trains tO travel upon the east track and holds
the ezst-bOund trains out OF the way. There Is
TO apparent delay and the passengers who even
know that anything unusual is happening are
very few.
HOURS OF LABOR AND PAT.
Train dispatchers usually work eight hours
. day. That is a custom gen r>liy throughout
the United States They not paid so well
as the engineers, who are the best paid class of
employees VI the road. In the west. where the
work Is not so hard, the train dispatcher gets
better pay. In the east more and better work
il done. bat the pay is not good. The re-
sponsibilities of the train dispatcher are much
greater thirty or forty times as great usually
than those Of his better paid brethren in the
service. However. the danger is not so great.
The special train doesn't give the train
dispatcher so much labor might be supposed.
The simple and effective way of arranging the
pAssaxe Of special trains 10 To attach = special
green flag to the front of the engine OF the
train ahead. This gives notice To everybody
that special train Is behind and that IL has all
the nights OF the train CARRYING the green flag.
freights must be side-tracked until after the
special passes OF Course. il makes all the diff
ference IN the world what time the special