Daily Yellowstone journal., 1890-02-20
TRAIN D~lSPATChekS.
Ono Of Their Number Tells somethins
About His Duties.

About His Duties.
Tell me something about the train
~dispatchcr's work" said the young
man from The Herald 10 the hand
some, brown bearded young train dis,
patcherof the Fitchburg road the other
day.
There is nothing 10 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 experien-
ces that we fellows meet that every
body is iii disappointed in the truthful
account of our actual duties. We are
not heroes. you know, or anything
like that, aud we do our part of the
work thoroughly, / know, and unos
tentatiously, l hope. A train dis.
patcler must be- quite a perfect work
nan or he is totally valueless. II isn't
a business where a mae may make a
mistake and then recri:y it and 90
ahead. The excuse oil didn't know
doesn't go at all, aud the plea Of
never do it again can't be considered
for an instant. One mistake is fatal.
Therefore, a train dispatcher is kept so
busy thinking all the time that he
never gets "A chance To be romantic or
sentimental. There is a certain ex-
hilaration Of conscious glory, | sup
pose, in the position of the man who
holds his hand on the lever aud peers
steadily INTO the darkness. whittier his
engine is plunging, but II is the least
exciting kind of work to sit quietly at
a little desk in Il stuify room, and lis
ten 10 the darary monotone Of the
clicking telegraph"
Despite this discouraging prelude.
The Herald man found much TO inter.
est him in what he learned of train
dispatchers and their work. The oilice
where these useful servants of the
railroad company sit is never empty,
and the sound of the telegraph instru.
ment is never still there. At any hour
of the day or night somebody may be
found in the room with a pencil in
his hand and paper before him. The
train dispatcher records each train and
its position rs fast as the information
comes in over the wire. The train
sheet is the record. Ii is a great sheet
of paper with blanks for the names Of
the engineers and conductors. aud the
numberof 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 TIE day that a train passes the
operator the number of the engine
and the number of the cars are tele-
graphed immediately To the train dis
catcher. with the names of the con
ductor and engineer. BY this means
the train dispatcher manages to keep
every train located and to know its
precise situation and the persons re-
sponsible for il.
ITO give you an idea of the work"
saidth train dispatcher, ''let me sub
nit some illustrations. The rule of the
road is that freight trains must keep
ten minutes away from passenger
trains. 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 behind him is late. He would
have 10 keep the train shunted, never
theless, if il were not for the train dis
patcher, who disentangles what might
be serious snarls. With his knowledge
Of the situation of each train, he can
provide for the relief of the freight.
The train Dispatcher functions are an
omalous. Whereas nearly every other
employe follows orders literally in all
things, the train dispatcher is called
upon every hour Of the day TO exer-
else his individual Judgment. And
there is hardly an employe on the
road about whom the public has so
vague and inadequate an impression.
While the details of his work are in
Vulnerable. they are details that are
self born every day and that cannot be
forcseen. Boston Herald.