The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1893-02-15
THE TRAIN DISPATCHER.
Els Work so Responsible and Risky is
Yet Fascinating.-The Many Moving
Trains Under His Charge Depend
for Safety Upon His Comprehen-
siye "Picture."
New York Sun

mating work ever tried, and I've been
railroading for twenty-five years and
taken turn at everything from brake
man to division superintendent"
So spoke the train dispatcher to a
company of railroad men and the re-
porter.
why" said the latter. Il thought
train despatching was too risky to make
the sense of responsibility comfort
able?"
lit may be partly that at bottom, but
train dispatcher to do his work must
lose sight of the awful consequences
that might follow a mistake. If be
didn't he'd lose his nerve every time.
Why, every train or single locomotive
for that matter, ofthe hundreds whose
movements he directs, every day, is
fraught with greater possibilities of
disaster, involving life or property, or
both, than any man can contemplate
and not want to desert the respon-
sibility."
"But how can a man put out of his
mind altogether those possibilities, so
that he's fit to move trains without
hesitation and not get rattled?" asked
the reporter.
"Well, it's the same answer to that
as in other cases where nerve is needed.
It's the confidence that comes with
experience. If you've run trains with
out accident, why you feel you can do
it again."
"When the danger Of catastrophe is
lost sight off," resumed the dispatcher,
"the fascination comes in in the COM
plexity of the problems which present
themselves every hour. How to get the
most trains through, in opposite direc-
tions, giving each its rights over the
others, is thesum of despatcher's task.
1t isn't enough to get each train as it
comes along through safely; you've got
to deal with scores at the same time,
look ahead and keep them moving"
"You ought to be good chess play
er," suggested the reporter.
81 do pretend to play a pretty fair
game, an you're right; the same facul-
ties that tell in chess come into play in
train 6espatching. But with trains
you're dealing with men that are,
when under way, out of your control
for time, so that the difficulties ofthe
game are in one way increased by the
introduction of moving pieces. So,
while you don't vividly realize the
possible consequences of your moves on
the steel-ruled board, the dim con-
sciousness you have of responsibility
makes the railroad game big one.
"And it'ssomething only the human
mind can grapple with. I've seen
mechanical contrivances used to follow
on board the movements of trains,
with the idea of checking the liability
of the dispatcher to drop stitch and
allowing him to think of something
else without losing the situation. But,
after all, it's the man who must be
depended on to know that the board is
right. If it gets set wrong, the board
of pegs only embarrasses him in trying
to recover his 'picture,' as the boys call
it.
ga train dispatcher has got to have
a mental picture of the relative posi-
tions at any given time of all the trains
under his. bands. If that's gone, God
help him!
"Why, I've seen man stand be-
tween two telegraph operators-dictat-
ing orders to one and the other as fast
as be could talk many time, without
anything between his messages and
disasters except the changing, but at
every minute whole and exact picture
of ali the miles of track which be runs.
Suppose it is a double track with few
miles Of single track between and sid
ings, his mind must work like light
ming to keep them going and avoid
collisions.
"I've seen man standing in the
operators tower in such situations,
debating, grow suddenly white as a
cloth. He bad lost his 'picture.' A
moment of awful suspense, and then
with great sigh, almost a groan, OF
relief he would recover it.
"That instant, unblurred, mental
image is the peculiar faculty developed
by the despatcher's business.
ITO give you an idea how compli.
Gated these mental photographs may
be, and how many points, any one Of
perhaps fatal Importance, the mind
must take in at once. l was at one
time dispatcher over a section of dou
ble-track road of sixty miles. Regula,
trains passed given point every foul
minutes. In this section was ten mile:
of single track, 'hog-back,' that is 6
grade both ways to its middle, requir
ing two locomotives to pull trains W
to the highest point, when they lef
either of the double tracks.
with the regular traffic on th'
latter, and the locomotives coming
back from the hog-back, twice tn,
ordinary number, and just as likely t.
cause loss to property, if not to life o
trains, it was quick work. You mus
take in, too, the presence of trains run
ming under special orders to put then
through. Add to that the liability t
an emergency call for props to be for
warded instantly to the company
mines to guard against Threatened
cave in, and you have good idea o
the problems train dispatcher has t
grapple with.