Western liberal. (Lordsburg, N.M.) 1887-1919, 1893-04-21
THE TRAIN DISPATCHER.
From tho Now York Sun.

train despatching was too risky to
make the sense Of responsibility com
fortable?"
'It may be partly that at bottom,
but train dispatcher, to do his work,
must lose sight Of the awful conse-
quences that might follow a mistake.
II he didn't, he'd lose his nerve every
time. Why, every train or single 10
cemotive, for that matter, of the hun
dreds whose movements he directs ev-
cry day, is fraught with greater possi-
bilities Of disaster, involving life or
property, or both, than any man can
contemplate and not want to desert
the responsibility"
"But how can 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. II you've run
trains without accident, why you feel
you can do it again."
"When the danger of catastrophe is
lost sight of, resumed the despatch
er ''.the fascination comes in the cem-
plexity Of the problems which present
themselves every hour How to get
the most trains through, in opposite
directions, giving each its rights
over the others, is the sum of a des-
patcher's task. 1t isn't enough to get
each train as 1t comes along through
safely; you've got to deal with scores
at the same time, look ahead and keeE
them moving"
'You ought to be a good chess play.
err" suggested the reporter.
II do pretend to play pretty fail
game, and you are right; the same fac
ulties that tell in chess come into
play in train despatching. But with
trains you're dealing with men that
are, when under way, out of your con
troll for a time, so that the difficulties
Of the 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 din
consciousness you have of responsl
bility makes the railroad game bis
one.
'And it's something only the hu
man mind can grapple with. Nv,
seen mechanical contrivances used t
follow on a board the movements o
trains, with the idea of checking th,
liability Of the dispatcher to drop {
stitch and allowing him to think o
something else without losing the sit
uation. But, aftet all, it's the maj
who must be depended on to know
that the board is right. If it gets Sc
wrong, the board of pegs only embar
rasses him in trying to recover hi
picture, as the boys call it.
"a train dispatcher has got to hay
mental picture of the relative posi-
tions at any given time of all tn
trains under his hands. If that
gone, Ged help him!
"Why, I've seen man stand be
tween two telegraph operators dictat
; ing orders to one and the other as fas
as he could talk maby time, withou
anything between his messages an
disasters, except the changing, but a
every minute whole and exact pic
lures of all the miles of track whic
he runs. Suppose it is double tracl
with few miles of single track b.
tween and sidings, his mind mus
work like lightning to keep them &
ing and avoid collisions.
''I'Ve seen man standing in tn
! operators tower in such situation
debating, grow suddenly white as
cloth. He had lost his picture
moment of awful suspense, and the
with a great sigh, almost groan,
relief he would recover it.
"That instanti unblurred, ment
image is the peculiar faculty deye
}. oped by the despatcher's business.
= ITO give you an idea how comp
7 Gated these mental photographs mi
| be, and how points, any one of pc
l haps fatal Importance, the mind mu
take in at once, / was at one time de
patcher over a section Of double-tra
road of sixty miles. Regular trai
passed a given point every four mi
utes, In this section was ten mil
of single track, 'hog-back' that Is
grade both ways to its middle,
quiring two locomotives to pull trai
up to the highest point, when tn
left either Of the double tracks.
"With the regular trafic on the Il
ter, and the locomotives coming. ba
6. from the hog-back, twice the ordini
number, and just as likely to cal
"A loss to property, if not to life or ira