Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1893-07-07
TRAIN DISPATCHING.
WORK SO RESPONSIBLE AND RISKY
IS YET FASCINATING.

-e many Moving Trains Under q Train
nispateher's Charge Depend For Safety |
upon His Comprehensive Mental ..p,c.
ture"-some Examples.
'eii you, boys, it's the most fasciuat.
ing work ever tried, and I've been rail.
foaning for Is years and taken a turn A.
everything from brakeman to division su.
perintendent"
30 spoke the train dispatcher to com
pany OF railroad men and the reporter
why, said the latter, II thought train
oispatching was too risky to make the
sense OF responsibility comfortablesn
~ may be partly that at bottom. but a
Train dispatcher to do his work must lose
sight OF the awful consequences that might
follow mistake. II be didn't. he'd lose
ms nerve every time. Why, every train. or
single locomotive for that matter. of the
hundreds whose movements be directs
every day Is fraught with greater posi-
Diiities OF disaster, involving life or prop
elty, or both, than any man can contsrn-
bility." p'''-7'
But now can a man put out Of his mind
aitogether those possibilities. so that he's
NJ 10 move trains without hesitation and
not get ratified" asked the reporter.
ell, it's the same answer to that az 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 dispatcher. ..the fas-
cination comes In in the complexity of the
problems which present themselves every
hour. How to get the most trains through
In opposite directions, giving each its
right over the others, is the sum of dis
patcher'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 player"
suggested the reporter.
Il do pretend to play a pretty fair game.
and you're right. The same faculties that
tell in chess come into play in train dispatch
ing, but with trains you're dealing with
men that are, when under way, out of
your control for time, SO that the difficult
ties OF the game are in one way increased
by the introduction of moving pieces. So.
while you don't wildly realize the possible
consequences of your move on the steel
ruled board, the dim consciousness you
have Of responsibility makes the railroad
game big one.
And it's something only the human
mind can grapple with. I've seen mechan-
| ical contriyances used to follow Oh a 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 situa-
ton. 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 re-
cover his picture, as the boys call it.
"A train dispatcher has got to have a
mental picture of the relative positions at
any given time of all the trains under his
hands. If that's gone, God help him!
why, I've seen a man stand between
two telegraph operators debating orders to
one and the other as fast as he could talk
many a time without anything between his
messages and disasters, except the chang
ing. but at every minute whole and exact
picture of all the miles of track which he
runs Suppose it is double track, with 8
few miles of single track between and sid
ings, his mind must work like lightning te
keep them going and avoid collisions.
I've seen man standing in the opera
tors tower in such situations, debating
grow suddenly white as a cloth. He hac
lost his picture A moment of awful sus
pense and then with great sigh, almost {
groan, of relief he would recover it.
THAT instant, unblurred, mental imag'
is the peculiar faculty developed by the dis
patcher's business.
ITO give you an idea how complicated
these mental photographs may be and how
many points, any one of perhaps fatal i'm
portance, the mind must take in at once,
was at one time dispatcher over section o
double track road of GO miles. Regula
trains passed given point every four min
utes. In this section was 10 miles Of singh
track-a 'hogback'-that is, grade botl
ways to its middle, requiring two locomo
tiyes to pull trains up to the highest point
when they left either OF the double tracks.
with the regular traffic on the latter
and the locomotives coming back from tn
hogback. twice the ordinary number, an
lust as likely TO cause loss to property,
not to life or trains, it was quick WORK
You must take in, too, the presence of train
running under special orders to put Their
through. Add to that the liability to a
emergency call for props to be forwarde
instantly TO the company's mines to guar
against a threatened cavein, and you hav
a good idea of the problems train di;
patcher has to grapple with
Every once in awhile dispatcher gel
A realizing glimpse of the responslblht
placed on him by the way be is pulled
for any irregularity. His superiors mus
be the strictest disciplinarians to guard tn
company against losses. For an illustr'
tion: One winter night / had train whic
had positive orders to put through.
was blocked at certain point by passeI
ger train stalled in the snow. | could owe
come the obstacle in two ways-either pus
the passenger through with an extra loo
motive, or take the urgent train baci
switch it to another track and go aroun
tbe passenger train. The first way woul
take about IS minutes, the other perhal
: an hour and a half. It was late to 10:
time so sent an order to push the passel
ger train out of the way. 1t was done, al
=, through my other train went all rlsh1'
made the usual note OF the maneuVer
! NV daily report to the division 5uperlnten'
snt, and in a day or two got message 'h'
; he would like TO see me.
1.-THE superintendent was one OF the XII
e who doesn't make any fuss, but goes to Il
, besrt of the matter in hand. While speal
ing to me about some commonplace 81
iect he took down q volume OF the pen
code and pointed out section tor me
< road 1t described the offense OF pushli
passenger trains and the statutory pehait
IL ss;d. 4 guess l don't need to say an
4 ,h;rg more. do II | said, 4 hope not, al
went ont feeling as If had JUS. esee''ea
. criminal conviction.