Fairhaven herald. [volume] (Fairhaven, Wash.) 1890-????, 1893-03-09
TRAIN DISPATCHING.
WORK so RESPONSIBLE AND RISKY
is YET FASCINATING.

81 tell you, boys, it's the most fascinat-
ing work | ever tried, and I've been rail
roading for 25 years and taken a turn at
everything from brakeman to division SUI
perintendent."
So spoke the train dispatcher to a com
pany of railroad men and the reporter
why" said the latter, II thought train
dispatching was too risky to make the
sense of responsibility comfortablep
1T 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 he didn't, he'd lose
his nerve every time. Why, every train, or
single locomotive for that matter, of the
hundreds whose movements he directs
every day is fraught with greater posi-
bilities Of disaster, involving life or prop
erty, or both, than any man can contem-
plate and not want to desert the response
bility."
but how can a man put out Of his mind
altogether those possibilities, so that he's
ft to move trains without hesitation and
not get rattledi" 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 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 a good chess player"
suggested the reporter
~ 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 contrivances used to follow on board
the movements of trains, with the idea of
checking the liability Of the dispatcher TO
drop a stitch and allowing him to think of
something else without losing the situa-
tion. But, after ALL it's the man who must
be depended on to know that the board is
right. II it gets set wrong the board Of
pegs only embarrasses him i'm 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. IL that's gone, God help himl
why, I've seen man stand between
two telegraph operators debating orders to
one and the other as fast as he could talk
many 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 a
few miles OF single track between and sid
tngs, his mind must work like lightning to
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 had
lost his picture A moment Of awful sus-
pense, 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 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 inn
portance, the mind must take in at once, /
was at one time dispatcher over section Of
double track road Of 60 miles Regular
trains passed given point every four min
utes. In this section was 10 miles of single
track-a 'hogback-that is, grade both
ways to its middle, requiring two locomo-
tives 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 the
hogback, twice the ordinary number, and
just as likely to cause loss to property, IL
not to life OF trains, it was quick work.
You must takein, too, the presence of trains
running under special orders to put them
through. Add to that the liability to an
emergency call for props to be forwarded
instantly TO the company's mines to guard
against threatened cavein, and you have
a good idea Of the problems train dis
patcher has to grapple with.
Every once in awhile dispatcher gets
a realizing glimpse Of the responsibility
placed on him by the way he is pulled up
for any irregularity. His superiors must
be the strictest disciplinarians to guard the
company against losses. For an illustra-
ton: One winter night had train which
Had positive orders to put through. IL
was blocked at a certain point by passen-
ger train stalled in the snow / could over
come the obstacle in two ways-either push
the passenger through with an extra loco
motive, OF take the urgent train back,
switch il to another track and go around
the passenger train. The first way would
take about Is minutes, the other perhaps
an hour and a half IL was late TO lose
time, so sent an order to push the passen-
ger train out of the way. Ii was done. and
through my other train went all right. /
made the usual note of the maneuver In
my daily report TO the division superintend-
ent, and in day or two got message that
he would like to see me-
1.-THE superintendent was one of the kind