The Lamar register., 1894-07-07
DESPOT OF THE RAILS.
THE TRAIN plSPATcHERS Az
TOCRATIC POWERS.
He Runs HI. Division. and n He Does
Not Hun II There I. Disaster to Roth
Life and Propery-Queer Experiences
On . Mountain Division.

nkAthhAbus hht ehAAA. hAt Nf'A Ne@AF
aptness required to move trains
rapidly and safely Is very great
Seated in his office he sees fgures
that represent actions and messages
that describe facts He sends out mes
sages that control actions and change
the conditions of the facts He
does not see anything that IS going
on along the road. He ncars IL
over the wire or reads about It on a
telegram. says the Philadelphia
Times And yet every thing must be
done exactly right; no mistakes are
allowed in this business He has to
think at once OF the best way of get
ting rid OF tangle Ut course
there is certain amount OF easy
routine in running trains. but every
day brings forward n new com binA-
tion of events which taxes the alort-
ness of the dispatcher 10 the ut
most On a double track road.
which Is usually run under the
block system nowadays. he does not
have to watch out for the meeting
aud passing OF train. as on a single
track road. and think his duties
are therefore considerably easier
But he still has to keep everything
moving, and It is no slight task II he
has many freight trains to handle
which will persist in ''lAviug out
the important passenger trains The
train dispatcher often has to see
that power @. cugines-is
properly distributed. that station
agents get ali the cars they want
that cars get prompt movement
ara lsaf. ...fa
express train is stopped al a way
station to let disnitary OF. that
yard masters are kept informed OF
the movement OF freight and passen-
ger trains. that doctor meets a
train to attend TO an injured man.
that a switch lamp at a lonely sta
tion which went out is lii again.
that-indeed. could talk on for a
day with my that's
When | worked upon the mountain
division | had some queer expert
ences The track went through a
mountainous country. and the grades
were very steep As business was
not very brisk on this division. tele-
graph offices were few ard far be-
tween. some of them Oeing ten or
twelve miles apart Well. one day.
just after | had gotten report of a
north bound passenger train passing /
station called Since. received a
message from Hilltop. point thir- {
teen miles farther north at the top
OF the grade. that the rear end of a
north-bound freight had broken
loose from the rest of the train
there, and was running southwark 4
with ever-increasing velocity. What 4
was about to happen was at
once pictured before me. saw
the passenger train slowly puff
ing up the steep ascent I could
see the runaway cars winding round
the curves like a snake. and bearing
down on the doomed passenger train
Then terrible crash. n horrible
conglomerate of wood. iron and h u
man beings
What could do to avert this i'm
pending catastrophe? There was no
telegraph Office in operation between
Simco and Hilltop could not wire
anyone TO stop the passenger train
and get it and the people in 1t out of
the road. ! could do nothing. But
l sent a rush" message at once to
certain station where a wreck train
was then standing and ! ordered It
70 ''go at once to a wreck between
Simco and Hilltop" To another
point | sent an order for a relief
train with plenty of surgeons. This
took but minute or two Then t
sat down and waited.
1t was peculiar situation. There