The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1895-03-30
From the \ y. sun.

What simple thing fast train like the
Empire State Express. or the Blue Line
FLYER or the Congressional Limited, is when
you know nothing more about it than YOU
learn from sitting in one of the fine drawing
room ears and watching the fantastic dance
of the mile posts skipping by Ii Is 50 easy
nowadays to be whisked from New York
TO Buffalo or Philadelphia or Washington
al the rate Of almost mile minute, and
sometimes for a short distance Of the jour
ney to travel half as fast again. with the
houses. fences and telegraph poles along
the way mixing themselves into kaleid
oseopic blur. Time was and that not -
long ago. when the height Of every horse
man ambition was a two-forty gait. The
mile minute Is as much behind the times
as applied to passenger trains on half a
dozen different roads as the two-torty gait
is in trOtting horses.
But if YOU happen to be interested in
railroad trains because they are trains and
because they 20 fast. then it IS different.
Then it IS problem. rs soon as the why
comes in the thing begins to be worth
studying. Somewhere behind all this
ostentatious display Of ease and casinos,
are the men who make the whole thing go.
What they do and how they d. ), net cne
passenger in thousand knows. But not
a movement Of any train ON the whole road
escapes their notice. All day and all night
they watch, and the achievement at which
they arrive Is the comfort Of the travelling
public
Nine out Of ten passengers who travel
on these fast trains take the speed a. a
matter Of course. The engines have been
constructed to make fast time; the compile
ment of cars IS coupled to them; when the
time for starting arrives some one rings q
bell and they are off The track has been
cleared for this train. and the passengers
know that it viii be on time They know
more or less vaguely that somewhere o.
another there is a train dispatcher who
arranges for all that.
Apparently the problem Of rapid transit
presents fewer difficulties BY rail than By
water, and undoubtedly it does from the
passengers view point for there Is little
danger from storms, and if part of the
machinery breaks down the passengers car
walk to the nearest telegraph station and
notify their friends that they are safe.
From the view point Of the men who ~
in their Offices and direct the makeup.
speed. and stops Of the fast railroad trains,
however. the steamship agent, to whom
they may be compared has an easy time
An ocean liner Is supposed to be in tbs
hands of her New York agents on her out
ward bound trip only until she reaches
Sandy Hook The agent sees her leave
her slip, gets the report from the Sandy
Hook observer that she has passed ont al
right, and goes home with an easy con
science. Not only is the man who Launches
n fast train. however, from the Crane
Central Station. for instance, supposed Il
know that she is properly equipped anC
manned. but he must watch her conrse by
the figures that are constantly creeplns
down this train column on the des
patcher schedule until she has run off hi
division. If the ocean liner breaks down
her Captain must rely on his own judgment
If fast train breaks down between New
York aud Albany the general superintend
ent and the train dispatcher in their Of
ices in the Grand Central Station know il
almost as soon as it occurs, and they mus
do the worrying Perhaps on the decision
Of minute depend the lives Of scores.
Not only do they know of accidents t.
this particular train, but they must keel
equally well informed as to the movements
Of or accidents to all other trains ON ther
division. The engineers and conductor
are in their hands completely. To-mor
row morning the engineer Of the Empire
State Express may be pushing his engin,
for all he is worth, not expecting 10 stol
until he reaches Albany, when suddenly
he may find himself forced BY signal on
a siding. He may have no idea of tbs
reason for it. Some one Is guiding his train
from an Office in the Grand Central Station
and the responsibility Is not his. Five
minutes later Especial, and 1t woulC
have TO be very important special to sid'
track the flyer, rattles past, and then th'
signals are set again that indicate that th'
Empire State is to hustle on the north
bound track and make up time if possible
If such an experience has never happened
to the Empire State Express circumstance
may arise at any time to make it necessary
and they do happen to some passenge
train or another every day.
Not all the excitement and romance o
u flying trip from New York TO Albany i
monopolized BY the men who are working
the train. 1t doesn require very livel,
imagination to find suggestion of each II
the offices from which such train is opera
ted. More circumstances affect its run
than even the commercial traveller suspects
When General Superintendent Edgar Val
Etten reaches his Office in the Crane
Central Station in the morning he finds OIL
his desk a report that is known as 'Numbe
s. President Depew and Third Vice
President Webb receive the same report. |
is a condensed summary Of everything o