The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1895-11-22
MAKING UP A TIME TABLE.
The Movement of Trains Plotted Out on
Blackboard.


To the average man a railway time
table Is a more or less perplexing thing,
from which the desired information
can only be wrested after much care
full study. Even when all seems plain
sailing. a little asterisk often carries
the traveller to the bottom of the page
with diabolical glee. and there informs
him that the train upon which he has
set his heart runs only Sundays, or
does not run Saturdays. or in some
other way upsets his plans. Railway
men say that time tables are simpler
than they were 10 years ago. Ameri-
cans have an advantage over their
British cousins in this matter, for no
more wonderfully and fearfully COM
piled book exists on this earth than
Bradshaw's Guide" When an Ameri-
can would get'a time table issued by.
the road upon which he wishes to
travel, an Englishman always flies to
Bradshaw's.
The operation of making up a time
table is a comparatively simple one as
pursued by most roads. says the New
York Tribune. As a rule. the passen-
ger time table Is made ND twice a year,
for the summer and winter seasons.
In the general superintendent's room,
in the Grand Central station, there
stands a huge time board. which has
made UP a great many time tables for
the New York Central & Hudson River
railroad. 1t occupies half one side of
the room. and extends from the floor
TO the ceiling. Upon 1t are ruled, ver-
tically, "a heavy black lines. the space
between each of which represents one
hour. Between these are smaller black
lines. which cut the hour up into
spaces of five minutes each, the quar-
ter hours being green and the half
hours blue. From the bottom Of the
- h. Of
all the stations on the line are printed
along the side. They are at varying
intervals, corresponding to the dis
tance in miles between each station.
From each station a heavy black line
runs horizontally across the board.
When a table Is made up, pin Is
stuck in the interval at the bottom of
the board, representing the exact time
at which train starts. Another pin Is
placed at the interval representing the
time at which II will arrive. A string
Is then stretched from one pin to the
other, and represents the passage OF
the train. The points at which the
string intersects the horizontal lines
leading across the board from the diff
ferent stations represent the time AT
which Il will pass each station.
Trains running into New York are
represented by strings running from
left TO right, and those going out are
shown from right to left. Supposing
il is desired to start a train from New
York at 4 o'clock which viii arrive at
Albany by s O'Clock. a pin is placed
at the o'clock line at the bottom of
the board and another at the o clock
line opposite Albany. All the horizon
tai lines cut by the string which
stretches from pin to pin will show the
time OF arrival at each station on the
route. The faster the train the nearer
20 vertical is the string. while the
slower it Is the greater angle will the
string make with the horizontal lines
across the board. When the trains are
all placed on the board IL presents a
perfect network OF strings. Intricate as
Il appears. a finger can instantly be put
upon the time of arrival OF a train al
any given station The movements Of
all trains are thus shown for the whole