Evening star., 1898-12-24
WILL CONTROL $50 TRAINS.
Boston Switchman VIII Have Many
Lives i'm His keeping.
From the Boston Globe.

FROM the Boston Globe.
In watch tower out in the yard of the
new Southern Union station, when the reg
ular running of trains there will begin. will
be a man who will have in his hand, so TO
speak, the lives Of the hundreds of thou
sands of persons who will come on the 80
daily trains that will make the station their
terminus.
The work of putting in the switches by
which the eight main tracks will be con-
nected with the fanlike arrangement of the
twenty-eight tracks in the interior of the
train house has been watched with interest
by railroad men and engineers Over these
tracks will pass the trains now entering
the Boston and Albany the Park SQUARE
station and the Kneeland Street stations of
the New York, New Haven and Hartford
and those of the New England road.
These trains now run into three stations
and the temporary station of the New Eng
land outside the kneeland Street station
Each road handles trains daily up to the
capacity of its station, and dozens of
switchmen in the yards have their hands
full In keeping them on the right tracks.
when the trains begin to run into the new
station all this work will be in the hands
or one man. or rather, of three men, as
there will be three shifts of eight hours
each employed
To connect the eight feeding tracks with
those in the farmhouse there will be fifty.
two single switches, thrty-nve double slip
switches and thirty-five movable frogs The
man in the tower will have command of
these through 122 compressed-air cylinders
varying from o to Ga inches in diameter
These ale connected with his tower by
electric wires, SO that a touch Of the finger
causes them to work al the proper moment
and stunts the rushing train on to the
proper track, where its passengers are to
be landed.
To indicate whether the track is clear or
hes will ha tod .,f+l,
80 semaphore signals. that will show clear
above all distractions on the tops of bridges
placed over the tracks destined for each of
the several roads. These will show the
customary red danger signal if the track is
In use, or green if il is ready for occu-
pancy, or no signal If it Is entirely unocc,l-
ped. The semaphore signals work auto
matically with the opening and closing Of
the switches.
With these mechanical ARRANGEMENTS at
his disposal, and no fear that they will go
to sleep at their posts, or leave them un-
protected TO go on q strike, the operator in
the tower sits as comfortably as the re-
sponsibilities of the position will permit
him.
Before him is a machine on which num-
bered plates indicate the switch. series
or levers from to 6 inches in length run
along the front of the machine each To-
Gated at numbered plate. When a train
Is TO come over the rails and to go into the
trainshed he turns the lever to the right or
icAt elS OF tne tram
quires, and it slides smoothly into its prom
er position The operator is not allowed to
think or anything else but his switches
while on duty. He is not alone in the
tower, either. With him are three others,
who are known as the director, the assist
ant director and the telephone man. Each
OF these has his duties connected with the
switch system, and in the same service al
though working on the earth, are two men
employed in keeping the switches well oiled
and cleaned.
All these men are impersonal, and to the
outside world have no names but those that
Indicate their occupations. There are, so
to speak. three of each of them. That ts
there are three shifts of men who do the
work of the different positions, but whether
it be John. Jim or Tom who is on duty for
the time he is only the operator, director
or telephone man. The telephone man gets
word through the telephone telegraph
wire that a train is coming. He commGni-
Gates with the director. who, in turn tells
the operator. When II is seen approaching
he turns his lever, and the switch is set au-
tomatically, and the semaphore works and
indicates whether the track is clear or not