The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-06-17

winked and one of another color had opened in the same spot. From the top of the embankment one could see jets of steam pulling from the machine shops, a mile below. Presently whis- tie blew, the jets died down, and streams of men could be seen scatter ing. in all directions. Other factory whistles blew and the men went home. But on the tracks none of the hustle | ceased for an instant. In one end of the yard engines snapped cars from the ends of trains of freight into countless switches, where they crashed into dim shadows. Very often engines passed, growing and hissing, with that eff feet of intelligence and responsibility an engine always preserves. Smaller | lights waded about in the gloom down on the tracks; sometimes they climbed cars and raced back and forth. When | they came closer one saw that they were lanterns carried by men in sooty blue.
 Presently a faint, treble humming arose from below. It grew into the roar of a swiftly moving train. The star ing headlight of an engine, quivering slightly from side to side, came boring through all the Kaleidoscope of color and motion. A moment later the pride of the road came tearing recklessly past, total weight of 2S0 tons, which had rested only the day before in Chi cago. One instinctively stepped back and clutched something, waiting for a crash that seemed inevitable. It seemed impossible to get through all that tur- n1ni1 a1I that anYp9rad hAnhlZ9r1 without collision. Two men on top of the bank watched it as they would would watch the plunge of a football player through an open field. At last the train disappeared with rush and slide into the distant station, two waves of steam and dust curling at the rear lights from either side. In the | wake of the express one or two of the l colored lights, lazily disappeared and a | few others changed color. There was no cessation of the swinging, changing | life below.
 And yet, there is one man down | yonder," said one of the men on the bank, as though in answer to the oth- er's thoughts, "who knows where ev- erything is and why. it is there. You don't know, and don't. There may be cases when even the men in the cab don't know, but that man down there does"
 The other man determined that he would see this man who knew every thing. First of all, he was made tc understand that each railroad division usually from SO to 130 mics in length, is a separate and distinct business under the control of one man. Each division operates in conjunction with the same kind of but equally distinct divisions or both sides. All of these concerns arc under one general management, but ir practical things, such as the running of trains, they are absolutely distinct.
 The station seen from the top of the bank was the head of the division Tht brains of the division were to be found in the place of all brains-just under heath the roof There are many parts of this brain, each with it's own func.
 ton. The part that controls motior is the train despatcher's office Stretch
 ing out from it and covering every par
 of the road are the wires of the tele. graph. These are the nerves of the rail
 road. No movement, however, slight, i: : made without the command, or at leas
 without the tacit approval, of this in
 telligence. Every train Is entirely un
 der the control of the office, and ther,
 should be no minute that the dispatch
 CT is unable to exactly locate it.
 It is not necessary for the dispatch CT to give each train specific orders. Un
 der the direction of the yardmaster,
 the trains of incoming freight arr
 constantly being torn to pieces, and tn
 cars are assorted according to destina
 tion and made up into other trains
 Furnished with motive power eacl
 train is then taken in charge by con
 ductor The conductor acquaints him
 self with all movements ahead of him
 and takes upon himself the responsibil
 ity of deciding whether he can make ;
 certain point without interfering witt
 the schedule of trains of equal or su perior right Having figured this ou
 he notifies the dispatchers office. The
 the conductor takes the train to it destination, proceeding according t
 his train orders and depending upol the signal stations for immediate safe
 ty and upon the despatchers office fo
 special orders. These are the dutie , connected with the management o
 'junks" and other trains having n
 regular daily run. The conductor of
 train of the first class has an easie , time. He moves forward when his tim
 comes, depending upon others to kee l out of his way, instead of figuring t keep out of the way of any one else.
 In the despatcher's office the exac
 leaving time of the train is noted 0,
 the train sheet, the names of the crew
 and a description and destination O the cargo having been given by tn
 yardmasters. From eaclf of the man
 signal stations along the route come
 a brief description and the passing tim of every passing train, and this is ap pended to the record on the train sheet The train sheet is the despatcher'
 diary. It is the basis of all reports, an contains every detail of the runnin 2 of trains. Each days sheet is guarde like relic of the Prophet At mid , night it is folded and filed away, to } gether with all the messages and or
 ders that concern the train as a whol
 or any part of it. Then new one
 begun. The slightest irregularity ma start chain of correspondence no ] definitely settled for months, and eac link is added to the train sheet contain
 ing the record of that train. Very of
 ten it is nothing but a tracer for a los
 car; sometimes it is of more import - | ance But whatever it iS each part