Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-11-03
In A SWITCH TOWER
How New York's Great Network Of
Rails is Managed.
DESCRIPTION OF The FORCE AT WORK
Qualities Needed by the Men Who
Handle the Levers.
ALL UNDER ONE MANS EYE

From the New York Post.
Even with the necessary room at COM
| mand, the proper systematizing of matters
at the terminal station of a big railroad
taxes the ingenuity of the officials When
as is the at the Grand Central station
in New York city. the station yard is
| wedged within narrow limits. the problem
becomes extremely difficult
There is probably no spot in the city
where there is SO much concentrated energy
continually being exercised as in the switch
tower of the station yard There are 10
switch levers. ranged side by side down the
middle of the tower floor, commanding the
interlaced patchwork OF tracks that sur
rounds the tower. Additional space would
be boon to the yardmaster and his aids
Even so much as a tracks width of ground
on either side would greatly facilitate mat
tiers. AS it is, when there is much business
beyond the regularly assigned trains, the
yardmaster simply takes counsel with his
lever workers and adds new combination
to the-already lengthy list of combinations
contained in the station text book
This is just a brief summary of what
the men have to know before they begin
practice in the tower said the station su-
perintendent recently, handing thick vel
low-paged pamphlet for the visitors in
spection. There are 831 combinations
there, all referring to the locks and checks,
switches and signals, controlled by the
levers. Our best tower men know these
combinations by heart. They know them
so well, indeed, that if there is one bit of
tackle or apparatus not being worked for
all 1t Is worth, they can suggest a new re-
source to the yardmaster when he has some
special demand to meet. The towermen are
all picked workmen. They arrive at the
position after long apprenticeship, and once
hair SS.rE
stay for years
Huge Instrument.
The man manipulating the lonr-ha3dIed
levers give the impression of playing on
some huge instrument, the keyboard of
which alone is visible. They pull down a
red lever here and push up a blue one be-
yond, reaching out hand to snap a third
in place. Yellow, black, blue red: black
yellow, red, blue, back and forth they
change the handles, the performance all in
agreement with the teachings and formulas
Of that yellow text book.
There is silence in the tower, except for
the sound of the mems feet on the bare
floor as they move back and forth in at
tendance on the great instrument the con-
stantly recurring click, Click of the released
levers settling back to place and the
tinkling of the electric bells in their metal
reverberators. The roupd-faced clocks that
are posted at intervals along the wall on a
level with the mems eyes do not tick. Their
entire attention is given to telling the time
plainly and clearly, to the fraction of q
second. These clocks have plain faces ana
big. easily seen hands, with no fOurishes
OF ornament. The workmen are of a like
pattern They are strong and muscular as
blacksmlths, yetu their movements are
quick and alert. The mems faces look as If
they were carefully considering, listening
to the signaling Of the bells and the sound
ing Of the switch-iOcks, and complying with
orders The foreman of the gang appears
to be gifted with, the faculty of doing
half-doZen things at the same time There
are plunge bells at HIS elbow by which he
can signal to a half hundred places out
through the tunnel There Is megaphone
for giving messages TO the men in the yard
below; his own special batch of levers is
to be attended to, and he must keep in
touch with the men in the telegraph room
out in the small building back Of the tower.
He works eight hours day.
Seen From the Tower.
After being in the switch tower consd-
cradle length of time the various noises
and clickings become distinct. 1t can be
told from the suIlen thud or the sharp click
of a liberated lever whether the iron tenta-
Giles it moves are heavy and far-reaching
or merely the throw of a signal the
turning of lock. AS for the signal bells,
each speaks a language of its own. Now
one rings long and insistently, the same
note over and over, tale that the foreman
slate, and answers with his staccato plunge
bells Now comes only a short, quick TIM
kle, seemingly hardly worth notice, but the
levers answer it promptly, and again there
Is a strong ring at the further end of the
long room that makes the master hand
grab up the big megaphone and speak
hastily to the men in the yard below.
"a big train load of scenery up abOve!"
he calls out, then jumps back to his levers
as promptly as possible. y signal d minute
or two later gives the warning that fu-
neral special Is to be provided for.
An is movement and aiertness within the
tower where those eight men work hand
over hand at their pulleys and look out
for the business of the moment and the
business to come with almost superhuman
accuracy; but outside, where the trains and
locomotives are being shifted about at the
bidding of the levers, it is equally interest
ing The tower windows command view
on all sides; the observer being able to take
in only part Of the general panorama.
Here are two trains ready to start out a
minute apart, Abe engines standing neck
to neck like horses alert for race, the
yardinen watching the signals that will let
them go. Up at the marrow entrance to
the yard waits an inbound train eager to
get home. but locked fast until "a track can
be cleared for it, TO the right of the
ing company abruptly with the train it
Grew and scudding off at a tangent while
me passenger coaches run into the station
to deposit their loads of passengers and
baggage. Here is train of cars used for
suburban travel being backed into the sta
tlon, only to come out promptly on another
track moment later, and a bright. fault
leSSly Kept locomotive comes Steaming out
of the round house, where it was sent to |
be turned, coaled and watered. 1t looks
the 1resher FOR its grooming, and is a nota-
Dle contrast TO the dingy pusher,' one of
the plodders of the yard, that is being
switched to and fro on various errands
The Giit-Edged Flyers.
The lOng-diStapce on his,