The Elbert County tribune., 1899-04-13
ONE man CONTROLS
OVER 100 TRAINS

One man, by the simple turn
ing of a hand lever, controls the
switches governing the entrance
into Denver of three great railroad
systems.
A short distance west of the
Broadway depot in South Denver
a two story frame structure was
recently put up.
This is the interchangeable sig
nal plant from which interlocking
switches are operated for a dis
tance of 1900 feet in either direc-
tion. 1t is here that the Denver
& Rio Grande, Atchison, Topeka
81 Santa Fe and Colorado &
Southern trains enter Denver.
Every afternoon between 4:40 and
1850 four trains meet here.
Up TO two weeks ago each of
these trains was obliged to come
to full stop and wait until half a
dozen switches had been turned by
the brakeman of each train. Every
afternoon each train lost from five
to ten minutes through this delay.
Nearly 100 other trains Jared sim
ilarly ench day. Now when the
four trains meet there is not an
instants delay. The brakeman
stays inside and his train will roll
along just as if there wasn't an
other train within n thousand
miles, and as if switch or
crossing was thing unknown in
railroading. This has been
brought about by means of an
ingenious mechanism operated
from the signal plant.
Semhphores are placed at inter-
walls along the 1000 feet of the
quadruple line of rails governed
from the signal plant Each turn
of the lever in the tower, besides
turning switch, operates its pnr-
ticular semaphorc. The engineer
on train pulling in from the
south on one of the lines men,
toned directs his attention to the
semaphore governing his track.
During the day, if a green arm is
extended horizontally, he knows
that he can not proceed beyond
what is known as the "distance"
signal point. This is the first
semaphore reached. If the arm is
at an angle of sixty degrees it
indicates Safety" OF go ahead.
At night green light is shown at
the end of the arm for 'sdanger"
and white light for ''safety."
Some Of the semaphores or sig
nal posts, have more than one
arm. In that event the topmost
arm refers to the track leading to
the right, the next arm to the next
and so on. Trains may run right
up to a "home" signal when at
"danger, but never under any
circumstances beyond il.
When the man who operates the
levers controlling the switches and
signals hears two shrill blasts from
a whistle he knows the d. & r.
G.. train is approaching. If the
coast is clear he turns two or three
of the twenty-nine levers before
him and the train passes through.
While it is passing every switch
leading onto the main line is
locked, this operation having been
performed automatically when the
signals were thrown to the ID. q
X. G. to go ahead. The Santa Fe
and Colorado & Southern come in
over the same track from the first
distance" semaphore. Three
blasts of the whistle indicate a g.
& S. train and one blast Santa
Fe. When Santa Fe train re-
ceives s'safety" signal the
..danger" signal for the c. & S.
drops automatically. Trains run
ming on parallel tracks can receive
tho same signals, but all crossings
are automatically locked when a
train on a certain track receives
the ''safety" signal.
The signals are operated by
means Of wires connected with the
intricate machinery in the signal
station and the switches by iron
rods extending at the side of the
track. At distances of seven feet
these rods rest upon rollers snp-
ported by concrete foundation.
The Denver plant Is the second
one built in the state and one of a
very few in the west. The cost
is in the neighborhood of $40, 900
and besides being an absolute
safeguard against collisions it is a
great time saver for the railroads.
Denver Republican.