Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1899-01-05

| annoyance when some noisy locomo-
tive has whistled sharply near him.
| He has frowned in disgust and asked
| the oft-repeated question. Now, why
did that fellow do that?" He feels
that noises distressful and unpleasant
abound which he must endure without
| having the shriu Shrek OF the engine
| dinned into his ears. Yet the engin-
eer never pulls the whistle lever with
out good reason for SO doing
Locomotive whistles can be NUS
ances. In several states they have
! been tested in courts and held to be
| Objectionable, in spite OF the protests
! of the companies. Over in Indiana
| one judge who lived in the country
near railroad track took judicial
notice" of a custom on the part of
engineers to emit prolonged whistles
! when making a crossing near the jul
| dicial home. This Knox county Judge
| decided the whistling was a nuisance
and disturbing to his morning slumb-
ers, so he issued his Injunction. The
case was appealed, but the supreme
court sustained the court below to the
extent of restricting the duration of
the whistle, although 1t was shown
| that the shrek was a legal and phys
| zeal necessity The engineer must
whistle the crossing, but must do it
| in the shortest possible time.
Out in LeavenwoTth, Kan, the First
Methodist church has brought suit
CT ha
railroad because the whistle of the
| engines passing the church disturbed
divine worship The trains pass close
| to the church, which is located in
| thickly settled portion of the city. 1t
| is just far enough away from the sta
ton to make it a good point to blow
| the incoming signal. The rules re-
| quire all engineers to whistle all sta
lions whether the train stops or dashes
through. The church people declared
the whistling at this particular spot
| was nuisance, and, not having an in
| junction judge, laid damages, with
good prospects of winning the suit.
Yet, in spite of these instances, the
using of the whistle in moderation is
public necessity. The signals used
also form a very interesting and intri
cate code. If the general public were
more familiar with the meaning of the
| footing of the engine whistle the gen
| eral public in all PROBABILITY would
cease reviling the smoke and grease
| begrimed engineer or fireman for
doing as he does. He cannot help
| himself, for he is under orders. The
| law makes it his duty, and he never
| tOOts a toot without some definite and
| important meaning being concealed in
| the noise. The man whose attention
| is thus directed to the train knows
what it means, and the public safety is
thereby secured. Here is what a
British superintendent says of the
| whistle:
There are various kinds of lang
uages.' Standing on the departure
platform of any busy station one is
not infrequently startled by the sud-
den shrek of the snort1ng locomotive,
| impatiently anxious 60 break away
| from the hustle of the town with its
precious freight of humanity; but to
| the novice in railway science the
necessity of this unlimited and unex-
pected shock to ones membrane
tympani is a distracting and insolV-
able problem. The apparent indiffer-
ence of the locomotive engineer to
the nervous susceptibilities of those
around him will, however, be more
readily excused when it is understood
that the sound emitted by the en-
CINE represents simply a call or in
timation to some signalman in the dis
lance that the train is ready to de-
part, and requires certain points to be
set and a particular signal to be
lowered to enable it to go ahead.
From one set of metals one sound
of the whistle will convey the neces-
sary message TO the occupant of the
signal cabin; from another road two
sounds will serve similar purpose,
and from third three sounds may be
required, And so important are the
codes under this head that on some
railways they take precedence Of all
other instructions in the companies
i books of special regulations, a sep
arate code being drawn up for each
junction and important station. II
will, therefore, be apparent that on the
large lines quite number of pages are
required to set out these whistles in
tabular order. In these instructions
A distinct and separate sound, or sets
of sounds, is prescribed for every
movement of an engine or train re-
quiring to pass on to, off, or foul of a
main line, as distinguished from
movements in sidings not directly con.
nected with continuous running lines
and in certain cases the details run
into fifty pages of closely-printed di-
rections. AS an Indication of the
variety of uses to which the engine
whistle is apEEed, it may briefly BIZ
stated. without entering into detail:
of too technical a nature, that plate
layers, signal and telegraph en-
gineers and others at work in tunnel:
:. are warned by the engine whistle o.
an approaching train Station off
Gals, IN like manner, receive intima
ton in the case of through trair
: aot destined to stop at the platform
If the signal is at danger the drivel
: is en- Joined TO sound his whistle as
reminder to the signalman that tn,
train is waiting to go ahead
The engine whistle is also EN-
ployed in an emergency as means o
communication between the driver AM
guard, or as a message of recall wheI
a guard-OWing to breakdOwn-ha