The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1899-09-12
AN INTRICATE TASK.
THE JOB OF CONSTRUCTING A RAIL
ROAD TIME TABLE.

Problems which the TfainmasteF
Has to Solve and which Call For .
er0us F'und Of Patience.
Very few people have ever seen rail
road time table in course Of construction
As a matter of fact, comparatively few
have seen time table after 1t has beer
completed. About the only piece Of liter
AZURE Of this kind that the average citi
gen has need of is the little book handed
out to him by the ticket agent. But thai
is very far from being complete time
table. Only a small percentage Of the
trains that run on the road every day
are to be found there. The table pre-
pared by every railroad division for thu
use of its enginemen and trainmen ant
other employees in need of knowledge Of
the movements of trains is printed on
sheet of paper about four feet long and
two feet wide. This contains information
about every train, passenger or other
that has regular daily, weekly or BIZ
weekly run or which Is otherwise entitled
to place on the sheet.
The time table is in reality begun In
the general passenger agents office. This
official 10 responsible for the through
trains and for those passenger trains
which will travel over more road than ia
under the control of a single division.
He decides upon the time that these
trains shall begin and finish their runs.
Then he divides the proposed running
-, 10 ha liuictnpS W hinh thu
train will traverse and merely notifies
each division superintendent that after a
certain date these trains will arrive at
his division and tells him what will be
expected of him in the way of running
time. Then the passenger agent waits
to be advised of necessary corrections.
Formerly all the details Of time table
making were done in the central Office,
the division superintendent being called
in for weeks conference. OF late years
each division has come to be more and
more separate concern, the general Off
GERS exercising only the broadest supervi-
sion. "A
This passenger train schedule from the
general office is the basis of the division
time table. 1t Is turned over to the train
master, who locks himself in his office
for two or three days and swears when
he is disturbed. For the purpose of
plotting his time table, as the vernacular
of the railroad has it, the trainmaster
has a wooden board covered with stiff
paper. 1t is about or feet long and
4 feet wide. 1t Is ruled vertically in 2oo
spaces, each space being made to repre-
sent FIVE minutes Of the "a hours of the
day. The hours are printed in large fig
ures at the top and are separated by
heavier rulings. On the sides are printed
all the stations at which trains stop, and
these are arranged upon scale accord
ing to the distance which separates
them.
The trainmaster proceeds to tack
threads upon the board in such way
that the leaving time at each station be-
comes apparent. Train No. l, for ex-
ample, is scheduled to leave A at II and
to arrive at B at 4. The thread is tack
ed on the board under the figure XII, at
the top and opposite the station A on
the side; the other end is tackled opposite
the station B and directly under the fig
ure Nv. Tacks are also inserted opposite
all intermediate stations at which the
train will stop, the vertical lines indicat-
ing the time. The result is not always
a perfectly straight line, for the train
master knows that train will make
slower time on one stretch Of track than
on another Of equal length. Grades and
other physical characteristics of the
roadbed are to be taken into considera-
ton. This Is an important detail in the
case of trains of which the utmost safe
speed is required. After his passenger
trains are all in place, the trainmaster
notes where the east bound and the west
bound trains cross. This must not be in
the vicinity of station at which any Of
them makes stop, for the obvious rea-
son that it would occasion more or less
delay and for the further danger Of
mussing things up. The leaving time of
passenger trains at intermediate sta
tons, when it is finally worked out salts
factorily, Is forwarded to the general
passenger agent.
When he has reached this point, the
trainmastcr is amiable for brief period.
Then he locks his door again and wades
into the much more distressing task Of
arranging other trains that must have
regular place on the time table. These
are fast freights, milk trains and other
distinctively division trains. They are
strung over the board the same as be-
fore, but the result is sometimes start
ling. They use much more string than
the first kind, and they are continually
being interfered with by some line be-
longing to faster train. Now, it is one
of the first things taught on the railroad
that two trains should not be allowed to
pass on the same track. When the ar
rangemcnt OF strings indicates that this
is liable to be the result, some switch or
siding must be provided rs a refuge for
the less important train. Very often the
trainmaster must simply experiment I'M
til he brings the slower train up to a
point where these facilities exist before
it shall be overtaken by the tlier. In max
ing time table for single track road
the difficulties Of the situation are in
creased in proportion to the number Of
crossing places. There is no short cut to
the completion Of time table. 1t must
be worked out exactly as one would en-
tangle ball of yarn. The trainmaster
cannot figure 1t out on paper.
mere uEe sui BituL many tIuihsJ
particularly on n big freight carrying
road, that hustle back and forth every
day without appearing on the time table.
The number Of these trains depends up
on the varying amount Of business, but
these are things that, for the time at
least, do not interest the trainmaster.
The situation must in each case be stud
led out by the conductor of the train.
There are two ways of running these eY-
tras and specials. One is by making
them successive sections of first class
train and endowing them with all the
rights and privileges of their godfather.
For the time being the orders under
which they run are a supplement to the
time table then in operation. The sec
ond way, and the one in common use, is
to let them wildcat it. The conductor
moves at bis own discretion, sandwich
ing in as many miles here, there and ev-
erywhere as he can without interfering
with train Of equal or superior right
New York Sun,