Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1900-03-29
ON THE Raj.

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Officers VI Chicago railroads are be.
coming Interested in experiments that
are being made with the telephone In
transmitting train orders and In its
Use IN other lines vt communication as
a substitute Tor the telegraph. The
telephone method of sending and re-
reiNhE train orders WAS tried first A
few months ago by the Illinois Central
ON It's Chicago terminal system. more
particularly on the st, Charles Air line.
the elevated road that connects the
lake front tracks with the Western In
danA and other roads at Clark and
Sixteenth streets, In this short line
business the experiment was a success.
but the use OF the telephone has not
been extended to any part Of the sys-
tenn outside of Chicago. Recently the
Huntington and BROAD Top road "A
New England line slNty-three miles in
lenGth, began similar experiment and
the company announces that the tole-
phone will be adopted permanently,
Officers of this road rlatm that tho
telephone largely reduces the posi-.
hlitN OF errors IN the transmission OF
train orders and reports as compared
with the telegraph superintendent
and other officials OF the operating de-
partmonts ot Chicago roads have not
become enthusiastic over the innoya.
tton, ] t Mackin. assistant to Gen
cral superintendent HIT of tho Rock
Island and 4 veteran train dispatcher,
said: After considerable study OF
this question ! SEQ no advantage In the
telephone over the telegraph for rail-
road work For short lines, such IA the
chicago terminal systems, the tclo-
phone probably would be superior to
the Telegraph, ~ few train orders arc
necessary, the trains all being operated
under the block system, But for long
distance work ON railroads see moth
ing to recommend the telephone Tho
long distance telephone Ia yot In an
experimental stage, II IL not reliable
1t is easy to yet out OF order by this
! mean the Instruments and not the
wires Absolutely certainty ia tho first
essential In sending aud receiving
train orders Hut granting perfoc-
ton Of the long-dlstancc telephone, Il
would still, in my opinion, have no ad.
vantage over the telegraph The mes-
sagos would have to he written down,
as they are now This would require
the same number OF mcn-one To send
and one to receive, The only time that
might be saved would DO In repeating
the messages, which must be done with
all train orders. II 1t would not reduce
the number of employees there would be
no economy In II that would recon-
mend II over system that ia perfect
In other ways" a few Of tho local
railroad men are Of The opinion that
telephone In superior to the telegraph
for this work rhey claim that there
are many points IN It's favor, For OK.
ample, a tralnman or anybody con
nectcd with road could send tolo-
phone message, while now telegraph
operators arc necessary to transmit
them, At stations whore no night oper-
atora are employed II conductor or on
Rinecr of n train. IL occasion demanded.
could communicates with the train dis
patcher'a Office Many Of the railroad
men favor tho idea Of placing tole-
phone apparatus on every engine,
which would enable lrainmen to save
valuable time In requesting help In
ease Of wrecks far removed from lelo-
graph oiii.es. The Pennsylvania and
Baltimore and Ohio roads are expert
monting with tho telephone on several
Of their divisions