The Indianapolis journal., 1901-05-01

pass his station he must be continuously
on duty. He may not leave the responsl-
bility 20 his suborcinates he must per
sonaily attend to the arrangement OF the
proper signals and see 10 IL with his own
eyes that everything possible Is done 10
forward the train With speed and safety
lt may pass his little backwoods station n
sixty miles hour. but he must stay on
duty and watch and wait until IL flashes by
Ia the night, and. with a sigh OF relief he
can call up the next station on the wire
and announce that the Presidents train
has gone by and the weight has been lifted
from his shoulders
Even weeks before the date OF the Jour
neys start the roadbed has been carefully
inspected by the higher OFFICIALS Of the sew
eral roads over which the presidential train
is 10 pass, and improvements and altera-
tcns ordered. little later a second trip
ct inspection is made 10 see that the orders
previously given have been carefully and
properly carried out. When the journey be-
gins the real strain the higher officials
begins to grow intense They have in the
nrst place. selected their most experienced
and ablest men TO run the engine and act
as conductor on the train They have pro-
vloed, free OF charge. train made up OF
the nnest private cars in existence. They
nave taken every possible preliminary pre-
caution Now they must see that the actual
Journey is made without delay or incon-
When the train left Washington there
were three, instead OF two, men in the
cap. one or them was the engineer. He
vas carefully selected the best man on
the division. The second man was the fire.
man. The third was the master of transport
tatiOn- He sat in the cab alongside the en-
gineer, and the eyes of both were centered
On the twin lines of rail before them They
We're watching TO make sure that none OF
their subordinates had made a mistake and
To be certain that nothing lay in the way
Of the presidential special
When the train passed from one division
70 the next the transportation manager left
the train and made way for the man who
was responsible over the next division.
Back in one OF the cars OF the train other
official passengers had an anxious ride.
Whoever covers the entire 1900 miles Df
the journey might observe at least thirty
different men. sitting perhaps I'm a seat I'm
the smoking car, with siOuch hats pulled
over their eyes. keeping careful track OF
every incident of the trip. They are the di-
vision superintendents. each of them with
the entire burden and responsibility Of the
presidential train on his shoulders until II
passes safely beyond the limits OF his terri
tory; When such ccnanecting points are
the platform. would be likely to hear con-
versation like this:
Hello. Ed"
Hello. Bill
Everything o. K.?"
"How's 26?'
Waiting at Cedarville"
Wish me the same luck. Good night
Then the train would pull out AT forty
miles an hour and another man would take
the place in the smoking car just vacated
by the sleepy-eyed man who mas left the
train at the division terminus.
When a train carrying a king emperor
leaves one of the great capitals of Europe
IL is always possible 10 stop every other
wheel on the line and leave the track per-
fectly free for the passage of the imperial
special But in the United States the rail-
road manager has also the problem of run
ming the regular passenger trains and keep
ing freight trains moving with as little de-
lay as possible This greatly complicates
the problem. AS a matter of fact few
freight trains the regular schedules
when the presidential train is moving it's
wheels. and the traffic manager has
troubles of his own for a day or two after
II has passed. Every train dispatcher on
each division knows that the special has
passed for several days by the complaints
which come in from shippers Of perishable
goods. even If official notice were lacking.
1t is his hard task to that everybody
is kept satisfied. even while the demands
of the presidential train are complied with.
1t is safe to say that traffic will be entirely
upset every road~which is traversed by
the train for at least forty-eight hours.
These same train oispatchers and their
assistants have in charge the difficult task
OF keeping the President and his movable
Cabinet in constant comnunica tion with
Washington. kilograms in the obscure
presidential cipher may be thrown from the
train at the most out-of-the-way station,
and there must always be duty there a
man capable of handling the work i'm an
intelligent way. A mistake made by a
night operator at Spcdunk might possibly
result I'm an international difficulty. The
responsibility which every man connected
with one of the roads over which the train
will pass may therefore be imagined.