Evening star., 1901-09-28

The old wildcat train of yore has about
been dropped from the nomenclature of the
railroad man. said the superintendent of
telegraph of one of the big lines that run
into Washington to a Star man the other
day on run over to Baltimore.
Trains don't run wild any more. We
have become dignified, and now we call
these trains extras just the same as any
other train running on orders We just
passed one a mile or 50 back. You noticed
the two small white flags flying on the
front of the engine above the cowcatcher?
Whenever you see an engine flying those
flags you may know 1t Is extra; and
when you see a train tearing along with
two similar little flags. only green in color,
you will know that it IS a section of a reg
uIar train. and htere may be four five
sections but they all fly the green flags.
Sometimes you Will see a car or a train
on a siding, or on the regular track, usual
ly the former. flying a blue flag. The blue
flag. compared with the green, red and
white flags, is SO rare that you turn to
your neighbOr at the car window and ask
its significance but it is rarely that be
knows
"A blue flag or light means Stationary
The car may be undergoing some tempo
rary repair or for other reasons must not
be moved from It's location under any cir
cumstances until the blue flag light
comes down. and it is usually taken down
by the man who put 1t up. for the chances
are that he is under the car with his tools,
and the slightest motion would grind him
into atoms.
Red means stop not slow up but
stop, and 1t is because engineers violate
this rule that accidents occur. Green
means caution, and white clear The red
flag on the rear end of the platform of the
last car of the train is there to greet the
eye Of an engineer who may be following,
unless it or a red lamp If at night, has
been caught up by the brakeman and car
ried up the track. If the light displayed
at the rear end is green, it means that the
red globe of the end lamp has been re-
vOlved and that the on-coming engineer
may come ahead with caution, as these
rear lamps carry both red and green
globes.
When you see a brakeman raise his
hands or lantern up and down, 1t means
go ahead. backward and forward STOP
and in short circle around his head or
close to his face, to go back If an en-
gineer sees the lantern waved in a circle
the full length of the arm. 1t means trou-
bic. for the train has parted.
II you hear the engineer give one long
and three short blasts, you may know that
trouble may be impending. for that is the
signal for the brakeman to get back on the
track and protect the train. When ii is all
clear ahead, the engineer blows two whfs-
Ties, which means go ahead. and if he Is
s.
Four long blasts call in a fiagman who
may be west or south of the train, and
hve long blasts call in the flagman who
may be east or north. There are often two
hagmen to a train. and sometimes, If the
train has 10 come to a stop on a railway
crossing, there are four and the engineer
signals TO them in the darkness of the
night with and certainty A num-
Der Of short, quick blasts means danger
ahead. usually cattle or people on the
track One long blow means the approach
of station, and two long and two short
blasts a crossing One short blast means
stop, and when you hear it you will al
ways see the brakeman and conductor
start for the door, and the train slows
down, or comes to an abrupt standstiI
depending upon the emergency In old
days this meant down brakes
AT night, if you hear the train crash
over two torpedoes. IT means Caution and
II Il passes over a third one, 1t means
stop, and stop short, too If you are on
a curve and happen to be looking out of
the window at night, a bad practice and
see q green light burning in the center of
the track ahead. you will know that there
is train ahead which has Just dropped
behind fusee' signal which will burn
even In the rain, for five minutes. and 1t
means for your engineer to slow up' II
II Is red fusee, II says 'stopr In an en-
phatic language of its own. Fusees are
often burned by freight trains to warn on
coming passenger trains of their presence
ahead
That the police Of the District nain-
tained rigid vigil along Pennsylvania ave-
nue. during the Mckinley obsequies is a
fact very well known to all pedestrians
who ventured to set foot beyond the wire
cables which were strung along the outer
edge Of the sidewalks. The night the Pres
ident's remains arrived in Washington the
avenue was cleared OF all traffic for per-
haps an hour before the sad funeral cor
tege moved from the 9th street station to
the White House. There were many incl
dents during the waiting. but the one
which most pleased the nearby spectators