Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-10-07
TREATMENTS SIGNALS
PASSENGERS LIVES DEPEND ON
THE WAVE OF A HAND.
What the Swinging Of Arms Tells to
Locomotive Engineers-Languag
of the Road


From the New York Tribune.
man standing in railroad yard swings
his arm if to drive spike. At the same
instant engine far down the track
belches smoke and plunges backward. \
wave runs down the train. as the couplings
crunch on one another. The
quickly gathering momentum when sud
denly the man on the ground throws both
arms back and forward in horizontal
circle level with his chest, as If he were
swimming. Simultaneously the man in the
cab reverses the lever. Another shiver
runs down the train. There is II hiss of
escaping air from the cylinders. The brakes
grind hard on the wheels. The train stops.
The average American traveller or the
average New York commuter might say
at first that this was an everyday. COM
monplace event, to which only child from
the country would pay any attention. But
let some railroad man ask him to explain
how the man in the cab and the man on
the ground understand each other SO per-
fectly, and MIR. Blase' would be forced 10
admit his ignorance.
And. though these signals seem simple.
the amateur soon finds how difficult IL is
to initiate them. There is an easy swing
of the arm which comes only with practice
Only the other day a gang OF highwllmen
undertook to hold up IA train between Wor-
cester mad Providence. 1t had just begun
to grow dark when the engineer saw one
of the signal lamps suddenly change from
green to red. He instantly closed the
throttle and set the air brakes. As the
train came crunching down to standstll
he also a red lantern swing across the
track but not with the easy grace of the
brakemans arm Suspecting foul play, and
taking the risk of plungng himself and
trainload of passengers into unknown peril,
the man in the cab opened the throttle and
fl.c had hxf a. ,lS. f,,ll-
AS he passed he saw a gang of men close
to the track. Two of them We're tamperng
with the Semaphore.
The Brakeman.
In learning the brakeman's art begin
ner finds himself in collision with strange
language, which must first be mastered.
The words are English, but their relation
one with another is distinctly foreign to Il
novice. Should one encounter courteous
brakeman, such as a Tribune reporter met
recently in the terminal yards of the Erie
railroad, in Jersey City, and ask him TO eX-
plain his set of signals the brakeman is
likely to start the lesson by saying;
Watch nv arms. There. That means to
shake EN- up Now watch again. See how
l swung EN-? That means to cut EN- off.
When l swing both arms. So that means
they're broken in two.
The reporter asked the brakeman to go 4
little slower and translate. The brakeman
shook his head as if he pitied who
could not understand such a lucid explana-
ton. Stretching out his arms sidewise. SO
that they stood at right angles to his body,
he said:
That's the go ahead signal. If the engi-
neer I'm signaling to Is way down the
track. and it's hard to catch his eye, 1
swing both arms If / want him to shake
EN- UP or come ahead fast. | also use both
arms. If l want them to go ahead slow, L
use one hand and Just move it"
At this moment another brakeman near
by began swinging his arms in circle. up
and down. one would in swinging a
hammer.
There" exclaimed the reporters in
structor. that's the back-up signal. l was
just going to make it, AS he spoke a pas
senger train propelled by a brand-new en-
CINE backed into siding. along which L
crowd of impatient Montclair commuters
We're waiting.
you want to watch the direction his
hands going" continued the railroad
man. as he pointed to his fellow. LAS he
swings his arms you notice that his hand
comes forward when it is up. and goes
backward when it is down There's every
thing in the direction of a swing For in
stance, If you swing your arms in just the
opposite direction. it would mean they're
broken in two
whats broken in two?" asked the news
paper man.
Don't YOU know?' exclaimed the brakes
man, with another look of pity at his pupil.
why. the train. of course. The cars have
become uncoupled. See there, and he
pointed out into the freight yard. A freight
engine was struggling to start long train
loaded for the west. when the last five cars
broke away. The gap had widened so
little that none except a railroad man would
have detected there was anything wrong
brakeman who was running along from
car to had Just discovered the break
and making vigorous gestures to the
engineer. He swung his arms exactly in
the opposite direction to the back-up signal,
bringing his hand UP in front and down be-
hty1h No Stl slrana h
bit. The gap closed.
Signal to Stop.
What signal would you make to stop a
train?" asked the reporter.
"A horizontal swing like this was the
reply. and the brakeman stretched out his
hand in front of him and brought his hand
to his chest, just like person swimming.
I'And what did you mean when you said
cut 'em off a little while ago?'
why, that's for the engineer to kick 'em
Kick what OFF,
Here the brakeman gave sigh. but he
did not lose his temper. why. see here,
he said. Say we've got car on the end
of the train that We want to send down the
track into siding. There's for the
engine to waste steam and go way down
there with it, so it kicks the car off. Tho
brakeman uncouples the car, and then gives
the cut 'em off signal There, watch that
switch engine over there and he pointed
out into the yards again.
A train of passenger and express cars
moving along slowly when the brakeman
on the forward passenger car leaped to the
ground and swung both arms forward and
backward at oblique angle. First his
hands met, and then they We're outstretched
so that his arms made an angle of forty /
five degrees to the line of his shoulders. j
The engine gave few quick puffs and then
came to a stop. Simultaneously. the pas
senger cars broke loose from the rest of the
train, and with only a brakeman aboard to
manipulate the brakes they rolled down the
track, struck a switch which threw their
wheels into a siding, and came gradually
to standstill at the end of the yard.