The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1903-04-18

than on double track railroads. But the
traffic on double track roads is generally so
extensive that the train dispatcher's time
and attention is taken up with many other
details incident and necessary to the prompt
movement of traffic and which call for un-
usual ability.
The demand for prompt movement of
manifest freight-that known as perisha-
bic, and all quick action freight, which
must be moved more rapidly than coal and
other heavy material, and to get the quick
est operation and use of power (locomo-
tives) Requires the dispatcher to be alive
to every opportunity and be capable of
utilizing them to the very best advantage
in order that he may be sure of getting
trains over the road without unnecessary
delay, and of giving those of the first class
right of way over those scheduled to make
slower time.
As an illustration of this, the case may
be cited of limited express train running
30 or IS miles an hour, or where the ad-
vantage is afforded by track tanks of the
engine taking water ''on the fy,'' making
an average of 100 miles without a stop.
All trains of an inferior class, whether
passenger or freight, are supposed to give
the limited a clearance of FIVE minutes to
guard against possible accidents, and to al
low the hagman carried on all trains to
reach an ample distance in the rear Of his
train without regard to automatic block
signals.
The division or territory of dispatcher
is largely regulated by the amount of traffic
on the road. On the Lackawanna, for in
stance, the dispatcher Jurisdiction extends
from Hoboken to Washington, n. j., 81
miles, while on the Buffalo division, where
traffic is not so heavy, it extends from
Binghamton to Buffalo, 202 miles, and on
some of the Western roads ii covers from
200 to 500 miles.
As a rule, good train dispatchers begin
as office boys in a telegraph Office carrying
messages. After period of usually one
year around telegraph office, if the boy
Is endowed with aptitude and smartness in
the best sense of the term, and gifted with
an ordinary good ear for music, he should
be able to take the position Of night opera
tor at some unimportant station. This may
be on the top Of mountain, or three or
four miles from any known habitation, as
many of them are in the West, and at a
salary that is not calculated to afford the
slightest luxury or make it possible to open
a bank account More often it admits of
only the most ordinary comforts of life, and
to meagre degree at that.
This is the second step in the education
of train dispatcher, but if he is quick to
grasp opportunity and hang on with an un-
yielding grip, is alert and of undertaking
fidelity, the attention of the superintendents
and trainmen will naturally be attracted to
him, with the result that sooner or later he
is transferred to some more important point,
where there will be greater scope for de-
yelopment; and so he goes on, from one
place to another, until finally he finds him
self installed at terminal station. This
is what marks a decided advance in his
career with the first coveted goal of his
ambition now in sight,
When the train dispatcher takes his seat
at his desk, on which are his telegraph in
struments, he has before him chart, on
which is inscribed every train, giving the
number Of the engine as well as the name
of the conductor in proper blank spaces ar
ranged for that purpose, showing whether
such trains be regular passenger trains,
freight trains, suburban trains, work trains
or specials, and toward what point of the
compass they are running, with blank space
on the bottom of the chart, or, as it is more
familiarly known, the train sheet, show
ing the consist of each traiu--that is,
its kind and character, the number of ears
it is hauling, specifying, in the case of
freight. whether the cars are loaded or
empty, aud how many of each.
If there Is no special ON his division, and
all trains are on time, his duties are COM
paratively light, with nothing to do but to
record the time that such trains arrive at
and leave each telegraph station, or, where
no stops are made, the time they pass each
telegraph station, this information being
sent by the operator at such station, when
the train arrives, departs or passes.
When freight runs are heavy, or special
excursion trains are in transit, or bad wealth
er is causing more or less detention of
trains, and especially on single-track roads,
then all the ability and watchful care of
train dispatcher is brought into play.
He is on his mettle, and this is the time
when he is subjected to a strain that once
caused man to remark: ga successful
dispatcher must be man absolutely with
out nerves, or with nerves of steel, under
such control that nothing can rattle him.
The safety of hundreds of passengers and
the care of thousands of tons of freight are
absolutely under his control, engineers ac-
cepting without question the written orders
transmitted to them by the dispatcher, even
though inwardly cursing him perhaps for
some detention on a siding that tries their
patience to the utmost limit.
The slightest error is likely to result in
the often tried but never successful exper-
iment of two trains trying to pass each
other on the same track, or of finding ahead
of them, on either single or double tracks,
another train.