Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-07-04
MAKING A TIME TABLE.
Vast Work Involved in Arranging
Schedule Of Trains.

'NGiye an inexperienced person a large
railroad folder and you put more trouble
in his hands than the pigs in clover puz-
zle," said a prominent railroad official, the
other day. 1.-The average person." con-
tinued the official, has not the slightest
idea of how to decipher the arrival and de-
parture of trains. Imagine then the i'm
mense amount of work involved in arrang-
ing the schedules of the trains a vast
railroad system so that they will dovetail
smoothly and be put in working order at
an appointed hour For example, at the
Pennsylvania station, where each twenty
four hours hundreds of trains arrive and
depart, the schedules have to be arranged
to make a conflict impossible.
1.-The adjustment Of the time tables de-
wolves ultimately upon the chief operating
official of the road He notifies the official
of each division that a new train. No. 66
hour and will depart, after change of en-
gines. five minutes later, being due to ar
rive at Greensboro at the other end of the
division at a certain other hour. The train
master of the division must then prepare
a schedule of trains for his division, and
these tentative arrangements must be sent
to the chief dispatcher before the new train
is put on
Each additional train must involve a
certain disarrangement of the schedule al
ready in force If the new train is fly
err the disarrangement amounts almost to
disorder. In the case of a special. put on
last fall the schedule of four trains had to
be altered. The local or accommodation
trains are most affected by these changes.
They must get out OF the way of limited
trains in plenty of time. and passengers
on the local trains are likely to cnafe under
the delays that are inevitable.
when all the tentative schedules pro-
yiding for a new train in hand, the
chief dispatcher is in position to pre-
pare final schedule. He must regard es-
pecially in limited trains. the hours at
which trains are expected to leave and ar
rive at important points. He cannot run
a train along the line of least resistance,
for at the hours when there were fewest
obstacles in the way Of the ''f1ier there
might be the greatest likelihood of no pas
sengers in waiting at the important sta
tons.
| ..When all the data are in hand the
schedule Is prepared and notifications are
sent out to the division superintendents.
But the experimentation does not end
there There is great deal to be done in
the way of adjusting experience to opera
ton, so that the strain on rolling stock
may be least.
"in preparing a schedule for a long-dis-
lance run 1t is essential to establish an av-
erage hourly mileage for the entire trip. 1t
has been found that engineers will loaf over
parts of their trip in order to make faster
time than their schedules call for over other
portions of the route. 1t Is generally un-
derstood that the special containing the
party of ]. Pierpont Morgan returning
from the Episcopal general convention at
a prearranged delay of half an hour in or
der. that the engineers on the Michigan
Central road for part of the way might
make the 217 miles in 200 minutes"