Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1903-11-20

In thes" days of modern methods
manners a.d meenS the wotd-be
Traveller cOnSult& the guide book,
and is soon IN possession of all the
necessary Information about the rob.
Ing palace that VIII quickly bear IN
from Maine to California or other do
sired points. Tracing his route over
one road Gi. over u,.cfal different rail
roa3f, i; = al ,..'s same; ;Aa -"
BOOK tell I'm When - can etart. how
long he lrust wait ., connnctir"
points, alo ifac 'c&.. y Tie exact hour
)f his arrival. y i..3 a convenience.
.Nnd yet. not SO very many years ago
it was unheard Of. The history Of the,
railroad time table " as given in an
Interesting address recently delivered
70 members of the American Associa
ton of Local Freight Agents assem-
5led in the city Of Savannah. Among
The speakers was y. q. Purse. lrcsi
dent of the Board OF Trade OF that
city, and he treated the subject in
the following attractive manner:
1t was during the constructive
oeriod of the Central Railroad OF
Georgia, in 1889, that point was
"eached when. because OF the length
Of the line, great loss of time was eX,
.erienced in the movement of trains
IN opposite directions. Up to this
time trains had siding stations; the
ilst train reaching one ct them had
TO wait until The ,raiu from an op
posite direction pulled in, no matter
how many hours Of delay resulted,
such delays causing great annoyance
and embarrassment to both passen.
gers and shippers, as we'll as railroad
companies.
The remedy, which seems simple
as we look back at 1t, was proposed
oy Thomas Purse, first superintend-
| eEt of the road, whose genius equated
the time table, but it was vigorously
| opposed by fellow officials, who claim
| I'd he wanted to make dangerous
Innovation in railroad operation At
he risk ct both life and property.
Loring O. Reynolds. chief engineer
| N the construction OF the Central
| Railroad, characterized the suggestion
IS an attempt ito run 4 railroad On
| paper" and seriously expressed the
apprehension that overwor,i and sx-
cessive anxiety had unbalanced Mr.
Purses intellect, as such a sue..: Astiol
could only have its birth III an affect
I'D mind He carried the matter to
President Gordon, urging him to veto
The proposed attempt to run trains ''o1
| paper" but Gordon did not share in
his grave apprehension regarding the
sanity of the superintendent and de-
lined to interfere
| Suffice it to say. the first practical
| application of the time table, or
schedule book, as it was then desig-
lated, was in every way successful,
and thus belongs to the Central Rail-
road the credit of heng the first vail
"c1tI in the world to operate its
trains by an eQuated time table
In the summer of the same year
1899. Surt Purse made tour of tho
northern and eastern states to study
their advance in railroad construction
and operation. and reported on his
return that his own railroad was III
advance Of all others ia progressive
methods; of operation
Shortly after his return home IL
the fall of 1899, Supt. Purse introduce
ed bell cords on trains. and in the
winter Of the same year he introduced
stoves into his coaches for the COM
fort Gt his passengers, in both in.
stances in advance OF the employ
Of bel lines and stoves by otLer raii
roGdS