New-York tribune., 1903-02-23
which now confronts them and which 'hey
have brought upon themselves
RryNING PAST BLOCK SIGNALS,

,r,s of the recent rear end collision Oh
tho New-Jersey Central, Engineering news
=; ;+s Iatest issue discusses the eXpedlency oi
,si,e, automatic devices to stop trains WIEN
signols are disregarded. From the well Known
character of this periodical one might expect
that if would treat this matter III proho, -!
diciaI fashion; and that anticipation Is i1'
realized. Its utterances derive addltlonai value
from the fact that in its earlier editorials upon
the disaster in question ouf. cohteDpoiai9 "p
peared to think that the block slghai sS s'eH'
1ono - adaouate TO existing needs whereas
for reasons about to be mentioned, it now seems
less thoroughly convinced on that point.
In England where no better mechanlcal ap-
nIiances are in use on railways than III 'he
Tinted States the mortality from accidents Is
unouestionably smaller than in America IT 10
said that in 1901 not one death occurreu lioin
this cause The difference is atulouteu no
doubt correctly, to the strlcter dlsclpihie w
served by British managers. on the otIe' '
of the Atlantic running past a slgnai' IL uo
tected, is punished by the prompt dismiSsai Oh
an engineer. In this country, there is reason
to believe. that offence is viewed with greater
toIeration, and consequently is much more com
mon An engineer having seen one req slSh'i
after another disappear as he approached IT, anu
teryal between him and the train Immediately
abead will occasionally ''chance it, as he draws
nasr another expecting to see it change 10
white every second. He fails to slacken speed
until close to the signal, and then to his sats-
faction NAV see the warning removed. On oc-
casions. though. 1t does not change. he may be
able even then to avoid collision, but unfort-
unateIy there is no guarantee against accident
From the report of the Illinois State Railway
Commission for last year il appears that 10
less than 13S derailments occurred IN conse-
1uence of running past signals. Ii such thlhs
is possible in one State, it is possible IN ah-
other 1--WE can hardly wonder" says Engi-
neering News" sin the light Of the above rec
"ord. that the commissions engineer favors the
use of an automatic stop with block signals.
Our contemporary then considers rather NIL
nutely the requirements of such a scheme IN
order to attain the desired results Several dlin-
cuIties are liable to be encountered in the de-
velopment of an ideal system, none OF which,
though. seem to be insuperable. Engineering
News" takes it for granted that whatever mech
anism is adopted it will automatically shut Or
steam and apply the air brakes. Vigorous op-
lection is offered 10 employing the improve
ment as a substitute TO the present block signal
With great force it is argued that the stop
should only be an adjunct. 1t tnen renalns ~
decide just where to place the apparatus. II
it be thought desirable to bring the train to
standstill at the red, or home. signal. the check
should begin to operate fifteen hundred or two
thousand feet back Of that point, or about
where the green or distant signal is usually
displayed. Such n plan would involve moving
the latter back still further, and it is doubtful
whether it could be controlled infallibly so far
away. On the whole, it seems wiser to put the
stop close to the home signal, and then adopt
the plan of not reporting block clear until
a train had gone fifteen hundred feet or more
beyond it. The towermans vision could not be
trusted always to cover that space with GER
tainty, but electric track circuits" which are
now growing in favor, would eliminate the
fallible human element The proposed system,
then, appears to be feasible as well requisite.