The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1903-11-06
SIGNALS that The
TRAINMEN EMPLOY
Lives ofthe Passengers Depend
on the Wave Of a Mans
Hand.
OF THE ROAD
What the Swinging Arms on the Arcs
Described by a Lantern Means
to the Man on the Locomo-
tive's Cab.

New York Tribune: A man standing
IN a railroad yard swings his arm as
II to drive a spike. AT the same in.
slant an engine far down the track
belches smoke and plunges backward
"A wave runs down the train, as the
couplings crunch on one another. The
cars are quickly gathering momentum
When suddenly the ma on the ground
throws both arms backward and for
ward in a horizontal circle level with
his chest, as if he were swimming.
simultaneously the man in the cab re-
verses the lever. Another SILVER runs
down the train. There is a 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 comrnuter might
say at first that this was an everyday,
commonplace event, to which only a
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 he ground I'M
derstand each other so perfectly, and
Mr.. Blase' Woul be forced to admit
his ignorance.
And, though these signals seem sim
pie, the amateur soon finds how diff
cult 1t is to initiate tile n. There is ar
easy swing Of the arm which comes
only with practice. Only the other day
a gang of highwaynlen undertook to
hold up a train between Worcester and
Providence. 1t had just begun to grow
dark, when the engineer saw Of the
signal lamps suddenly change from
green to red. He hastily closed the
throttle and set the air brakes. AS
the train came crunching down to a
standstill he also saw a red lantern
swing across The track, but not with
the easy grace Of The brakeman's arm.
suspecting foul play, and taking the
risk of plunging himself and a train
load of passengers into unknown peril,
the man in the cab opened the throttle
and flashed by the danger signals at
full speed. AS he passed he saw a
gang Of men close to the track. Two
of them were tamperii' g Win the SEM
aphore.
The Brakeman.
In learning the brakeman's art a be-
g1nner fnds himself in collision with a
strange language, which must first be
mastered. The words are English, but
their relation enc with another is dis
Enctly foreign to a novice. Should one
a courteous brakeman, such
as a Tribune reporter met RECENTLY in
me criminal yards of the Erie rail-
road in Jersey City, and ask him to
explain his set of signals, the brake
Is likely to start the lesson by
saying:
" ebIS11 lily l1ldL 1llGdIS o. TO
shake 'em up. Now watch again. See
I swung 'em? That means to cut
EN- off. When I swing both arms, so,
that means they're broken in two"
The reporter asked the brakeman to
90 a little slower and translate. The
brakeman shook his head as if he pitied
one who could not understand such a
lucid explanation. Stretching out his
arms sidewise, SO that they stood at
angles to his body, he said:
That's the go ahead signal. If the
engineer I'm signalling to is way down
the track n it's hard to catch his eye,
swing both arms. If I want him to
shake 'em up or come ahead fast, I also
use both arms. If I want them to go
ahead slow, I use one han and just
move it."
At this moment another brakeman
near by began swinging his arms in a
circle, up and down, as one would in
swinging a hammer.
There" exclaimed the reporters
instructor, that's the back-up signal.
was just going to make it." AS he
spoke a passenger train propelled by a
.orand-neW engine backed into a siding,
along which a crowd Of impatient
commuters We're waiting.
You want to watch the direction his
hands are going," continued the rail-
'oad man, as he pointed to his fellow
AS he swings his arms you notice
'ilaI LAS manu- comes iOfWard when it
s up, n goes backward when it is
Town. There's everything in the di-
'ection of a swing. For instance. if
swing your arms in just the oppo-
site direction it would mean they're
broken in two
Train Broken in Two.
WHATS broken in two?" asked the
newspaper man.
Don't you know?" exclaimed the
IRA kPm n with another JDoI- 80 "a L
us pupil. why, the train, of course.
he cars have become ~uncoupled. See
here" and he pointed out into the
reight yard. A freight engine was
truggling to start a long train loaded
or the west, when the last five cars
away. The gap had widened SO
title that none except a railroad man
would have detected there was any
hing wrong. i
"A brakeman who was running along
rom car to car had just discovered the !
and was making vigorous ges-
ures TO the engineer. He swung his
rms exactly in the opposite. direction
0 the back-up signal, bringing his
ana up In front and down behind him.
he engineer slackened his speed a bit.
gap closed.
What signal would you make to stop
train?' asked the reporter.
"A horizontal swing like this" was
ne reply, and the brakeman stretched
Ut ms hand in front of him and
rought his hand to his chest, lust like ,
person swimming. :
And what did you mean when YOU !
aid cut EN- off a little while ago ?" 5
why, that's for the engineer to kick ,
m Off" ~ '
"Xick what off? =
here the brakeman gave a sigh, but +
e did not lose his temper. why. see :
he said. Say we've got a car =
n the end of the train that we want +
, send down the track into a siding, c
here's no. use for the engine to waste y
team and go way down there with it, Y
} 1t kicks the car off. The brakeman -
the car, and then gives the y
ut en- Off signal. There, watch that +
witch engine Over there" and he q
olnted out into the yards again.. q
A train of passenger and express cars G
as moving along slowly, when the !,