The Indianapolis journal., 1903-02-22
HOW SCHEDULES FOR THE BIG
RAILROADS ARE PREPARED.
Superintendent, Trainmasters and
Chief Dfspatchers Obliged to Make
Exact Calculations.
New York Times.


business is necessary. prominent rail-
road official called attention recently to the
fact that the reason the street-railroad
problem is proving so puzziing is that it is
only a few years old and that no genera
tion OF street-railroad men has been reared
to cope with it. But with the railroads it
is different. Methods and customs have
been worked out with greatest care. But
all the effort that is possible is called into
play in the arrangement and rearrange-
ment OF railroad time tables.
The first thing to be said about these ia
bles is that they are an evolution. The
Grand Central Station, for example, re-
ceives and sends out some 600 trains day.
But there was never a time when all of
these trains were suddenly shifted to that
terminus The trains were added one by
one and the schedules have been worked
out year by year as the number OF trains
varied. vast amount of experience is
gained with each new train and each re-
adjustment. A record of all of this is Of
course kept for future guidance.
The most difficult thing the maker Of
time table has to do is to provide for a fast
express The very acme OF a problem of
this character was presented in the cases
of the new twenty-hour to Chicago trains
OF the Pennsylvania and New York Central
railroads. In the first place tests have
10 be made over every stage OF the journey.
From the results of these tests and from
the schedules attained by other fast trains
OF the road IL is possible to estimate very
closely where a saving In time may be
made.
The adjustment of time tables devolves
ultimately upon the chief operating official
OF the road He notifies the official of each
division that a new train, No. 100 say is
will depart. after change Of engines. five
minutes later, being due TO arrive at Sta
tion Y, at the other end Of the division, at
q certain other hour. The trainmaster of
the division must then prepare schedule
Of trains for his division, and these tenta-
tive arrangements must be sent to the
chief dispatcher before the new train is
put on.
Each additional train must involve GER
tain arrangement OF the schedule already
In force. If the new train is a fier" the
arrangement amounts almost to disorder
In the case of the Pennsylvania special
put on last fall. the schedule of four trains
had to be altered. The local or accommoda-
ton trains are most affected by these
changes. They must get out of the way of
limited trains in plenty of time, and pas
sengers on the local trains are very likely
TO chafe under the delays that are newt
able.
THE FINAL SCHEDULE.
When all the tentative schedules provid-
ing for a new train are in hand the chief
QlSpdtC0eT Is IN a position 10 prepare a
final schedule. He must regard, especially
I'm limited trains, the hours at which trains
are expected to leave and arrive at impor-
tant points He cannot run train along
what might be called the Zine of least re-
sistance." for at the hours when there were
fewest obstacles in the way of the "hier''
there might be the greatest likelihood of
passengers being in waiting at the i'm
portaat stations. In the Chicago twenty
hour trains, for example, the aim had to
be to enable business man to do a days
work in New York city and arrive in Chi
cago ia time to transact more business be-
fore closing hours next day.
When all the data are in hand, the sched-
ule is prepared and notifications are sent
out to the division superintendent. But
the experimentation does not end there.
There Is great deal TO be done by way
of adjusting experience to operation. so
that the strain on rolling stock may be
least. On the Pennsylvania Railroad, fol. ex-
ample, the most difficult division to oper-
ate is that between Pittsburg and Altoona.
Over this route there is an enormous traffic.
while the grade Is about twenty-five feet.
The present trainmaster or the division
has held his position for twenty-seven
years. He is reported TO have worked on the
schedule for the Pennsylvania Special two
nights and part OF day, and even then he
was not entirely sure of his calculations. To
compile and print the schedule for that
division cost about 5000.
In order to get the results which the
company demanded in this case, IL was
necessary for the trainmaster literally to
know every foot of track OF the entire
her appearance for the first time this
master sat in the buffet car, his coat or.
In one hand he held his watch. In the
other he had ready the time card he had
prepared Just beyond Altoona there is a
grade of ninety feet to the summit OF the
Alleghanies- The allowance for this part
OF the journey had been very close, and
the trainmaster was very much con-
cerned to just what would happen when
the engine actually began its climb up the
hill. The train reached the top and began
the down-grade run with one minute to
spare.
The trainmaster sat watching his watch
and schedule all the way into Pittsburg.
He took me time at nearly every signal
tower, in spite of the darkness of the night
for he knew every one of them by the
feel" The special at last reached
Pittsburg. with three minutes to spare. 1t
was then incumbent upon the master to re-
adjust his schedule so that the running
time should be distributed in such a way
that the train might get the benefit of those
three minutes, for, when running upon a
Administrations basis every minute
means great deal in the strain upon the
rolling stock.
FOR LONG-DISTANCE RUNS.
In preparing a schedule for a long-dis-
tance run 1t is essential to establish an
average hourly mileage for the entire trip
1t is not possible to test the running time
between two neighboring points. and by
adding these together arrive at the maxi
mum speed possible to attain between two
distant points. The theory of these aver
ages is that the train shall have sufficient
leeway to make up time when necessary. II
has been found that engineers will loaf
along over parts of their trip in order to
make faster time than their schedules cal
for over other portions OF the route Tt is
generally understood that the special con-
tanning the party of j. Pierpont Morgan
returning from the Episcopal General Con-
jected 10 a prearranged delay OF half ar
hour in order that the engineers the
Michigan Central road for part of the way
might make the 2lI miles in 200 minutes.
The fastest time made by the Pennsyl-
vania Special IS "A stretch OF three miles In
trifie over two minutes. This is equiva-
lent TO a speed OF eighty-five miles an hour
Yet there have been occasions when better
than eighty-fve miles hour has been
accomplished. While going eastward on one
of its trips this train made up eighteen
minutes in a distance of eighty-four miles
on a schedule calling for fifty miles an
hour. 1t has been estimated that this
train could lose twenty minutes almost
any part of the eastern half OF the route
and still get into Pittsburg on time En-
gineers who cannot make up time in the
places where an allowance for IL is made
are laid on.
The Empire State Express Is scheduled
TO make the run from Buffalo to New York
in nine hours. Yet IL nearly always hap
pens that this train. coming eastward is
late In reaching Albany. IL is due TO leave
Albany at o'clock and to reach New York