The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-01-18


running at right angles. the derailing
switch stands guard to prevent such a
catastrophe. This switch may either COM
pletely derail the train, leaving it actually
standing to one side of the rails. or it may
transfer the wheels TO another set of
| tracks, deeply Embedded in sand which
soon stops it's progress. Neither the de-
railing switch nor the sand track are
often heard of from the very fact that a
locomotive engineer is the last person in
the world TO misunderstood the reading
of a semaphore signal
SOME COMPLICATIONS.
But this is al very simple when COM
pared with the system of signals neces-
| sary TO move the trains that pass in and
| out of a terminal station Here the man
in the signal tower takes the place of the
| moving trains, automatically adjusting
its own signals. and the row OF levers
that anyone can see from without the
tower becomes the means OF switching
and signaling constantly moving crowd
of passenger trains. freight trains and
shifting locomotives. The row of levers
is the center of an electrical or mechanical
system connected with all the switches
and signal posts entering and leaving the
cal phrase, in such fashion that no
section of track can be opened to a train
without at the same moment definitely
| closing it to any other train that might
collide with the first
Suppose for example, that a train is
due at such and such a terminal station
at such and such an hour. The train has
its prescribed place in the system and
| 0ftld Ordi ril into cto ion
say. track No. 3, although tracks
| No. and l are unoccupied at the
same period. But an accident has hap
pened on track No. 3; a car has been
derailed. and there is no time to get it
out Of the way before the arrival Of the
expected trainload of passengers. The
expected train passes through the next
station beyond the terminal and the fact
| is reported usual by telephone to the
man in the signal cage. This man pulls
| out a certain number of his levers, their
connections open the switches that will
No. 2. and, at the same time, the
number appears on the signal post to which
the locomotive engineer looks for instruc-
tons as he approaches the first switch
leading directly into the station. The en-
knows that there is some good and suffi-
cient reason for not entering his accus-
toned part of the station and the inter-
locking system has, moreover, done more
than set this one combination of switches
and signals. 1t has closed every other
avenue by which another train might pos
| sibly come in collision with the train now
entering.
OVERLOOKING SYSTEM.
The "interlocking' system of signals
which means literally both the displaying
of signals for the information of an APP
preaching train and the setting of all the
switches necessary to give it a pathway
through the of tracks that terminate
in big railroad station, has always to
be adapted to the particular needs of that
particular station. Sometimes these COM
| plicated mechanisns are operated manual
ly, sometimes by compressed air, some
times by electricity. sometimes by COM
bination of both. The student of railroad
engineering must, therefore, be familiar
with all these methods and able to decide
among them on the one best fitted to the
needs of particular station. He must be
familiar with all the devices by which the
towerman is kept informed of the position
|
more or less distant. And he must know
how the apparatus is constructed, the cost
of materials and the most immediate meth
DDS of repair On the road, and far away
from the centers of civilization, he may be
called upon to set up temporary systems
for signaling or to tide over Interruptions
of the regular service occasioned by storms,
wrecks or malicious interference: in the
he
to purchase and install such systems, but
also the human side of the matter-the Sc
lection of men who are actually to operate
the system, their training. wages, hours of
| labor and general discipline.
In this training, as it is given to the pros
pective railroad engineers at the institute
here in Boston, the men learn not only the
theory of signaling. but. so far as is pos
sible, the actual use of the tools and ma
terials The student is familiarized with
the systems in use in the neighborhood of
Boston, where the recent building of two
modern terminal stations-one of them the
largest in the world and the other the third
largest in the United States-affords an ex-
cellent opportunity for seeing the latest
systems in actual operation by visits and
examination, and an even closer acquaint-
| d1lCe Is SdlItu ny WOIhlHS HnOucl5 III lne
institute laboratories, by which. also, the
student is brought face to face with many
of the problems which he will later meet in
the regular practice of his profession.
And, more than this, in the making of
the man who is thus made responsible for
the safety of the travelling public, comes
the past as we'll as the present-the his
tory of railroad signaling from the time
when the signaling was all done by men
posted at the beginnings of the blocks; the
systems used on the other side of the
water; the duties of the train dispatcher
and his subordinates; the different kinds
of accidents against which railroading must
be guarded. The little train in the institute
laboratory leads, in short, to of the
most important Of modern professions-the
more so when one realizes the grave re-
sponsiblities sooner or later to be assumed
by many of the young men who get their
| first lessons in railroad signaling by watch
ing its operations-miniature but none the
| less comprehensive and correct