The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1904-10-31


haps at his summer home some dis
lance from the city. can be immedi-
ately placed in communication with
The men IN charge at the wreck and
give such special instructions as he
may wish
Isn't Il Is not alone iu the case Of a
great wreck that the railway manager
finds the telephone Of value. He has
come to rely upon It in the scores
Of smaller mishaps which require
prompt action if traffic is to be kept
going smoothly A western railroad
nan tells a story of such an occur
renee when part of the mechanism OF
steam shovel broke down and threat
enod serious delay, which of course
meant large less Of money. BY the
use Of the telephone he was able,
while standing at the side Of the track,
several miles from the nearest town,
90 reach the works Of the manufactur-
ers and order what was needed to
make the repairs.
When the telephone first came into
general use the railroads already had
elaborate telegraph systems and natur-
ally were loath to displace them at
once But little by little. as the tele-
phone showed itself nearly indlspen-
sable III the management of other en-
terprises Il found place in the intri
cate methods by which great transpor.
tatior lines are governed. The fact
that the electrical impulse which
transmits the sound OF the voice does
not iuterfere with the current which
carries the telegraph mes sage makes
It possible for railroads to use what
is ae lbed as a composite system,
telef ans and telegraph instruments
no't employing the same wires. OF
course, tolephoning over iron wires
such as the telegraph uses is not 50
satisfactory as Il IS on specially con
structed lines of copper euch as are
employed by the Bell companies for
uheir service. SO some of the great
railway systems. notably the Pennsyl-
yania aud the Illinois Central, have
built regulation telephone lines and
The New York Central Is now equip
ping itself with a thousand nile pri-
yate 'ino from New York to Chicago,
With private exchanges at Albany.
Syracuse and Buffalo.
The list Of railways which now make
extensive use Of the telephone is
long one including practically all the
aeat systems Of the United States.
The number of private branch ex-
changes operated by transportation
companies runs into the hundreds anil
they connect thousands Of stations. IL
fact, such has the demand for this sort
of service become that the Bell people
nave devised special sets of apparatus
and maintain a special department de-
voted exclusively to the railway bus.
mess
While the running Of trains 10y tele-
phone on sCeam lines s still regarded
as moro or less an experiment the
telephone has been used for a numbe-
of years in the operation OF electric
roads ard a number OF ingenious
pieces OF apparatus have been devised
TO facilitate this application u Prof
Bells invention Thus conductors
nave been provided with portable in-
strumcnts which they can connect
with the wires when they want to talk
With headquarters for any reason.
Again. many cross country trolley
lines OF upto-date equipment have reg.
ular telephone stations in weather.
proof boxes at every turnout where
cars pass each other. so the dispatcher
can Keep constan, control of an cars
out ON the line and issue oders ia
case OF an interruption Of traffic or
Other emergency Mechanism has al
SO been devised by means of which the
nashi9g of signal lamps upon the
trolley poles calls the attention OF cun-
ductors and notifies them 10 communi-
cate with The offices Of the company
Up TO the present the efforts OF rail.
way managors have been devoted
chiefly 60 making the telephone OF
value in the operation OF their roads.
but some experiments have been made
with a view Of enabling passengers 10
talk by wire while on their travels.
Although no practical means have
Vet been found by which people on
moving train may communicate in this
way with those outside, train6 have
been equipped with telephones, just
as hotels are, so that passengers in
one car may talk with those In another