The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-11-13
SAFETY IN RAILROADING
 HERE AND ABROAD
U ANYWHERE WoRL D-MODERN
 sYSTEM-AUToMATc MACHINERY HIGH AIDS IN
 E. G. E o w l. E R,

ceed, for machinery is not always im- mune to accidents.
 The central feature of the modern signalling system is the division of road into short sections technically known as blocks, each of which is equipped with signals operated in part automatically and in part by men sta tioned In towers along the track. Through various stages of develop ment the signal systems have been so perfected that while a madman in a tower might succeed in tying up all traffic he would have difficulty in caus- ing a smashup.
 On the New York, New Haven and Hartford the blocks vary in length from half a mile 10 four miles. Ordi- narily to every three blocks there is an operating tower in which one or more men are continually on duty. The Merchants Limited, for example rushing on its way to Boston at sixty miles an hour enters a block. com pletes an electrical connection and automatically the. semaphore rises to danger. While the train is on that block the towerman is powerless to change the signal. Only when the train has passed into the second block and the next semaphore is set at danger. can the operator pull the first signal down and allow a follow ing train to proceed. Before the linn ited can pass the third signal and en- ter the stretch between two groups of blocks, the first towerman must sig nal to the man controlling the next group for the unlock" This he does by code of bells. the towerman ahead pulls the lever controlling the third semaphore and the Limited rushes on toward the next group of blocks, to go through the same process there. It Is impossible for a signal guarding a block to be altered while a train is on that block and even when the track Is clear the operators assistance is nec- essary to indicate the fact to the sen- gineer The normal condition of a semaphore Is danger and were the nu- merous devices which constitute a sig nal system to become deranged each semaphore would remain immovable at danger. The passengers on the Limited would in all probability be a little irritated at the delay, but there would be no collision.
 That there Is no delay. that the sig nals respond at all times to the move ments of the trains and tho tower mans levers, are the results of cease less inspection of the track. Twice a day, early in the morning and late in the afternoon. each section is patroll- ed by track-walkers, men trained to see the little break in the signal wires which may block a whole road or the loose rail which may hurl a crowded train down an embankment. On a four track division, such as the road from New York to New Haven. each track walker patrols two miles; on single track lines the sections vary from six to seven miles. Armed with a track wrench and spike maui with which to remedy any little fault, which left to itself might In time prove dangerous. and the necessary flags to warn train of any present danger. the track walker does what no machinery can do. makes certain that the road-be is in perfect condition for the next train to pass over 1t.
 In the road-bed itself the American railroads have shown how continuous are their efforts to ensure absolute safety Where a road was built hasti- ly through a new country. light rails light ties and any kind of ballast that was convenient were employed. Now speed economy and safety all demand a permanent, solid road-bed. Between New York and Boston rock-ballast alone is used and the rails are the heaviest in use for genral purposes.
 
 weighing 100 pounds a yard. each rail IS 1000 pounds in weight-a bit of iron not easily forced from its present position by any pressure and not giv- en to wearing out very quickly. Side by-side with the work of making more solid the road-beds has gone the task of removing as far as possible all dan gerous curves and heavy grades.
 Perhaps, however. American rail- road engineers have been most sue cessful in developing new types of bridges. The old draw bridge which revolved on a fixed pivot in the centre has to a considerable extent been su- perseded by a modern application of the principle of the medieval draw bridge across which lay the road to few blanks crossing a narrow moat and hoisted by chains and windlasses turned by hand and a great steel structure carving four tracks. whose tons of metal are raised by some of the most elaborate machinery we have there is little resemblance. The chief advantage which this complex crea- ton has over the older revolving