The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-07-23

fated train had passed his station This
is one of the commonest and most
difficult dangers to deal with. confront
ing railroad officers The strain OF
keeping awake during the hours when
a person IS normally in bed, in Titles
way station where only three or four
trains pass IN the course Of night.
is greater than any person can realize
VINO has not experienced it.
Many Devices Employed.
Every sort of device has been re-
sorted to by the railroad companies
to ms Ire that the men along the line
are awake and doing their duty. Spec
ial calls are sent over the wires to the
different agents at frequent intervals,
they are Obliged to report to the train
dispatcher every hour or two, and the
conductors of passing trains are called
upon TO notify headquarters OF any evil
dences Of carelessness on the part of
the operators they may notice as they
go up and down the road In spite
of these precautions. every little while
operators go to sleep, as the Adobe
accident shows. The following incident
illustrates the fact that men who have
attained to high positions i'm railroad
life were themselves sometimes guilty
of subterfuges as underlings which
they were later anxious to detect and
punish in their subordinates.
A man who ended his career as
president of the Lake Shore railroad
began life as station agent. and is
credited by his associates with invent
ing what was perhaps the first auto
matte signal ever put into practical
operation. The station of which he
In, oh Ia.x 20
ries in Illinois, and with the exception
of two expresses and a through
freight there was no night traffic. The
express trains passed the station early
in the evening. and after that there
was a long stretch of lonely waiting
until the freight went by about ;
O'Clock in the morning. The agent
tried improving his mind with study.
and then took to modelling in clay.
Neither of these schemes worked. SO
he was finally forced to put aside the
promise he had made his mother
never to gamble" and joined the
round robin poker game which is as
old as the institution of night teleg-
raphy. Each man deals himself a pO-
ker hand. and then, as his turn comes
round, calls his play. The stakes are
always small, and are forwarded TO
| the winner by the hand OF friendly
conductor or brakeman. The poker
game became tiresome after a time.
and the agent compromised still fur
Their with his conscience. His sole duty
after the freight went by was to set
the red light in the middle Of the track
warning any following train that the
! freight had passed, and then give his
code signal to the operator at the next
station to warn him that the freight
was on the way. The agent decided
after thinking the matter over that so
/ long as that signal was set and the
next agent notified, it made no differ
ence by what means the end was at
/ tanned. He therefore spent the next
/ few evenings perfecting d device that
would allow him to go to sleep without
/ danger of being detected. The signal
was a crude one, but it answered its
purpose in AN age VIXEN railroading
was haphazard at the best. In after
years this same man was wont to say
that one Of the first things he did
after he became d division superinten-
dent was to install telegraph outfit
in his bedroom so that he could cut
in on the main line of his division dur
ing the night and discover whether he
was talking to man or a machine.
D