The Washburn leader., 1907-08-09
THE TRAIN BELL ROPE.
How It and the Conductors Supremacy
Came to Be Established. s#&

How Ut and the Conductor8 supremacy
Came to Be Established. #
Although there does not seem to be
anything in common between pugilism
and railroad rules, yet the adoption Of
the familiar bell rope that stretches
through every car of the modern train
was the result of fistic encounter AT
the same time and by the issue of the
same combat the supremacy of the con
ductor in railroad travel was ordained.
1t was Philadelphia which gave both,
to the world.
One Of the oldest railroads in the
country is the Philadelphia, Whining
ton and Baltimore, now known as the
Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washing
ton, which was opened in 1887. The
terminus in Philadelphia was at Broad
and Prime streets-Prime street now
being known as Washington avenue
and after crossing the Schuylkill river
at Gray's Ferry the route ran along the
Delaware river on what is now the
Chester line of the Reading railway.
The first schedule contained one pas
senger train, which went to Baltimore
one day and came back the next, which
was considered a remarkable feat in
rapid travel When train day each
way was placed in service the people
Of the two cities served concluded that
the acme of convenience in transporta-
ton had been reached
Next to the president of the railroad
the most important functionaries were
the engineer and conductor. 1t was
question whether or not the head Of
the line was not considered a subsidi-
ary officer in popular estimation to the
men who rane the train, but Robert
Fogg, who pulled the throttle, and
John Wolf, who collected fares, won
the Difference Of the public because Of
their high and responsible duties.
Fogg, an Englishman, had all the
tenacity of opinion of his race. Wolf,
an American, had the ingenuity of the
Yankee and, seeing the need of some
method by which he could communi-
cate with the engineer, devised the
scheme of running a cord through the
cars to the locomotive. AS the engine
was wood burner, Wolf fastened one
end of the cord to log, which was
placed ON the engineers seat and was
pulled to the floor when the conductor
desired to signal for a stop.
FOgg resented what he considered an
interference with his rights on the
platform of the locomotive and on the
first run out from Broad and Prime
streets with the new. device paid no
heed to the displacement of the log
from the seat when the conductor de.
sired to take on passenger from
farm near Gray's Ferry, but sped on
over the bridge and did not deign to
bring his engine to a stop until Blue
Bell station, on the south side of the
Schuylkill, had been reached. Then
he demanded to know of Wolf why he
had been jerking that log all about the
locomotive.
Wolf hotly declared that he had sig
nailed to stop, but Fogg retorted that
he would stop when and where he
pleased and that, too, without any ref
erence to orders from the conductor,
whom he did not regard as his superior
in the management of the train. The
alteration grew very heated, and Won
invited the engineer from the cab to-
settle the matter, and the challenge
was quickly accepted.
Passengers and group Of men who
had gathered at the station to see the
train come in formed a ring about the
combatants, but the fight did not last
long. as Wolf proved by far the SUI
perior artist with his fists and with
few blows made it almost impossible
for the engineer to see sunciently to
complete his run, but Fogg admitted
that he had been fairly beaten, and the
supremacy of the conductor on train
was settled for all time.
AS the log signal was crude and in
effective, Wolf devised the use of
bell on the locomotive, and this method
was soon adopted by all of the Amer
lean railroads. Then code of sig
nails was adopted, and these remain
practically to this day. The only
change in the bell core is that by use
Of the air from the brake system
whistle has superseded the bell in the
locomotive cab.-Philadelphia Ledger.
+r4 T