Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1907-01-14
AN |NTEREST|N
LIGHT UPON THE
TRAIN REPORTS
GLIMPSE OF SYSTEM
USED ON THE SANTA FE
Two Sides to Proposition That
Causes the Irate Traveller TO
Get On His Ear-Best Pol
icy For Employees to Obey
Orders,

Orders,
The travelling public has long puz-
zled 10 master the system by
which reports on the Santa Fe trains
are given to the public at the Albu-
querque station and at the Alvarado.
Tho intrieacies of ii are beyond the
! average man. All ne knows is that
when the headlight appears down the
track the train is likely to arrive soon,
Beyond that he has learned that $50 p.
m. written on the score board Is as bar
rem of significance to him as If ii We're
written in Sanskrit. The train may
come at $3.50 p. m. and 1t may come
at $50 a, m. following.
The irate tourist might be a little
more patient il he understood 0 the
thin is worked" said a Santa Fe rail-
road mar to the Morning Journal yes
terdag.
Now the operator at Albuquerque,
for instance. receives his information
which he furnishes to the public from
the dispatcher working the same trick
at Winslow. He receives 1t in the
form of a message or Report OF
Trains addressed to all concerned,
and making enough copies to supply
tn" ticket agent. roundhouse foreman,
yardmaster and eating house. This
train report, which generally includes
all trains, freight and passenger, Is
nearly always correct and Is official
but 1t is not always obtainable by the
local operator for various reasons.
There may be broken wires or other
wire trouble. accidents to trains, in
Guiding derailments and the hundred
and one little unavoidable mishaps
such as locomotive not steaming, hot
box brake rigging down. breaking in
two and so forth. such things as
these at a moments notice may
such an increase of telegraph business
by the dispatcher at Winslow, working
with intermediate points e-ndeavoring
to reduce delays to the minimum, thai
he is not able to send these train re-
ports to the local operator.
"A case in point is that referred to
in the Morning Journal a few days
ago when No. s was wrecked at Blue
water, tearing down wires five miles
from thai station, WINSTON MAD no
way Of communicating with A~lbuquer-
que. Albuquerque had a previous train
report that No. s would be one hour
and thirty minutes late. Therefore It
was Just that much late to him untll
ii arrived or a later report was Isl
sued making 1t later.
The operator here COULD, in adj
dttion to his other numerous duties,
while giving attention to other wires
just as important, catch enough Of the
business going over the wire handling
the accident, to enable him to figure
out for himself the arrival of any
train. Occasionally, by hearing trains
reported out of intermediate points,
figuring schedule, speed of train and
number of miles train must cover, he
can give a fair estimate provided there
is no further delay. But the dispatcher
at Winslow is likely to hold the train
for an hour or more at an intermediate
station to meet another train, the local
operator having nc knowledge of such
order. Another way he can figure is
when the dispatcher sends a train or
der form No. 81 to one of the inter-
mediate stations running any train a
specified number of minutes late.
suppose II is Gas p. m, time for
No 8 to arrive. The run from Blue
water is three hours and thirty mln-
utes. The train is marked up n
hour and thirty minutes late. Now you
ask. why Is that report made when
the train Is already three hours and
thirty minutes late?
wei 0uDIpSt A~iDu0utiQuG mas on
official report for one hour and thirty
minutes on train No. s. He hears
from Grants at 6 D. m, regarding the
wreck. He figures eight hours for
clearing the track. This is always
guess work, even when you are on the
ground. 1t depends upon whether the
location is suitable for a shoo-fly,
whether you have material, ties, rails,
angle iron, spikes, etc, and the time
necessary to get the material and
labor on the ground. The operator
adds to this three hours and thirty
minutes running time and tells the
public that the train will arrive at
$40 a. m. The operator goes home
at s y. m. When he returns TO work
next morning, he finds a letter or tele-
gram requesting his authority for Civ
ing the public this report and hints at
DISCHARGE If a satisfactory explanation
is not made. While No. 1 breaks into
a cold sweat and has visions OF the
poor house, he sees that No. 8 is
shown on the train register as arriv-
ing at $3.50 a. m. He finds that in
stead of clearing the wreck or wait
ing to build a shoo-fly, just as soon
as the wires came up, extra cars were
run to the wreck. mail, express, bag
gage and passengers transferred. and
brought to Albuquerque at $3.50 a. m
THE state OF mind OF the travellers
who have missed the train which the
operator reported at $3.50 may be cas-
lily imagined.
From an instance like this. it is
seen that the only thing for an en-
ploye 10 do is to follow orders. DO
as instructed. is the only safe motto.
If it takes three hours and thirty min
utes to run from Blue water 20 Albu-
uuerque. the train is. nevertheless. Of
ficially one hour and thirty minutes
late. because they MAY make up a
stub train and run it out Of ~Albuquer-
que lust thai much late. Sabe ?"
Notice for Publication
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