The St. Mary banner., 1907-11-09
GENESIS OF BELL ROPE
Result OF Combat That Settled r..
ductor's Supremacy Over Eno;,...

0, '''de oettled Con.
ductor's Supremacy Over Encin..,
Although there does not seem 70 \.
anything in common between nus
ism and railroad rules, yet the adm
tlon OF the familiar bell rope tha,
stretches through every car of N,
modern train was the result of fs,,
encounter. At the same time. and hv
tfe issue OF the same combat, saw,
the Philadelphia Public Ledger thu
supremacy OF the conductor in rail.
road 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 thu
Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washing.
ton, which was opened in 1887. Tho
first schedule contained one passenger
train, which went to Baltimore ona
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 trans
portation had been reached
Next to the president Of the rail-
road the most important function
aries were the engineer and conduct
or. 1t was a question whether or
not the head of the line was consid.
cred subsidiary official in popular
estimation to the men who ran the
train; but Robert Fogg. who pulled
the throttle, and John Wolfe. who COL
lected fares, won the Difference of the
public because of their high and re-
sponsible 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 COM
municate with the engineer, devised
the scheme of running cord through
the cars to the locomotive. AS tne
engine was a wood burner, Wolf fast
ened 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 Tor
stop.
Fogg resented what he considered
an interference with his rights on tne
nlatform of the locomotive, and On
the first run out with the new device
paid no heed to the displacement ol
the log from the seat when the con'
ductor desired to take on passenser
from a farm near Gray's Ferry, Ou'
sped on over the bridge and did no'
deign to bring his engine to s'op
until Blue Bell Station, on the sou.n
side of the Schuylkill. had been reacn
ed Then he demanded to know VI
Wolf why he had been jerking 'n''
log all about the locomotive
Wolf hotly declared that ne nAu
signalled to stop. but Fogg re'ol'ea
that he would stop when and wnefs
he pleased, and that, too. "ltho"' oA
reference to orders from the cohduet
or whom he did not regard as NE
superior in the management VI -.
train The alteration grew W.!
heated and Wolf invited the en'i"ee
from the cab to settle the ma''el 'H'
the challenge was quickly accep'eu'
passenpers and a group OF 'n'A
r,ro had gathered at the station "
see the train come in formeH
.hort the combatants, but the lsm
Al NOT last long, as Wolf proven w
far the superior artist with MS H''.,
and with a few blows made IL "''No
for the engineer "
,,Fc;entlv 70 complete his rum Wv
Fogs admitted that he had pee'' 40. .ho
,v beaten and the supremacy VI 1
:. ,,,otor on a railroad train was
settled. ord in.
AS the log signal was - "' ota
effective. Wolf devised the use " a.h.
bell on the locomotl'e' anu ~ ~ The
al was soon adopted by all oi ~ :,
American railroads. Then d 'o.. .,r
.;an.,s u.a. adopted and these re'n",.
ractjca!lv to this day. Ihe o", w.,
change in the bell cord is tha' y.
- tho air from the brake system
whistle has superseded the beA ~
locomotive cab.