The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1907-11-19

LAsoR N ARRANGEMENT OF
RAILROAD SCHEDULES.
skllIiul Adjustment of Time Tables Is
Perhaps the Most Difficult Of AT
Duties Devolving on Off
cials Of Line.


"Give an inexperienced person
large railroad folder and you put more
trouble in his hands than the pigs in
the clover puzzle" said prominent
railroad official the other day.
You viii find that the average per
son has not the slightest idea Of how
to decipher the arrival and departure
Of trains. Imagine, then, the immense
amount Of work involved in arranging
the schedules Of the trains Of vast
railroad system SO they win dovetail
smoothly and be got in working order
at an appointed hour.
"The adjustment Of the timetables
devolves upon the chief operating Off
cial Of the road He notifies the cffi-
cial Of each division that new train
is to'reach a certain point at a certain
hour, and will depart after a change Of
engines FIVE minutes later, being due
to arrive at the other enn Of the divis-
ion at a certain hour.
THE trainmaster Of the division
must then prepare a tentative schedule
Of trains for his division, and this ten
tatiye schedule must be sent to the
chief train dispatcher before the new
train is put on.
Each additional train must involve
a certain arrangement of the schedule
already in force. If the new train is
eier' the arrangement amounts al
most to disorder The local and ac-
commodation trains are most affected
by these changes. They must get out
Of the way of the limited trains in
plenty Of time and passengers on the
lscal trains are very likely to chafe
under the delays that are inevitable.
When all of the tentative schedules
providing for a new train are in hand
the chief train dispatcher is In posi-
tion to prepare a final schedule He
must regard, especially in limited
tyains, the hours at which trains are
expected to leave and arrive at impor-
tant points. He cannot run a train
along the line Of least resistance, for
at the hours when there are fewest
obstacles in the way Of 'tlier" there
might be the greatest likelihood Of no
passengers being waiting at the most
important stations.
When ~ the data are in hand the
schedule is prepared and notifications
are sent out to all of the division su-
perintendents. But the experiments
ton does not end here. There is a
great deal to be done by way Of ad-
iusting experience to operation, SO the
strain on the rolling stock may be
least
In preparing a schedule for a
long-distance run 1t is essential to es
tablish an average hourly mileage fol
the entire distance. 1t is not possible
to test the running time between tive
neighboring points and by adding
these together to arrive at the maxi
mum speed possible to attain between
two distant points. The theory oi
these averages is that the train shal
leave sufficient leeway to make VI
time when necessary. 1t has beer
found, however, that engineers vii
loaf along over parts Of their trip il
order to make faster time than theii
schedules call for over other portions
of the route.
Il can, therefore, be seen that al
must be ready as far as It can bt
figured out by man, and the benef
OF experience adds greatly to the max
Ing Of a schedule in the rough tha
VIII work out to nicely when tbs
train is actually under way"