The Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1???-1928, 1908-08-24
TEACH THE SIGNALS
ENGLISH LINE HAS SCHOOL FOR
ITS MEN.
Employees Are Given Thorough In
structon in Technical Details
Working of the Block System
Is the Keynote.

A fully equipped school for teachins
railroad signaling has been formed by
| the Great Western Railroad company
at Paddington Station which has beer
| fitted up with miniature working mod
| els of all signaling apparatus required
TO control the rolling stock Of an up
| to-date railroad system.
! The classroom is under the control
! of the superintendent Of the line and
| all members of the clerical staff are
invited 10 attend the school in their
spare time and become acquainted
with the actual control of the rolling
stock under qualified instructors. It
is not TO be wondered at that the ia
cilities offered are taken advantage Of
by a large number of the staff when
it is mentioned that the possession of
certificate from the signaling school
is an aid to more rapid advancement.
The classroom is fitted up with a
model railway complete with every de
vice used on the permanent way and
all the mechanical and electrical in
struments of a signal cabin. \ per-
feet set of rails, complete functions.
cross sections, signals. and points are
laid out on specially constructed
bench, the whole being controlled by
miniature set OF levers exactly like
those in signal cabin.
Every detail is carefully carried
out. even to the catch points, q device
which is placed at the junction Of
sdings onto the main line, SO that in
the event of any train taking the
wrong signal when the road haa been
made open for a fast train the runa
way train would be automatically de-
railod-or, as signalmen would term
it, thrown onto old EngIand"-and in
this way prevented from entering the
main line and causing a serious disas
ter.
Signaling to very large extent de
ponds upon the telegraphic instru.
ments and bells worked from box to
box. For this purpose the corners of
the large classroom are arranged to
present signal cabins, and each stu
dent takes a turn at manning one of
these model signal boxes and trans
hitting the messages regarding the po,
sition of each train.' This takes some
time TO learn thoroughly. for In busy
box there are numerous instruments
to attend to, besides numerous bells.
The men are far too busy to 90 to
the instrument each time the bell
rings. so that they have to depend on
the tone Of the bell and learn what the
message is about by the number OF
times the hammer strikes the gong
1t is obvious, therefore that the sig
mailman in an important box has 10 act
promptly when several bells are ring
ing ont messages and warnings at the
same time
As soon as the student shows prog
ross in this direction be is instructed
in the proper use of the head and tail
lights, which enable the expert rail
wayman to tell at a glance the de-
scription of any particular train
whether fast slow, goods-and, in
cases whore several companies use
the same set of Metals. to what com.
pany the train belongs There are
numerous messages conveyed by these
head lights, and the students are made
acquainted with their meaning.
One clear principle underlying all
the apparent compeXtty of signaling
ic thig--to trpcp~vp "a go of limo