The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1908-05-13
cooL.HEADEp RAILROAD MEN.
Slightest Mistake In Schedule May
Cause Disaster.


Give an inexperienced person n
large railroad folder and you put
more trouble in his hands than the
pigs in the clover puzzle, said prom
inent railroad official the other day.
"You will find that the average per-
son has not the slightest idea how
to decipher the arrival and departure
OF trains. Imagine, then, the inn
mense amount of work involved in ar
ranging the schedules of the trains
of vast railroad system so they will
dovetail smoothly and be got in work.
Ing order at an appointed hour. Just
for example: Each twenty-four hours
hundreds of trains arrive at and de-
part from the Grand Central Station.
The schedules have to be arranged
to make conflict impossible.
"The adjustment of the time tables
devolyes ultimately upon the chief OPP
, Grating official of the road. He noti-
fies the official of each division that
a new train is TO reach certain point
at certain hour and will depart af-
later, being due to arrive at the other
end of the division at certain
| hour
"The trainmaster of the division
must then prepare a tentative schedule
of trains for his division, and this
tentative 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. II the new train is a
! "hier" 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 local trains are very likely to
chafe under the delays that are inevi-
table. 1t is next to impossible to
convince people that these delays
really are nevitable-strange as they
may seem.
when all OF the tentative schedules
providing for a new train are in hand,
the chief train dispatcher is in a
position to prepare a final schedule,
He must regard, especially in limited
trains, the hours at which trains are
expected to leave and arrive at i'm
portant points. He cannot run train
along the line of least resistance, for
at the hours when there are fewest
obstacles in the way of a 'hier' there
might be the greatest likelihood of no
passengers being in waiting at the
most important stations.
when all the data are in hand,
she schedule is prepared and notifica-
tions are sent out to ali OF the Divis-
ion Superintendents. But the expert
mentation does not end here There
Is a great deal to be done by way
OF adjusting experience to operation
so the strain on the rolling stock may
be least.
"ln preparing a schedule for q
long-distance run II is essential to
establish an average hourly mileage
for the entire distance. It Is not
possible TO test the running time be-
tween two neighboring points and by
adding these together to arrive at
the maximum speed possible to attain
between two distant points. The the
ory of these averages Is that the train
shall leave sufficient leeway 60 make
up time when necessary. 1t has been
found, however, that engineers will
loaf along over parts of their trip
in order to make faster time than
their schedules call for over other
portions of the route.
at can, therefore. be seen that all
must be ready as far as It can be
figured out by man, and the benefit
Of experience adds greatly to the maxi
ing of a schedule in the rough that
will work out to a nicely when the
train Is actually under way"