The Lee County journal. (Leesburg, Ga.) 1904-19??, 1908-02-21
Signals in the Engine Cab.
'AsTERs IN ENGLAND sU0oEsTTHs SOLUTION |
Experts Point Out That Such System is Feasible But
Satisfactory Device Has Vet to Be EvoIveds.A
Scheme the Great Western That Works WelI.

Englishmen, who have become
used to comparative immunity from
serious railroad accidents, have been
compelled to realize several times
during the last year or two that even
the perfection of organization of Brit
ish railway service cannot totally
eliminate the risk OF disasters, says
Engineering. The sequence of acct
dents at Salisbury, Grantham and
Shrewsbury, though differing in time,
place and circumstance, had one
striking feature in common. In each
case the men on the footplate ig-
nored, or at any rate did not obey,
the usual signals. Possibly they
could not, but whether the fault was
human or mechanical, the result was
the same.
AT Salisbury a boat train was
wrecked in taking an eight chain
curve at seventy miles an hour; at
Grantham another train rushed to
destruction at crossover points, and
at Shrewsbury third train met it's
fate like the former ones in spite of
signals. Even more recently other
accidents have occurred, in which
though fog was the determining fac
tor, the question of the transmission,
reception or of obedience to signals
was also involved.
1t is not surprising, therefore, that
the subject of railway signalling has
been brought into prominence. To
discuss it in all its bearings would be
impossible in one article, but by as
Stunning that, whatever apparatus is
in use, the signalman is able to carry
out his part in the protection of the
train and that if acted upon his in
structions to the driver would en-
sure safe working we may narrow
down the issues. Making these as
7sumptions, then, we will conf1ne our
selves to the engineman's require
ments and duties. In the first place,
he must be able to know the condi-
ton of the line in darkness, Jog and
snow, and if it can be brought to his
notice in spite of temporary lapse
of attention on his part so much the
better.
Now, the ordinary semaphore does
not do this. In many of the varieties
of weather met with in this country
its indications are invisible, and in
any case they pre-suppose the driver
is on the alert In bad weather SEM
;aphores are admittedly practically
useless, and they have to be supple
mented by fog signals. These latter
appeal to the only sense that is open
to appeal from without the cab, and
do it effectively, but their use in
wolves two more links in the chain of
responsibility, and they are at best
but costly and unsatisfactory make
shift.
All considerations lead to the con-
rclusion that the ideal system of sig
mailing trains would be one in which
the signals were received directly in
the cab of the locomotive and had to
be looked out for by the roadside.
The reception of stop signal might
even automatically shut off steam and
apply the brakes without the inter
vention of the driver. This provision
and even the means of continuous
communication between the signal
cabin and the footplate, are by no
means insoluble mechanical prob
lens; in fact, dozen solutions
would be found were the question Sc
riously taken up.
The lesser, but by no means too
easy, problem-that of providing an
instrument in the cab to repeat the
semaphore indications under the dri-
ver's eye-has been attacked by many
inventors, among the more recent be-
ing Vincent Raven, the chief assist
ant mechanical engineer of the
Northeastern Railway. His solution
was explained to the Institution of
Electrical Engineers last week in a
paper read by ]. Pigg. Mr.. Ravens
system is electrical, and embodies a
cab semaphore actuated by the con-
tact wire brushes fixed to the engine,
with insulated metal bars placed on
the line. Besides the semaphore arm
there are pointers which indicate
which route is open at junction. and
bell rings to call the drivers atten-
ton whenever new signal is re-
ceived.
AS additional security, wheels
hung from brackets on the engine
comes into contact with spring bars
at the sides of the track, and in ro-
tating internationally close the same
Circuit as the brushes above men,
toned. The last indication received
is recorded by the semaphore until
Wild Geese in Oregon.
Great as was the wheat crop it is