The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1910-02-25
RUN TRAINS BY TELEPHONE.
Georgia Railroad to Be First Road
in South to Use it Entirely.

ALlduld COu4A
In little more than sixty days the
Georgia railroad will be operating
all its trains by telephone instead of
by telegraph. 1t will be the first
steam road in the country to adopt
the new method Of dispatching train
orders over its entire system. About
48 other roads are now using the
telephone for certain sections, but
none thus far have installed it for all
their lines. The total mileage rep
resented by the roads using telephones
partially, is little more than $780,
900; while the mileage controlled by
telephone dispatches is only about
10000.
Apart from the fact that the Geor-
gia roads adoption Of the telephone
proves policy Of up-to-date methods
It also carries a larger and broader
significance. It means that the south
is keeping pace with the march of
progress, and in many lines even sur
passing other sections Of the coun-
try. The next railroad that will
adopt the telephone is the Great
Northern, running from St. Paul to
Seattle, and having a total mileage
of about 2,1OO. Its officials have al
ready made their decision but it was
not reached until after the Georgia
railroads contracts had been placed
and by the time the Great Northern
begins installation the. Georgia's s tel
ephone system will have been in use
several months.
Practically Is Proven.
The practically and advantages of
the telephone over the telegraph for
dispatching' train orders have been
proven beyond doubt or question.
Every objection that was ever raised
against the telephone has been over
come, and it is now only a question
of time before the old-fashioned
Morse code way Of transmitting
messages viii be supplanted on all
railroads by the superior instrument
that makes possible man-to-map
conversation.
During the recent blizzards in the
north and east it would have been
impossible to operate trains for
many hours, owing to the disorgani-
zation Of telegraph systems, had it
not been for the telephone. Between
Rochester and Syracuse the New
York Central had no telegraph wires
working, and even the telephone cir
cults, it is stated, were in some
places crossed with the Morse cir
cults. Before dawn Of the, day af-
ter the blizzard the through telephone
wire was working, in a limping way.
But the fast trains Of the IN. 7. c."
did not limp. After comparatively
slight delays there were all moving
on time and the telephone Circuit was
kept so busy for several hours that
it would not be given for "test
calls"
Recently the traffic officials Of the
Delaware division Of the Pennsyl-
vania railroad wave eout a statemen.
to the effect that after heavy biz
zard they had, no through telegraph
wires working. Even the telephone
circn:ts were broken in some places,
and ''grounds'' due to the heavy
storms further complicated matters.
But despite this the chief dispatch
er was able to talk over the entire
length OF ha 1! :.>4on and HANDLED;
all his trains almost as if nothing
had happened.
Minimizes Wreck Danger.
The danger Of wrecks is almost en-
tirely eliminated bv' the telephone, it
is said. In more than one way the
method works to that end. In the
first place it is practically impossible
for the operator at way station to
misunderstood an order, which is di-
rectly in contradiction to the very
objection that Was first raised to the
telephone.
<FDispatchers will talk too fast, y
predicted the doubters. "The lines
will be buzzing and the operators
will make big mistakes in taking
train orders.''
But not so. The modern telephone
as everyone knows who has ever