The Black Hills union and western stock review. [volume] (Rapid City, S.D.) 1904-19??, 1911-02-17
RAILWAY TELEPHONE
SUPPLANTING TELEGRAPH
An Improvement in Train Dispatch.
ing Methods that Means Greater
Economy as Well as Safety.

Dlspatching trains is without a
doubt one of the most important of
problems OF railroading. Not only
the regulation Of traffic, but the
safety OF thousands of lives is de-
pendent upon how the dispatcher
handles the train sheet. The min
imizing of danger and the
smooth handling of large number
OF trains over single division are
made possible by this vigilant watcn-
er, who must work hard and think
quickly while the messages pour in
and out of his little office
transmitting these orders and
messages over the wires in the most
efficient way is problem that is
today before every busy railroad.
Ever since the day when a man ran
ahead OF train with a flag, the tel
egraph has been linked with train
dispatching. 1t has always been
the accepted thing for the prospec-
tive railroad man first to become a
telegraph operator.
But in the past few years all this
has been changed. Railroad man
ayers have turned to the telephone
for this work because of its econ
cmy, safety and convenience. To the
most inexperience layman it will be-
come evident that spoken message
is likely to be of greater value than
one translated into dots and dash
es.
The first installation of up to date
telephone apparatus for railway
train dispatching was in 1907. Not
only since then but also previous to
that date, when the equipment had
not reached it's present state of per-
lection, not single accident has
been reported resulting from the use
of the telephone.
So today telephone dispatching
methods are in vogue among many
OF the most important railroads.
which means new standards of con-
trolling the movements of trains,
1t has resulted also in the develop
ment OF new types Of apparatus de-
signed especially for this important
task.
The apparatus employed for tele-
phone train dispatching is simple
and substantial. In practically all
cases heavy copper line, consisting
Of two copper wires weighing 30
pounds per mile, is installed, and
upon this are connected AS many
way stations as desired. At each
station is device known as a selec-
tor, which permits the dispatcher to
call that station and ring the bell as
/ long as he pleases with single mo-
ton and without calling any other
station on the line He is also Civ
| en- signal when the bells ring, so
that he is at all times informed as
of order. The scheme permits of
the installation of siding telephones
at water tanks, drawbridges, sidings,
shops, round houses, and other
places along the line, so that train
crews and others can get in direct
communication with the dispatcher
at all these points. In addition.
portable telephone sets are coming
into extensive use not only on wreck
ers but on regular freight and pass
enger trains as well.
The Delaware, Lackawana and
Western railway has installed tele-
phone and selector equipment over
practically all it's entire system. A
number of roads are now using tel
ephone equipment over more than
one thousand miles of track, includ-
/ ing the Atchison, Topeka and Santa
Fe, the Lake Shore and Michigan
Southern, Pennsylvania lines east OF
Pittsburg, the New York Central,
the big Four" the Illinois Central,
Canadian Pacific, Chicago, Milwau-
kee and st. Paul system and the
Louisville and Nashville. 1t is es-
timated by the Western Electric
| Company, which has supplied over
80 per cent of the railway telephone
now in use in the United States,
that more than fifty thousand miles
of track has been equipped with the
new fashioned method of controlling
train movements.
The spread of it's use among the
railroads is another of the wonders
of the telephone.