The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1913-01-01
.O|SPATCH|NG
|. ON CT. ( A. BY
TELEPHONES
THIS IMPROVED SYSTEM TO BE
USED OVER THE DEEP WATER
ROUTE INSTEAD OF TELEGRAPH,

In every phase Of modern business
and commercial life, the telephone is
becoming more and more a vital fac
tor, and in no way is that fact evi-
denced more plainly in the rapid strides
made in the Introduction Of the tele-
phone in the field of train dispatching.
The Gulf, Florida and Alabama Rail-
way Company is one Of the latest OF
the southern roads to equip it's lines
with new and up-to date telephone ap-
paratus for this purpose, and to this
end has placed an order for the neces-
sary material which Is manufactured
by the Western Electric Company, the
manufacturers Of more than ninety
per cent of the telephone equipment
used on the railroads Of Canada and
the United States.
The type Of equipment to be in
stalled in the way-station makes use
Of the standard Western Electric tele-
phone selector set. The 'selector" as
its name impl'ss, is an instrument so
designed that when properly adjusted
it will respond only to certain electri-
cal signals or impulses which are reg
ulated and sent out over the line by
the train dispatcher. The latter can,
therefore, signal any one of the way
stations at which these selector sets
are located without signalling any Of
the others on the same line.
Fifteen Stations Equipped.
The main line Of the road, extending
from West Pensacola, Florida, to Lo-
cal, Alabama, will be equipped with
the telephone train dispatching appa-
ratus. Fifteen way stations will be
equipped over distance of approxi-
mately 80 miles. The dispatcher viii
be located at West Pensacola.
Fifteen telephones will be placed in
booths along the right-of-way at sid
! ings to enable train crews to commun-
| icate with the dispatcher from such
points while a portable train set will
be used by the crew if it becomes nee
essary to connect with headquarters
between sidings.
The many advantages accruing from
the use Of the telephone instead of the
telegraph for the dispatching Of trains,
alone were responsible for its adop-
, ton. The telephone. in the first. place,
| is quicker. It has been observed that
/ the ring Of the bell will insure a prom pt
answer, and for this purpose large, So
called extension" bells are used,
which can be heard several hundred
feet away In the four years that the
telephone has been used for dispatch
ing. not railroad accident has been
laid to its door, so that 1t may be said
to be as safe as, II not safer than, the
telegraph. Furthermore, it has been
made possible TO increase the length of
a division handled by one dispatcher
by as much as so per cent.
The telephone, making possible, as
il does, ~ect personal communication
by wof 4 mouth between the dis
patcher and the men under him, has
the effect Of a warm, hearty handclasp
every time 1t is used. A spoken SEN
tence, even when an order, is infinitely
more inspiring and impressive than a
succession of cold and formal dots and
dashes, and it is this feature as much
as any other which has made for the
success of the telephone as an I'm
proven of discipline and increaser of
efficiency on railroad systems.