The Ordway new era., 1914-02-20

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of the Delaware. Lackawanha and
Western railroad.
There are plenty of examples OF
what the wireless has done for ocean
going shipping In the way of spread
ing news. in giving helpful warnings
and in calling succor from afar to In
jured ships. Its application to rail
roading will be for a somewhat diner
ent purpose.
The block signal system now COM
monty adopted in combination with
track contacts has done wonders in re-
ducing the risk of accidents. The tow
er men are stationed every few miles.
and unless something goes wrong In.
side the block the train must clear
each zone within n certain time.
When 1t does not do SO the watcher
at the far end of the block knows
that something is amiss; but what?
The answer may be one of score OF
things and the towermen are neces-
sarily in ignorance until some one
from the halted train brings the news.
Then. and only then. the railroad peo-
pie at distant points can be reached
Wy teie6idpu duu the ptopeA NfS
taken TO meet the emergency.
The trainman carrying the message
to the block tower may have to cover
distance of couple of miles. This
is not SO bad In daylight and In good
weather. but what Of the situation
when there is a driving snowstorm or
ice covers the ground? To reach the
tower to call for assistance then be-
comes a desperately long struggle and
the cause of delay that max imperil
many lives.
Again it happens every now and
then that an engineer fails to see eau
tionary signals which should make
him slacken speed or bring his, train
to standstill. The result may be
collision with loss OF life.
It will therefore be seen how desir-
able 1t ia that each train should have
its own means of creating about 1t
cautionary zone quite independently
OF the fixed track and block signals.
this zone to be communicable to other
trains directly, in this fashion produc-
ing safety system within safety
system and one that would be imme-
diately available at every point along
the line.
This is not in theory a novelty:
but practical accomplishment has had
to contend with many obstacles.
Something akin to this was evolved
years ago in the form OF a signal tele-
graph which made use Of track con-
facts at frequent points. or OF mag
netic impulses aroused at stated inter-
walls, but the arch enemy was the
weather. and especially snow and ice.
The apparatus worked well expert
mentally until these foes to efficiency
interviewed, and then the whole tech
operate. Wireless telegraphy prom
ises to do the needed work.
If you look at map of the Lacka-
wanna railroad you will find that Bing-
hamton Is what the railroad man calls
the neck Of the traffic bottle. for there
converge no fewer than three branches
of the road. A break in train sched-
ules through any delay there may af-
feet all three of these centering
routes. Nature has added to the diff.
ficulties by reason OF the topography
OF the country. In part OF the neigh
boring mountainous section snow and
sleet especially have a way of ham,
pering traffic.
These conditions double the task Of
the engine driver. who must watch all
the more carefully every signal. and
they likewise increase immensely the
stress upon the tower man. These cir
cumstances, and an accident which
occurred upon the road a year ago,
prompted the experiments with the
wireless installation. There were sev-
eral serious obstacles to overcome
Wireless telegraphy. as every one
knows, usually calls for tall masts or
towers from which the aertals or an
tannae can be spread. and this ele-
ment of height and length of dispatch
ing and intercepung filaments influ-
ences directly the efficiency of the ap-
paratus. both in creating Hertzian
waves and In being sensitive to the
ether vibrations having their source
elsewhere. How. then, were these
requirements to be met upon a swift.
ly moving train?
As matter Of fact. the clearance
between the roofs OF the coaches and
the tops of the bridges and tunnels is
a matter Of only few inches. Would
aerials as low as this answer? Only
experimenting would solve the ques.
tion, and the electrical experts set
about doing 1t in this way:
A single line of wire arranged like
rectangle is strung from four low
stanchions placed at each corner OF
the car ends. actually below the crest
of the roof. By doing this upon -four
cars. giving a total length OF aerials
of something like $50 feet. an arrange