Graham guardian., 1914-01-02
TRAIN TELEPHONE
New Invention Shows Practi-
cability of Phoning from
Train to Train

and from stations to moving trains
is the latest achievement in the use
of these Instruments. A Texas man,
George E. Neel, whose residence is
at Abilene in that state, is the ln-
ventOr and patentee of the instru-
ment said to be the most wonderful
yet invented along these lines.
Neel has been working on the iE-
vention for several months, and
through brother, who resides in
Phoenix, interested John j. Birdno.
Mr.. Birdno, while still somewhat
skeptical as to its practicabiIity, re-
ported it to Col. Epes Randolph of
the Southern Pacific, who evinced
an interest at once to the extent of
desire to see it in operation. The
result was that NeeI brought his
little model to Phoenix, and Thurs
day, December 18th, in the presence
of Col. Randolph, made number
of experiments at the ranch of I.
N Fannin, near Alhambra. With
miniature track and miniature To-
comotive, a number of tests were
made by the use of two telephones
which are on the place, one in the
residence and another in building
about two hundred yards distant.
Connections were made at different
times with the little engine from
each of the phones and the expert
ment proved highly successful in
every respect and was the surprise
of ali who witnessed it. The wires
are connected in some way with the
rails and contract is made with the
phone by moving the receiver, either
in the station or on the train. Here
is the way Mr.. Neel describes his
invention: j..
This device is in the nature of a
party phone line. You can call any
train on the road from station or
from train to train. For instance:
One train is running just ahead of
another; the train breaks down; it
can communicate with the train be-
hind in one second, so as not to let
rear train run into the other, or if
a train is running and breaks in two,
which occurs very often, the con-
ductor can call the engineer, so you
see the conductor is always in i'm
mediate touch with his engineer. If
a train leaves a station, and for any
cause the station agent wants to
reach it, he can communicate with
that train instantly and give any
instructions necessary.
The use of my device will pre-
vent all collisions. If an agent should
give wrong order to a train crew
he can rectify it Immediately even
if the train is miles away. If the
engineer believes there is a train
ahead of him all he has to do is ring
his phone; the other train immedi-
ateIy receives the message and an
swers on the instant, and if there is
no train he will receive an answer
from the station agent telling him
the road is clear
The cost of installation is cheap
er than an ordinary telephone line.
and | have the edge over the tele.
phone, for when a storm comes and
blows down the telephone poles, my
device will still be in good order. |
You would have to move the road
and engines to disconnect my device. |
| have got the block system beaten
at every turn. The up-keep is cheap.
One man can care for 500 miles. 1t !
does not require extra men to keep |
it up, as the section men can look |
after it also, and you can always be
in touch with your section crews, as
they have a phone on their hand car. |
| don't charge the track or trains
with electricity"
If it can be made as successful in |
practical use as it was in these ex-
periments it will only be matter
Of a short time until every railroad |
train in the country will be equipped
with telephone system. Col. Ran
dolph expressed himself as highly
pleased with the success of the ex.
periments and said he would take it
up with the officials of his company
after investigating the cost of in.
stalling such system. He remarked
that if system like this had been
in successful operation, such an &C.
cident as that which happened at
Vail station. east of Tucson, a few
years since, in which two trains were
completely demolished and many
lives lost. would have been impossi-
Bile.
That wreck occurred through
wrong orders given, and the mistake
was noticed shortly after the train
had left the station, but the agent
was then powerless to correct it,
and had to simply wait until the in.
evitable occurred. With such a sys-
tenn as this in operation. he could
easily have stopped the train and
had it return to the station until the
other passed. Gazette.
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