The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1915-08-28


the railroad interest and secure early
adoption.
From the present outlook II is be-
lieved that railroads doing a large
business will not be slow in adopting
this most improved appliance for
avoidance of accidents, because II is so
inexpensive to install and maintain.
Low Cost an Important Factor.
The cost Of equipping a locomotive
with the Buell. System is $3.50. On
those roads having the automatic block
system the track equipment of the
Buell. System only costs SO per block
or mile.
The maintenance cost is only so
cents per day per locomotive.
The public interest In railway transport
tation is keen and 1t rests in the one
word, service" To meet the public in
terest and demands service must be ade-
quate and to be adequate to the public
needs it must be safe.
1t has long been contended by the
advocates Of the cab signal and auto
matte stop that the various methods of
train control that have been employed
and are at present in use are defective
and unsafe in that they have failed to
insure reliable observance and obedi-
ence of orders or signal indications.
The most modern systems of automatic
wayside signals may be characterized as
only third of a protective system. be-
cause 1t attends reliably only to one pro-
tective act. l. e.. the production or dis
play OF the signals, and does not insure
the observance or obedience thereof or
the necessary safety action on the train
itself in case of failure of the human
element-the engineer.
In other words, while the modern way
side signal reliably indicates all the con-
ditions affecting the safety of the rail-
road track by the display of a signal. it
does not safeguard against the failure Of
the human element or the conditions
that may interfere or affect the track of
vision leading from the signal on the
roadside to the eye Of the engineer. espe-
cially when his eye has to plunge into
the depths Of fog, smoke, or storm, or
when the signal is obscured by interview
ing objects or bad backgrounds.
A. b. c. Of Train Control Evolution.
A pictorial representation of the sew
eral methods of controlling train move
ments that have been in vogue may be
seen at a glance in the lower right-hand
cut on this page. There is perhaps no
more striking illustration of the progress
Of the art and its shortcomings than can
be obtained from an examination of the
been employed for safeguarding railway
traffic.
At first Tagging was the miserable in
strument Of dependence Of poor, cheap,
and slow railroading. Then came the
crude method in which conductors man
aged their respective train movements by
Geographically communicating with each
other as they went along. in order to
keep in touch and learn the whereabouts
of each other. so as to arrange for suit
able meeting points.
Following this crude method came the
train order or train dispatching system,
orders to engineers and conductors by a
central dispatcher.
As railway traffic increased and
speed developed. the idea of estab-
fishing an arbitrary space interval
plan, instead of q time interval be-
tween trains came into use and was
known as the block system which
was first governed in operation by
manually controlled roadside signals.
aided by telegraphic communication.
Finally as speed developed and trav-
Ell became more congested on busy
lines. more exacting conditions were
in the art and the important step was
taken in the production of signals au-
tomatically by the presence of a train
in a block while said system also
disclosed the condition Of the track.
as a broken rail. This system is
known as the Automatic Block Sig
nal system.
In its essence signaling may be said
to have progressed. simply in the de-
'yelopment OF mems whereby the
signal IL produced or displayed. to
the neglect Of providing for the fail
ure of the human element or taking
into account the visualising conditions
experienced in the observance of a
signal .s
The highest mechanical expression
Of roadside signaling is the modern
automatic block signal system. which
10 = highly organized and delicate
piece Of apparatus. that 10 very Eff
cient when In perfect working order.
AZ piece Of mechanism. IN fact II
II almost human In its workings and
Has produces . record In The display