Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-08-15
BY w. II. McCALLUM.

Intent on carrying out the orders
of Congress and the Interstate Com
MERGE Commission that the personal
safety factor must be the beacon light
guiding American railroading, the
carriers Of the United States are NOV
ing unswervingly toward complete
equipment of all the important pas
senger lines in the United States with
the only known mechanical contriv-
ance that will act as a sure proven
tive against disastrous and calamitous
accident. Train-control or train-stop
purely automatic devices. which work
without the will or guiding hand of
an engineer or fireman, replacing the
fallible human factor, will be installed
on all the large passenger lines or the
Nation even sooner than Congress and
the commission have anticipated if
the railroads maintain the same rate
of installation over the next few years
that they have established since they
swung in behind the law four years
ago.
Just when that Utopia Of travel
without accident, that day when all
passenger trains and locomotive divi-
sions will be fully equipped with an
automatic train control or train stop.
is an open question which even the
minds of the most fOrward-looking
railroad men and observers at the In
terstate Commerce Commission can
not predict But that 1t will come
within two or three decades seems GER
tain In the light Of the rapid strides
taken even within the last year by the
carriers. and particularly the rail-
roads Of the East.
New York Central Leads.
One of these, the New York Cen.
trail. has moved far ahead Of Its great
Eastern competitors, the Pennsyl
vania and the Baltimore and Ohio
and has made truly amazing strides
forward in n-control and train
stop installation. Some of the equip
ment of the New York Central Is of
the most advanced and modern type,
such as the three-speed combination
train control and train-stop device, at
once the most efficient and most eX-
pensive anti-accident device.
Out of more than $4,000 miles OF
track now equipped with train-con-
troll devices under the twin orders OF
the commission issued in June, 1922
and January, 1924, the New York
Central has such devices on nine full
locomotive divisions covering 2.739
miles of track, more than one-sixth
Of the total track mileage covered by
all the installations on all railroads in
the United States. One thousand
four hundred and ninety.eight New
York Central locomotives have been
equipped with train.control devices,
which control the operation and stop
Of a heavy train independently of
the guiding hand of the engineer or
fireman.
Others Close Behind.
Yet the New York Central, even
though II has made the finest record
of any road in the country in train
control installation. is not far in adj
vance Of other roads, for the carriers
as a body have swung we'll into line
with the intent of Congress that the
railroads must use every known means
to prevent accidents. 1t has been at
times a bitter pill to swallOw-this
installation Of train-control devices
and the railroads have repeatedly pro
tested against carrying out Of the or
ders Of the commission. but the latter
body has gone ahead carrying out the
mandate Of Congress. and even
though it has granted relief in the
form of extensions of time to numer'
Gus roads. has proceeded calmly on its
path toward the ultimate goal. Many
times the commission has been criti
cized by those who have not under.
stood the urgencies of finance the
railroads have had to meet to carry
out the commissions orders. Yet in
the face Of adverse thought both the
carriers and their supervisory body
have moved serenely along toward