Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-07-30
CANADIAN ROADS
TAKE RADIO LEAD
National Railway Proves Success
of Reception Aboard Nov
ing Trains.
BY MART CoDEL.

proving the success Of radio aboard
moving trains. The Canadian National
Railway has taken the lead over the
worlds railroads, and particularly over
the big systems of the United States.
in using radio to relieve the ted1um OF
long train journeys and to enable its
passengers to maintain long distance
conversations while en- route.
The ske- ism of cert, American
railway men to the contrary notw1th-
standing, radio can be oDerated success
fully on the railroads for the entertain
ment of passengers. Moreover, actual
experiment has proved that it can be
employed to establish and maintain
two-way communication between pas
sengers and cities along the route in
the same manner that long-d1stance
calls are made.
Riding the crack trains of the Cana
dian National, including those that be-
gin their journeys in Chicago, one can
sit back of an afternoon and evening
and enjoy program reception from
Canadian ana American stations.
A youthful operator, usually an anna
teur, is at the receiving set controls IN
the club car at all hours Of good recep-
ton. One listens either to q loud
speaker at one end Of the car or through
earphones available at the seats.
U. S. Roads Try l..
Actual observations by the writer
during several trips in Canada bore out
the conviction that American railroads.
though the are ever concentrating on
new services for the comfort and con-
venience Of their passengers, have been
reniss on the score Of radio. True,
they have experimental with radio, but
the reports Of their en~ineers have al
most always been discouraging. Only
a few roads IN this country, notably the
Chicago & Northwestern, the Central
Vermont and perhaps one or two others.
have actually installed and are using
radio in club or chair cars.
It remained for the Canadian Ma
tional Railways to demonstrate that 1t
could be done on regular scale. Incl
dentally. an American-born citizen Is
head Of the system and largely respon-
sible for the progress of its radio. He
is Sir Henry Thornton. president OF the
road. Not only does the Canadian Ma
tional operate several OF its own sta
, lions, but 1t buys time on other Stattont
along the route and broadcasts an hour9
program weekly. This, officials say, hfe
greatly contributed toward the building
up of good will for the road.
An operator told the writer that eleq
! ton day in the United States found t1
train he was riding in crowded-aS tM
trains usually are during all momentoN
broadcasts and during local and provtIS
cial elections in the Dominton-wit1
passengers who listened to the returra
far into the night. The roads ohciaA
have no way of estimating the actual
amount, but they assert that their radio
| has greatly increased travel on their
various lines, particularly the transcon-
tinental.
Reception Fair TO Good.
Reception is generally fair to good.
| In Winter it Is excellent; in Summer
more difficult. There are also day and
night variations, of course, and Summer
finds fading and static bothersome.
Canada has many dead spots, particu-
larly in regions of mineral deposits, so
that parts of the journeys are without
reception at all. Most Canadian sta
tions are Of relatively low power. and
the operators find that some OF the
best results are obtained by tuning In
high-powered stations on this side OF
the border, like WGY of Schenectady,
KDKA of Pittsburgh, WLW Of C:aci:1-
natl and WENR of Chicago.
All the way to the Rockies from Mon
| treal the reception that Is consistently
best, several operators said, Is from
WLW and WENR.
The telephone service on board trains
| is not In general use as yet. II was
the first time, and equipment to 60 on
the important trains is now being built.
Conversations are made possible over
the carrier system Of the wires that
parallel the tracks. In other words, the
system is simply the one commonly
known In this country as wired wire
less
The words of the speaker on the train
are Jumped" from the train trans
mitter to the wire lines and thence car
rier to a switchboard connection In the
nearest town, which makes it possible
to talk to a telephone in almost any
city. The words OF the part on the
other end are Jumped" back in the re-
verse manner. The lines paralleNne
the Canadian National, incidentally. are
multiplexed for telegrsphy and teleph.
ony simultaneously by means Of the
carrier system. They are usually also
the links between stations for the ma.
ton wide broadcasts frequently ar.
ranged in Canada
Copyright. 1929. by North American News.
JDaper AllianceO