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Show SfsilFETY IN RAILROADING I I HERE AND ABROAD f S American Lines on Which Passengers Are as Well :: 3 Guarded as Anywhre in the World. , 4: rtr YORK. Nov. 12.-A series of 1 dioloraWe accidents on railways mnnlnp though sparsely sets' set-s' Jd portions o the United States X nty caused a good deal of dle-wiTof dle-wiTof American railway munage-" munage-" V unfavorable comparisons bc-W bc-W lZ,As employed hero and III,; Specially In England. .lifeless, the achievements of M"' ' railway builders and mana-Tk mana-Tk among the most Important .taflUBtrlol world and It is a fact Tinr American railroads arc gra-fbrought gra-fbrought to a state of perfection Z nstter of safety which equals 'irhios exceeds the English stan-JiVien stan-JiVien called tho hlchest in tho i.h and Continental railways Sbullt in countries already densely lited where a large volume of Tffa9 assured from the start. iLn railroads, on the other hand. fien constructed in sections were at the time of their build-TdmoJt build-TdmoJt uninhabited. Had it been iuary at the start to construct rail-inYtU rail-inYtU as tley were constructed It Is ftfe t0 say tliat tne ,lnes Xi never have been built at nil. Wtk tie thickly settled portions of the m-Xd SUtes 6uch railroads as the HMTivanla, the New York Central. ITKTveir Tork, New Haven & Hnrt-Ei'siid Hnrt-Ei'siid the leading lines of the mid-fif mid-fif West have attained the English iKiiird'ln respect to safety, while to WEarltaii minds the luxury of travel lltMi country has been carried to a ofcat unknown anywhere else. ijlAs Much Travel as Anywhere, r. 'careen Now York and Boston, for CiOP'.e, where there Is probably as ri travel as between any two places '-jllr as far apart In the world, the kW Tork. Now Haven & Hartford misread has now built up a line of 233 ri which compiles with all tho re-tireni'nts re-tireni'nts for safety which American irtfrisnM has found of practical ' Tti corner-stone of safe railroading tea'an American standpoint Is an ad-tjute ad-tjute and absolutely reliable system (J signals. Recent accidents have (icim that. In the language of one tiSnj officer, the brains of the most cpcrluiced railway men sometimes afl to work" and for this reason iSfri has been a constant effort to grrrtde some mechanical substitute for fjilzs. This has been successful as is It is desirable to succeed, for publnery is not always immune to ixiltatt, j-Ti central feature of tho modern fcpilllDg 8y3tem Is the division of a al Into short sections technically fccxa 03 blocks, each of which is p!rpd with signals operated In part tiuznatlcally and In part by men sta-tiittd sta-tiittd In towers along the track, ftrough various stages of development flat signal systems have been so per-(tfed per-(tfed Ibat while a madman in a tower tJjht succeed in tying up all tralllc ho nA have difficulty in causing a cuhup, Or. the New York, New Haven & Ewtford the blocks vary in length from r-i mile to four miles. Ordinarily "y three blocks there is an operates operat-es tower In which one or more J are continually on duty. The ajits' Limited, for example, rush- iU way to Boston at sixty miles v,MCr' cntcre a- block, completes an incai connection and automatically "'anaphore rieo to danger. Dt the train la on that block the trt J? ls nowerles8 to change the r11,. nly when the train has passed the next block and the next fpnore Is set at danger, can the ! Sa.or pull the ilrst eignal down and jr. "lowing train to proceed. Be-flm,tC(l Be-flm,tC(l can pats the third ii and enter the stretch between rroupa of block, the flrBt tower-t tower-t 7..K Elsnal 10 tlie ma controlling ur'Wiip for the "unlock." This tut. I b; a code of bells, the tower-'tt tower-'tt !M?d pulu tlie lever controlling "maphore. and the Limited vSv, ?n toward the next group of ftut. E0 tnrouSh tho same process StePosslble for a signal guarding Bsikt u? r a,tered while a train Is Hit cW u ' and evcn wlen the track Wttr-,. . . operator's assistance lo Bfo Tn, lndlcQt& the fact to the en-BSi,7 en-BSi,7 normal condition of a sema- Alices , "J.?e nnd vere tne numerous H7t'fflfAlch constitute a signal Mfcort w , ?mfr dranged each wma-Hger wma-Hger mu rema,n immovable at HiltpJi ,he Passengers on the Ubtl rS!r,!F0fuld In all probability be a Hbo ni'con, (lelay but there K scless Track Inspection. mP rate ls. no dela'. that the slg- rf" rr ?i al"8 and th0, towermen's Flon f Vs rcoult3 of ceuaeloss In-Jrlv In-Jrlv i' " le track. Twice a day, .tMKioon "r "'onilng and late In the "jjtf Uack-rl? 8ecUo11 1 Patrolled by 7s iKlk k . s' n,eu trained to eoe fBN r" 1 .?k a wll0le roai1 oi the aovn oh,ch may hurl a crowded oL1 01nbaltment. mP froin vrack,dlvii, such as the MkBIciV!! 1 Patrols two miles; 33 bt tn llne3 the -Kctlono vary to rSLaml maul with R( o SS any Uttle fault- which RfrKfwis L cht ln "me prove SatralH?nlJc necessary Hags to ft v "al?er i,any prot,ent danger, the ; dc what no machinery can do, makes certain that the road-bod l ;n perfect condition for the next train to pass over it. In the road-bed Itself the American 1 railroads have shown how continuous are their efforts to Insure absolute safety. "Where a road was built hastily through a new country, light raiis, light ties and any kind of ballast that A ilEDIAEVAL ID EA "MODERNIZED. f. "ftlas3xve Lift Bridges Have Taken the Place of tlie Revolving Type. was convenient were employed Now ppeed, economy and safety all demand a permanent, txlld road-bed. Between New York and Boston rock ballast alone Is used, and the rails are the heaviest in uso for general purposes. Ten yards long, vx Inches nigh and weighing 100 jioundsJt yard, each rail Is 1000 pounds In weight a bit of iron not easily forced from Its position by any pressure and not given to wearing out very quickly. Side by side with the work of making more solid the road-beds ha gone the task of removing as far aB possible all 1 dangerous curves and heavy grades. Perhaps, however, American railroad j ij i f - j i f ATJTOLIATIC GUARDIANS OF THE RAIL. . A Signal Tower and Samaphores in a Terminal Yard. engineers have been moat successful ln developing nc-ow types of bridges. v The old draw bridge which revolved on a fixed pivot ln tho center has to a con- TB slderable extent been superseded by a K modern application of the principle of 7 the mediaeval draw, bridge across which l lay tho road to the castle gate. B But between the few planks crossing It a narrow moat and hoisted by chains K and wlndlas9.es turned by hand and a E2 great steel structure carrying four H tracks, whooe tons of metal are raised H by some of the most elaborate mi Vk chlnery we have, there ls little re- m ecmblance. The chief advantage K which this complex creation has over a tho older revolving draw bridge is the greater exactnt-s and solidity with Fi which, when down, the tracks upon it M are Joined with those on the fixed 0 spans, thus removing one more possl- ra bility of disaster. tjj The Roller Lift, as the type of bridge Pi In which one end Is raised upon tlie cfl rolling axis of the other, lo called, is al- lj ready installed at Boston and Bridge- ra port and the New Haven railroad ls k3 now building three more, one at Cos- r3 cob, one at Westport and one over the g Housatonic, eaat of Bridgeport. 5 Solid Bed on Bridges. On these new bridges a train can run over a bed as Arm as that which led It to them, though Its speed Is regu- 1 lated by stringent state laws. Even 'I did an engineer pass the warning slg- nals when the bridge was raised, his I train would not plunge Into the water. Derailing switches would turn the train i from tho track and thus bring It to a S stop. K The safeguarding of the public on the i thoroughly equipped modern railway ls 1? not confined to that portion of the peo- pie who ride upon the trains. The 5 deadly grade crossing Is gradually be- .( ing eliminated From New York to New Haven, for instance, n distance of 3 seventy-threo miles, there arc no U crossings at grade, and from New Haven to New London there are only 3 Ave, none of which are considered dangerous. gj Over modern roadbeds, guarded by If modern signal systems, the traveler on fjj the older American railroads has no ja cause to envy the European. m |