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Show I RAILROADER TALKS IF IIP BHAHBE WRECK Double Order System, Ho Declares, De-clares, Should Have Prevented Pre-vented Disaster. Editor Tribune: Tho wreck and disaster disas-ter on tho Denver & Rio Grande railroad last Friday morning was moat horrible. Tho suffering and sorrow caused thereby 13 terrihlo and Is only realized In Its full magnitude by thono poor unfortunates who have been called upon to bear It for the rest of their lives. It is not of this that I wish to epcak, for print can never repair this latest heart-rending calamity. In tho first place, there was a bad wreck, and Just how many wero killed or maimed for llfo by the wreck proper will probably never be known. It was a collision col-lision between two trains of the samo class running in opposite directions, and a night operator has confessed that he, through falling asleep at his post of duty, was the cause of It. The operator was discharged, of course, and 'after tho verdict ver-dict of tho Coroner's Jury, which may possibly compel him to serve a term In the Canon City State prison) ho will leave that section of country and. In order to make a living, ho will change his name and get with some other road. That Is tho only thing loft for the poor fellow. Double Order System. But there was a poslllvo meeting order given to both these trains, and under the double-order system of operating trains which this same road uses, both these trains which were of the same class received, re-ceived, and the dispatcher had tho O. K. from each train crew of the receipt of that order. Hence both trains had the solo right to that particular piece of track under that first order. Now, then, that order was changed, which Is a dally occurrence In a dispatcher's olllce and cannot be avoided. But how does It como that both these trains (which, as I said, were of the same class) did not have tho subsequent order Instead of only ono of them? In other words, why was one of these trains allowed on this particular piece of track until the dispatcher had tho O. K. of tho crew of the other train, more especially when a positive meeting point had previously been given? 0. K. From Both Crews. It might be argued that the reason that both trains did not have the same order was on account of tho operator allowing one of the trains to pass his station without with-out delivering the order. That does not cover the case In the least Neither train should hava been allowed to run against the other until the dispatcher had the O. K. from both crewa. which he could not posIbly have had, even had the operator op-erator not fallen asleep. Tho wreck proves this. Obj'ect of the System. The double-order system was Inaugurated Inaugu-rated for just such emergencies, such as carelessness of operators or other unforeseen unfore-seen difficulties at a small way Btatlon bevond tho control of the dispatcher for the time being. Again, there is no block svstcm to this very crooked piece of track, and ono would naturally think that with the vast number of trains running run-ning batween Florenco and Pueblo such a system would have been established years ago, It Is all well onoujh to place the wholi blamo on the night man at some out-of-the-way station, as railroading railroad-ing goes Deadly Gas Tanka. As to the catastropho: In almost every bad wreck such as the above the terrible loss of life Is due solely to the explosion of the Plntsch gas tanks. Many are there who could have been extricated from this wreck had It not been for this explosion and fire. 'Twas the same in other terrible terri-ble wrecks. It Is said that this train was electric lighted. Sure! But every car nowadays 13 charccd with Plntsch gas for emergency purposes, If for nothing else. The day of the deadly car stove has passed, 'but with the passing comes the deadlv Plntsch goa. Rallrond men fear It In case of a wreck moro thnn anything else. It Is a splendid light, but human llfo must be protected against Its deadly ruin, whether lighted or not. in case of bad wrecks, OLD RAILROADER. |