Show is Brain Guards Life fety of Thousands Held in the Keeping of the Train I I Dispatchers Dispatcher's Tried Intelligence v t Ivery very iery day and aid every night many of people travel to and land fro frohe frohe frol l he he e railroads of this country and nd V er jr r suspect that their safety depends he sagacity and fidelity of one man bach ch line of railroad and ho ie engineer they know about but if about tIc conductor they know 5 happen to have heard of the dispatcher he is to th m a vague probably as n necessary essar thing thine me way Wy to the railroad but no cern ern of theirs there sits the Yet t on every railroad dispatcher in his office and the trains and and nd the lives Sing nning fling of ef all the the hollow in Ell the passengers passengers- lie D his s hand t. t ai is that the Che e common impression manager or e general L sup Pf ident nral eral dent of a railroad manages th the de- de and operating ar- ar aures ures arrivals of trains This is true truely truey way Of necessity all ly Iy y In a general details of departure speed peed meeting and time lime are in the hands of I train dispatcher dIspatCh who has to exercise his I r unlimited power y Incessant orders and whose engineers and conductors are e. e railroad is made madet table of the he C-he he time t so as to allow for the passing and aria m meeting eting of three or four hundred trains on the length of the road road passenger passenger I with passenger passenger with freight freight with freight both ways nays for the fast trains must overtake and Ind pass the slow Now if all trains were able to follow this schedule it is apparent that the successful operation of ef the road would be he merely a matter of st studying ying out in 1 advance the relative speed of trains I I and the convenient passing 1 points But a as as a matter mattel of fact not a day I pass passes s that trains do not riot fall behind their schedule time It is inevitable particularly in times of heavy traffic and bad weather The train dispatchers dispatcher's function there- there foe e consists in the instantaneous manufacture manufacture manufacture man man- of an entirely new nw set of time tables for fer all trains all day long leng Otherwise the operation of the road rood would practically cease Of course a train late at the beginning begInning begin begIn- ning fling of ef its journey at one end of theline theline the theline line disarranges the schedule of every other train that it was to meet or pass pass For each of these trains a new new- meetIng meet- meet Ing hg or 1 point must be chosen But as these points ts are varying distances distances dis dis- dis- dis apart the one late train mayr may r result in more combinations combination of or changIng changing chang chang- ing tug expedients than the untrained mind could even partly apprehend These complications exist on all roads but they are naturally gr greater ter on the single track lines On a single track line one late train may dere In a afeW afew afew few minutes every train on te road On a double track line there is lis obviously obviously obviously ob ob- ob- ob a larger chance of ad adoring ring in iii part at l least ast to the original teme eme There is in the United StateS Stalest larger percentage tage of ef single track rai ads in proportion to the total in any other country in the wor times larger The rhe great majority of the ra oads In Inthe Inthe Inthe the United States are single trek tnt lines Th The great majority of the mi rait ads of Europe are double track lines Some very busy railroads In n the United States are single Some of them carry a far heavier trac than nine in ten of the double tra d railroads railroads railroads rail rail- roads of ef Europe i iThe The operation of these longines of single track crowded with tra often embarrassed by heavy grades exposed to the contingencies of delay trains on en connecting roads exposed t times to long periods of is a problem that never never he be attempted attempted at at- attempted tempted here but ever day so safely so efficiently and arid so ought to make us proud of of minds our schools produce I For of all an mental feats o record recerd none is really so wonderful os as e dally daily work werk of the train dispatcher i a a. sin sin- track gle-track railroad sitting by his telegraph Instrument ando ad adjusting adjusting adjusting ad- ad combining and the movements of a. a hundred tra trap that vast traffic goes on steadily a ai safely There he le sits and in come corne of his mind are stored away the and length of ever every side track on s road the nat nature lre of the road bet ve d different different differ differ- ent exit points the hauling capaci of lo locomotives lo- lo the possibilities c o speed and perhaps possible wes ives on the strange great grea t board whon he plays IThe j I The frightful would woud unnerve the untrained mind ne ie e misplay misplay misplay mis- mis play might mean the loss of ot afO 0 Q lives There are very fe few w ering the monstrous traffic fid ld the amount of ot track single the accidents accidents accidents ac ac- ac- ac are really r very few n ii n Francisco Francisco Francisco Fran Fran- cisco Examiner |