John Alexander Anderson

“ Every provision in an order should be held to be in force indefinitely until fulfilled or annulled, or expired by some limitation in the order or in the rules. In the orders delivered to those who are to execute them no erasures, alterations, or interlineations should be permitted. These tend to obscure the meaning and raise doubts as to accuracy. The writing should be clear and plain, the letters well formed and without flourishes. Orders must often be read in dim light or in storms, and when men are hurried, and they should not be required to decipher bad writing. ”

“ The opinion of practical men has been lately growing more favorable to figures, although some adhere rigidly to writing out numbers in words. The "Standard" rules favor figures. Much depends of course on the training of the operators. Figures are unmistakable if properly made, while a long number written out in full may be so poorly written as to confuse the reader. Where a single figure occurs in describing a section of a train as 2nd, 3rd, etc., it is easy to take the one for the other, both in telegraphing and in the written figures, and it is wise to write these out. ”

“ It is to be hoped that no man would willfully disregard a train order, but there are many who would proceed upon a hasty examination or none at all, if permitted to do so, and perhaps on a wrong impression as to what it directs to be done. ”

“ Many books of Rules have borne evidence that the ability to construct rules is not always commensurate with the many other gifts of successful railroad officers. To know what is to be done and how is one thing, but it is quite another to express the intention clearly and concisely. ”

“ As, for instance, a train authorized by order to run in the time of another is not on this account to assume that it may run within the time of any other superior train which may be understood to have to keep out of the way of the train whose right is curtailed. Each train must be governed in all respects by train rules with relation to every other train, excepting as distinctly provided in the special orders; and as a necessary consequence of this, no train should be permitted to run under the authority or protection of an order given to another. ”

“ Any method of dispatching must be subject to modification in some of the details to accord with the particular rules of the road governing train rights. A great deal of ingenuity has been expended in constructing such rules, with a view to avoiding delay to trains under all imagined circumstances. Trains to which the superior right of track has been assigned have been required to wait at meeting-points twenty, thirty or more minutes, and changing or movable rights have been connected with this, and allowances have been made for "variation in watches." ”

“ A superintendent who is not himself particularly informed respecting the rules and methods of his telegraph department, the character and capabilities of the men employed, and the manner in which their duties are performed, cannot expect to secure the advantages which the telegraph is capable of giving. Perhaps the first public intimation that anything is wrong may be a series of so-called "accidents" on his line. Investigation points to the carelessness of some operator or dispatcher as the cause. ”

“ The fact that there is a considerable diversity of opinion upon so important a point, indicates that the course to be pursued under the circumstances should be clearly set forth in the rules. A rule should not, however, be made to add to the effect of an order. It is usually only needed by way of explanation or to authoritatively determine that upon which a doubt may exist. It may occur to some that the trains meeting at an unexpected point may not recognize each other as the trains designated in the order. ”

“ It would appear then that when an order gives a train of inferior right the right of track to a given point against a superior train, the train arriving first at the designated point may go beyond it, before the other arrives, to any point where it can clear the regular time of the opposing train the number of minutes required. The train thus passing the given point must run as the inferior of the two until the other is met, and should be required, as in the rule, to clear the other by as much as the train rules prescribe for clearance of similar trains. ”

“ Under the common practice there must be prepared at least three copies of each train order received for delivery. The conductor and engineman are each supplied with a copy, and the operator retains one. To make three several copies by pen and ink, as heretofore practiced by some, takes a good deal of time, and there is danger that they may not be all alike, and the time and risk are increased if more than three copies are required. To obviate this, the manifold system of writing has come into general use and with very great advantage. ”

“ To have produced a set of rules that should be accepted for general adoption, in which so few deficiencies have been pointed out, is a work worthy of the highest commendation. Under the operation « 60 » of these rules will disappear the uncertainty often appearing in anxious inquiries by "Conductor" or "Train-Master," in the railroad papers, as to how this rule or that order is to be understood under given circumstances. There will be fewer occasions for trainmen to reconcile conflicting regulations and fewer cases of "doubt," in which to "take the safe course and run no risks." ”

“ If communication absolutely fails before the completion of this process, all that he has done goes for nothing unless communication is quickly restored. It is of the utmost importance that the Dispatcher know what will or will not be done by a train to which an order has been addressed, as this knowledge guides him in giving other orders. It would not be proper, even, to assume that a train would be held by the presence of an order addressed to it unless the accuracy of the order is assured, for an error may have occurred in receiving the address and the wrong train number may have been noted. ”

“ If operators are thoroughly drilled and under constant and careful supervision, and so fully occupied with the work as to be necessarily always on the alert, this dependence is more likely to result favorably than where discipline is slack and business dull, and especially where the operator is required to attend to other duties. Circumstances may often seem to require the delivery of an order without signatures where the contrary is the usual custom. ”

“ In all systems worked by man this risk will be found. Better pay will procure better men, greater care and greater conscientiousness. Men laboring for a bare pittance and with little hope of advancement in the future do not usually cultivate these qualities to the highest point. Thus we are brought to one of the many points where the balance must be constantly sought between economy of expenditure and security of management. Each railroad officer must work it out for himself. ”

“ The difficulties may not be great or numerous where trains are few, but they increase rapidly with the growth of traffic, and vexatious delays can only be avoided by adequate means of promptly controlling the movements of the trains. Hence the importance of securing not only the best telegraphic appliances, but the best method as well of rendering them useful in the service in question.
In arranging a system of train dispatching, its relations to safety and economy require that careful consideration be given to the principles « 3 » on which it should be based. ”

“ While red is displayed all trains must come to a full stop, and any train thus stopped must not proceed without receiving an order addressed to such train, or a clearance card on a specified form, stating, over the operator's signature, that he has no orders for it. Operators must be prepared with other signals to use promptly if the fixed signal should fail to work properly. If a signal is not displayed at a night office, trains which have not been previously notified must stop and inquire the cause, and report the facts to the superintendent from the next open telegraph office. ”

“ In this connection it may be again noted that a very important and necessary part of the training of those engaged in operating the railroad telegraph is the acquisition of an intimate knowledge of the rules governing the rights and movements of trains when acting independently of telegraphic control. The legitimate use of the telegraph is to facilitate movement when, under the unaided operation of the rules, there might be delay, and to give preference, for special reasons, to trains which, under the rules are inferior. ”

“ The Dispatcher should be a proficient operator. He may not himself transmit his orders, but he should be able to read all that passes on the wire, in order to have an intelligent understanding of what is going on. He should be thoroughly acquainted with the location and length of the various sidings, the grades and curves, the capacity of the engines, and other matters which may affect the movements of the trains he has in hand, and some experience as conductor will be of value. He should be a man of « 19 » more than average ability, of good judgment, clear head, and strictly temperate habits. ”

“ The designation of trains is usually by numbers. This is more definite and more brief than by any other time-table title, as "local freight," "Chicago express," etc. An extra train is probably best described by the engine name or number, as there is usually nothing else about a train so definite as this. Some add the names of conductors and enginemen. Where there is any danger of one train being mistaken for another, the engine number should be used, and care taken against mistakes arising from change of engines. ”

“ There is much difference of opinion as to whether it is important to take the signature of the engineman. Much time is often lost by taking him from his engine, particularly on very long trains, and some think that the purpose « 54 » is as well served by having his copy delivered to him by the conductor. In the latter plan there is some danger that the attention of the engineman may not be particularly called to the purport of the order, and for this reason the author believes that the practice is best where both signatures are required. ”

“ The prevalence of methods which require exceptional skill has doubtless interfered with the more extended usefulness of the railroad telegraph which would probably have resulted under a system more readily operated by men of less experience and ability.
Men who have successfully worked under the "single order" method have stated that the mental strain is very great, augmented by anxiety born of the fact that a single error may be fatal to property or life. ”

“ The conductor and engineman who are in charge of the train subject to his control, are also necessarily advised. The relations of the Pilot to the train are much the same as those of the pilot to a vessel of which he has control for the time being. He is placed there because of his having special knowledge, not possessed by the conductor and engineman, of circumstances which necessarily affect the movement, and has entire control of the train in this respect. He may or may not be an engineman. ”

“ In issuing a time-table in advance of the date upon which it takes effect, means can readily be used for making sure that it is received by those who are to be governed by it. The means are more complicated and subject to greater risks whereby we can be assured that a telegraphic train order reaches correctly and surely the hands of those for whom it is designed. After preparation by the Dispatcher it is transmitted in telegraphic language by mechanical agency to a distant point, there to be retranslated into plain English and written out without mistake, for record and delivery ”

“ The Train Dispatcher holds a most important position as respects safety of life and property. He may perhaps do more than any other official to secure it by care or endanger it by lack of vigilance. His relations to economy, too, are important. As the time of engines, cars, and employés, and of the persons and things carried, is of value, delay avoided is money saved.
It cannot be too strongly insisted upon that the man who issues train orders should make it his especial business, and should have no interference from others. ”

“ The eight years which have passed have witnessed little or no change from the principles then laid down by the author of The Train Wire, but he has the satisfaction of now seeing their widespread adoption and a consequent great improvement in the practice of this important science; and while probably none at the present time know how to handle trains by telegraph better than the dispatchers of the Pennsylvania road did when the prediction referred to was made, the requisite knowledge and training are now possessed by many more men than were numbered among the experts of the earlier period. ”

“ Young persons readily learn to telegraph, and the lowest compensation paid is something considerable to the youth just leaving home, while the salaries usually paid to railroad operators are not such as to offer fair inducement to men of years and experience to accept or retain these positions. Hence many of our operators are comparatively young. It is no disparagement to them to say that they have not ordinarily the steadiness of character and sense of responsibility which we expect in maturer years. ”