Signalman

“ I may here say, that when once a man gets out of a signal-box—either for good or bad deeds—nobody can ever get him to take to it again. A signalman may see men join the service years after him, placed in positions just under the eyes of the authorities, and promoted over his head. ”

“ But the signalman seemed quite broken down, and the children had to pat him and thump him for quite a long time before he found his handkerchief—a red one with mauve and white horseshoes on it—and mopped his face and spoke. During this patting and thumping interval a train thundered by.
“I'm downright shamed, that I am,” were the words of the big signalman when he had stopped crying; “snivelling like a kid.” Then suddenly he seemed to get cross. “And what was you doing up here, anyway?” he said; “you know it ain't allowed.” ”

“ Thus the signalman, confined to his cabin, perhaps in some lonely cutting, far from any station or town, during the solitary hours of the night, would see a fog approach and blot out his signals, and, not daring to leave his post to call assistance, and knowing that the nearest fog-signalman lived a mile, or perhaps more, from the spot, he was frequently placed in a position of great anxiety and perplexity. ”

“ There is one more way in which some part of a train’s course may be altered during the time it is passing through facing points, and this arises chiefly from the unskilfulness or insufficient training of the signalman himself. In hot and dry weather, points require a much sharper jerk to close them than in wet sloppy weather, and if the signalman has not had this well pointed out to him while learning, it will greatly deceive him. The dust and dryness of the fittings between the points and lever will, in adverse weather, make them work very hard and stiff ”

“ On the other hand, suppose the man leaving be a good and useful signalman, going to better himself, and the man sent to learn the duties a careless man, who pays but little attention to what is told him: the former is quite ready to show him all he can, but yet he may plainly see that this new hand is not the proper sort of man to make a good and trustworthy signalman. ”

“ When a misunderstanding arises (such as I have described) , the signalman has to trust entirely to memory, whereas the man in the open country, who can see from one station to another, can tell when a train is clear of the station in advance, or can see a train coming, that he might be otherwise in doubt about. This should be taken into consideration by railway authorities when mistakes occur, for, depend upon it, there is nothing gained by being too severe with good and trustworthy servants. ”

“ A signalman must have a good eye, a quick brain, and a good memory. It is a feat in itself to remember what one has already received while continuing to receive a long, perhaps complicated message. Because of these intellectual requirements, you will find among the signalmen some of the cleverest lads in the Navy. "Giles" such a lad, "Idaho," another, and "Pop" was always "on the job."
The Guard has its barracks in a great American port. ”

“ In every signal cabin the name and private address of the chargeman who is responsible for it is posted, and it is the duty of the signalman to report to him every failure or defect that may become apparent during the intervals of his visits, sending at the same time a duplicate of the report to the inspector of the district. ”

“ Enter, then, at 11:45 p.m., a zealous signalman with the words: ‘Cutter to the Flagship.’ In his haste he had omitted to read the conclusion of the signal vouchsafing us the whaler, and (this was his black error) told no one that it was ‘T.V.K.,’ which would have explained the situation. ”

“ In England and the United States compressed air is also used to do the hard labour of the signalman for him. Instead of closing a circuit, the signalman, by moving a lever half-way over, admits air to a pipe running along the track to an air reservoir placed beside the points or signal to which the lever relates. The air opens a valve and puts the reservoir in connection with a piston operating the points or signal-arm, as the case may be. ”

“ A siding may be a hundred or a hundred and fifty yards from the signal-box. On a dark, and perhaps foggy night, the usual way of performing shunting at the present time is, for the signalman to depend upon the man in charge to show him a white light by hand lamp, or give a signal on a gong worked by electricity, when the main line is all clear for another train to pass. Now the former is a very dangerous system, for where shunting is taking place, the guards and the men in charge have each lights in their hands; there are also lights on the engine, and on the train which is being shunted. ”

“ But this is what you think, and not what you have figured out, for if you have eight flags of different colors and display them, four at a time, on the signal halyard you can make the surprising number of 1680 permutations; and this, you will allow, is enough to say anything that you may have to say.
Although a code book is found in every signalman’s outfit, he is a chap who knows all the signals by heart and can send and receive flag messages almost as fast as you can write down the words. ”

“ Suppose a signalman be taken ill, or seized with a fit while on duty, and trains are waiting to cross the junction, and a man of the above experience makes the usual call to see whether all is right, instead of being able to enter upon the duties at once, and keep the traffic going, he can do nothing, and the traffic must be kept waiting until a man is found who is competent to do the work. ”

“ I have often thought, when I have seen express trains rushing past my box, how little the passengers know the anxiety their trains have cost me to get them past without check or stoppage. There is very little to encourage the signalman in his difficult task, and he stands but very little chance of promotion. ”

“ I have no hesitation in saying that the signalman often makes mistakes through being flurried, and under the dread of the above-named inquiries, as when the traffic is great he often cuts things too near to save himself from them. ”

“ WANTS A TONIC."
[pg 123]
"THINGS ARE NOT WHAT THEY SEEM."
Mr. Foozler (who, while waiting for the last Train, has wandered to the end of the Platform, opened the door of the Signal-box, and watched the Signalman's manipulations of the levers for some moments with hazy perplexity, suddenly) . "ARF O' BURT'N 'N BIRRER F' ME, GUV'NOR!" ”

“ He shows that, notwithstanding the important part played by signals in the working of railways, the signalman is frequently very imperfectly instructed in their use. This official has often to learn his duties as best he can from his predecessor. He goes through a theoretical examination at the office of the Superintendent of the Line, it is true, but this does not in any way test his practical ability to perform the duties. Such a practice must necessarily be fraught with the greatest danger to railway passengers. ”

“ This Inquiry System, which I shall presently explain, has its bearings upon a certain class of Railway Accidents, and mostly concerns engine-drivers, guards, signalmen, and foremen porters. At busy junctions it often happens that there are three or four trains, from different branches or directions, all signalled at once, and wanting to cross over the junction at the same time. It is simply impossible for the signalman to get all these trains across, and past, without detention to some of them ”

“ I may here remark that men are sometimes appointed to the position of signal-inspectors who have never done one hour’s duty in charge of a signal-box in their lives. Just fancy an official of this kind being entrusted with the very important duty of seeing that signalmen thoroughly understand all the important points connected with their duties that I have named! ”

“ For instance, when a pointsman is letting a train in or out of a siding by hand signal upon the ground, or attending to main line points, during shunting, he is generally upon the spot, and has, of course, the points close under his eye, so that he can at once see whether they are properly closed or not. ”

“ Under these circumstances, the inquiry system spoken of previously will have its effect, for both men will know that one or other of them will be called upon to answer for any delay that takes place in connection with the second train, and a fine, or the loss of his bread, may be the result. These thoughts will be quite enough to cause them to lose all confidence in themselves, particularly in the case of young signalmen. ”

“ It is reasoned from this that the defect in the automatic block system is that the telegraph operator is not there to caution the engineman. The presence of a telegraph operator who attends the signal station serves as a caution to the engineman; whereas, when the telegrapher is not there, the engineman is in danger of failing to note the signal. ”

“ Here I would point out other disadvantages under which many signalmen perform their duties, in cases where they are protecting long tunnels, as upon any of the underground Railways, or on a part of line where the view is obstructed. ”

“ But, unfortunately, a great many years must elapse before the railroads, both single and double track, can be thoroughly equipped with these signals, and meanwhile the public must remain at the mercy of these failures in duty which in the main, some day, block signals are expected to eliminate. ”

“ It is essential, therefore, that some good and experienced signalmen should be appointed to superintend the training of all new hands, remaining with them until they are able to give a favourable report to their superintendents, stating that the men thoroughly understand the responsible duties they are to perform. ”

“ There are “careful” and attentive signalmen, and under the present system of teaching them their duties, the careless man is not found out until he has made some great blunder, and the careful man has often to suffer for the careless one. ”

“ The block system, the interlocking apparatus, or any other signalling arrangement calculated to ensure safety, is worse than useless in the hands of untrained men, and not unfrequently becomes, in fact, under those circumstances, an instrument of destruction. The writer remarks that the superintendent or inspector who examines signalmen previous to their taking charge of a box, is seldom practically acquainted with the manipulation of signals, and in a difficulty an officer of this class will occasionally appeal to the signalmen to know “what is the usual practice in such cases!” ”

“ I started.
“Ah! it was a dreadful time, sir. I never left off calling to him. I put this arm before my eyes not to see, and I waved this arm to the last; but it was no use.”
Without prolonging the narrative to dwell on any one of its curious circumstances more than on any other, I may, in closing it, point out the coincidence that the warning of the Engine-Driver included, not only the words which the unfortunate Signal-man had repeated to me as haunting him, but also the words which I myself—not he—had attached, and that only in my own mind, to the gesticulation he had imitated. ”

“ The instrument with which we are contending is capable (in theory) of transmitting a message either telephonically or telegraphically. In practice, this means that the signaller, having wasted ten sulphurous minutes in a useless attempt to convey information through the medium of the human voice, next proceeds, upon the urgent advice of the gentleman at the other end, and to the confusion of all other inhabitants of the cavern, to "buzz" it, employing the dots and dashes of the Morse code for the purpose. ”

“ The sun was not yet quite down when I traversed the field-path near the top of the deep cutting. I would extend my walk for an hour, I said to myself, half an hour on and half an hour back, and it would then be time to go to my signal-man’s box.
Before pursuing my stroll, I stepped to the brink, and mechanically looked down, from the point from which I had first seen him. I cannot describe the thrill that seized upon me, when, close at the mouth of the tunnel, I saw the appearance of a man, with his left sleeve across his eyes, passionately waving his right arm. ”

“ The Signal Corps keeps the commanders posted, not only as to the whereabouts and disposition of his own troops, but also of those of the enemy. The Signal Corps is the telephone, the telegraph, the wireless, and often the aviation section as well, of the American army, and often of the American navy, too."
"Isn't that great?" exclaimed the breathless Slim, as Mr. Burton went over to the ticker to answer the code call for his station. ”

“ On the military side of his functions, the Chief Signal-Officer records the steps he has taken to secure a suitable heliograph apparatus, the selection of field-glasses for army use, and experiments with homing pigeons. The inadequacy of the present methods to insure instruction in military signaling is lamented, with the declaration that "there is not an average of two officers to a regiment who are competent to transmit signals—by sun, flag, and torch—day and night, except those who have passed through a regular course of instruction in connection with this office." ”

“ The man in the signal tower has an equal responsibility. In some respects the burden upon his shoulders is even greater, because he has the fate of perhaps a score of trains in his hands, with the lives of hundreds of passengers. Now and then, when the wrong lever has been pulled and a train is wrecked, we hear of a signal man sleeping at his post, but few of us stop to think how many thousand times a day the right lever is pulled, and how exceptional is the lapse from duty. ”