The Train Wire: A Discussion of the Science of Train Dispatching / (Second Edition)

by John Alexander Anderson

5. The acknowledgment of this response.

6. Comparing copies of the order with the persons to whom it is addressed, and taking their signatures.

7. Telegraphing the signatures to the Dispatcher's office.

8. The Dispatcher's reply, acknowledging the receipt of the signatures, and indicating that the order may now be delivered.

9. The indorsement of this reply on the order.

10. The delivery to the trainmen.

Some Dispatchers prefer to personally telegraph their orders, having an assistant operator to copy them as transmitted or as repeated, and to perform the subsequent work of verification, record, etc. Those who are accustomed to transmit their own orders strongly contend for that practice. Those who pursue a different course are equally strong for theirs. In arranging for those, at least, who have not become wedded to any particular method, general consideration should govern. If contests or inquiries arise on the wire when the Dispatcher is sending, time is occupied which he may very much need, and where the amount of work is large it will leave the Dispatcher more at liberty to attend to his special duty if he simply prepares his orders and hands them to an operator for the subsequent steps, and this is by some carefully insisted upon.

The Dispatcher's duty is not simply to direct each movement as the exigency arrives. He should be constantly on the alert to provide as far as possible in advance for the arrangements necessary for keeping his trains moving, and his mind should be free from anything that may interfere with this. Attention by him to the merely mechanical duties detracts from his usefulness and the benefits which the road should derive from the talents which are supposed to fit him for his position. Some points connected with this subject are referred to in [Chapter VI]. Whether sent personally by the Dispatcher or by an operator from a written sheet, the order should, whenever practicable, be transmitted simultaneously to all the offices to which it is to be sent. Ordinarily this will be to but two offices. An order annulling a train may have to be sent to all the offices on the division. The simultaneous transmission is a most valuable safeguard and a saving in telegraphing only practicable with the duplicate order. It has been urged as an objection to the duplicate order that where agents act as operators their duties as agents may sometimes interfere with their attendance as operators when wanted for simultaneous transmission. This furnishes no ground for objecting to this form of order, as simultaneous transmission is not essential, and it is only necessary in such case that the precaution be observed of sending first to the train of superior right.

On calling an office a special signal should be used to indicate that a train-order is to be sent. The numerals 31 or 19 are now generally used for this purpose, the former for orders to be signed by the trainmen before delivery and the latter for orders to be delivered without such signature. After this signal the word "copy" should follow, with a number indicating how many copies are to be made. This maybe omitted when three is the number required, that being the most usual. If the system in use does not provide that the train-order signal shall stand normally in the "danger" position, the operator who is to receive the order must, at this point, place it in that position and report that he has done so. He then prepares his manifold-book for the requisite number of copies and takes the order down as sent, with the proper address for his station, immediately repeating it back word for word, reading from the order as actually written on the paper to be delivered, and not from a slip to be afterward copied. A "paper" operator should write the order in manifold before repeating. Some defer the repeating until the signatures of the trainmen are to be reported. But it is on many accounts preferable to repeat and verify the order at once and before signatures are taken, even if the trainmen are present. It assures its accuracy before they have read and signed it. The repeating operators can listen to each other better than if they repeat at different times, and the sender of the order can better attend to its verification while the original lies before him. There will also be less detention to trains if the repeating is done before their arrival. The importance of this will further appear from the consideration elsewhere of the effect of an order where the telegraph fails after but one train has received and proceeded on it.