Min for minute, junc for junction, exp for express, frt for freight, eng for engine, No for number, K for o'clock, sec for section, opr for operator, cannot mislead.
For inquiries and replies respecting the work, many codes have been constructed wherein each is represented by a number or a word, and the telegraphing thus abbreviated.
It will probably never be settled to the satisfaction of everybody whether numbers should be represented in figures or written out in full. 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. The numbers of trains and of engines are not so liable to be confused with others in their immediate neighborhood, and it would appear to be entirely proper to use figures to represent them.
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.
FORMS OF TRAIN ORDERS.
The advantage of pre-arranged forms of train orders for the cases ordinarily occurring has been already adverted to, and is now fully recognized. Forms should be brief. A multitude of words is confusing. They are not so easily read; while a short form, with a uniformly well understood meaning, is comprehended at a glance. To know what it intends becomes a part of the education of a railroad man. For this reason it would be a great advance if this service could be everywhere conducted on the same plans. Brevity also economizes time in telegraphing, which is of great importance on a busy wire. In a conversation carried on by a company of persons several may speak at once, or nearly so, and things go smoothly along, but on a wire only one can speak at a time, and hence the time each communication may occupy becomes important.
All men, however, do not quickly catch an idea when its expression is reduced to the simplest form. This is, sometimes, because it is new, or it may be from lack of training, or even natural dullness, or because human nature is so constituted that men view the simplest things in different lights. To provide against all contingencies of this kind, and to explain to men the proper understanding as well as to settle it authoritatively, explanatory rules are needed, with definite instructions as to how orders are to be interpreted. These may be studied at leisure and discussed and mutually understood by the men. The need of these rules does not arise from any incompleteness in the forms of orders. A signal for a given purpose is sufficient in itself, but it is necessary to state the purpose which it is designed to serve. A word expresses a definite thought, but we may have to turn to the dictionary to learn what that thought is. Another and highly important service of such explanatory rules is that they beget confidence, on the ground that all understand alike.