EXAMPLES.
(1.) No. 1 will pass No. 3 at Khartoum.
(2.) No. 4 will run ahead of No. 6 from Bengal to Madras.
When under this order a train is to pass another, both trains will run according to rule to the designated point and there arrange for the rear train to pass promptly.
Referring to Example 1, if train No. 1 is superior to No. 3, the rules should give it the right to pass, as No. 3 must keep out of its way and no order would be required. If No. 3 is the superior and is for any reason running slower than No. 1 and it is desired to permit the latter to pass, an order of this kind is needed. A regular freight train may be in the way of a special passenger train which it is necessary should pass the freight. The order may also be needed for two extras or for regular trains of equal class. If the train passed is the superior, the order does not in terms fully convey to the other all the right needed. Having passed, it may be for some time, or at a subsequent period, within the time of the superior train, and it hence would by the train rules be required in turn to clear the track for a train which it had passed a short time before. A fair inference is that, if allowed to pass, it is of course to proceed ahead of the other, but if this is not clearly understood or fixed by a rule, the form of the order should be modified for such cases either by adding, "and will run ahead from there," or by making it read as in Example 2 indicating the point to as well as that from which the train specified is to "run ahead" of the other.
This variation is also for authorizing a train to run ahead of and in the time of another from some point at which the other has not arrived. The point to which it shall so run is to be omitted when it is not desired to impose such limitation.
Under this use of the order No. 6 is assumed to be late, and No. 4, an inferior train waiting for it, is allowed to proceed in its time. No. 6 may be a first-class passenger train waiting for connections, and No. 4 may be a local freight train which is enabled by this order to proceed with its work; or perhaps it may be a train starting from some way-station or junction at which the rules would require it to wait for No. 6 to pass. No. 6 is to assume that the other may be ahead at any point beyond that named in the order, and run accordingly. The Dispatcher of course provides, by giving more definite orders as soon as he can do so, that no unnecessary delay arises to the superior train from the operation of the order.
The train rules should make it clear that when a train is authorized to "run ahead" of another by special order, the train following must guard against collision with the train ahead, as during the operation of the order their relative rights as to superiority (when any existed) are reversed.
An order giving a train the right to use a given number of minutes in the time of a superior train going in the same direction, comes properly under "time-orders."
[Form C.]—Giving a Train of Inferior Right the Right of Track Against an Opposing Train of Superior Right.