In the first edition of this book, issued in 1883, Mr. Anderson, then Superintendent of the Belvidere Division of the Pennsylvania Railroad, modestly disclaiming perfection for his work, ventured the prediction that the science of which he wrote would be greatly advanced as time went on. In one sense this prediction has not been fulfilled. 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.
The author's disavowal of exhaustive treatment is proper in view of the fact that a complete treatise on the subject would include much relating to the operation of the train rules and to points of discipline; but it must be agreed that the first edition of this book was the first thorough and precise essay on the subject which had appeared, and that it stated the principles of dispatching in substantially the form since adopted by the General Time Convention, a body composed of the General Managers and Superintendents of practically all the important roads of the country east of the Missouri River.
The inception of this book resulted from the author's work, several years earlier, in revising the rules of the company under whom he was employed; and in preparing his book he naturally took care not to trespass upon the prerogatives of that company; but it is no more than right to say that outside observers regard his work as one for which his own road and all others are as much indebted to him as he can be to any road.
During the preparation of the Rules on Train Dispatching, formulated by the eminent Managers and Superintendents composing the Time Convention Committee, Mr. Anderson acted with that Committee, and his suggestions in The Train Wire, with his other work in that line, were largely used as the basis for this portion of the Time Convention rules. The deviations in these rules from the lines laid down in the first issue of The Train Wire are chiefly in the nature of compromises as to methods of practice, made necessary to effect an agreement among railroad officers of different needs and opinions. The Standard Code avowedly falls short of perfection, but chiefly because of this necessity.
The duplicate form of order is presented by Mr. Anderson as a vital feature in the science of dispatching. When he first wrote, this form of order was in use on few roads. Many officers were ignorant of it, and most others knew of it only in a vague way or looked upon it with disfavor as impracticable for roads doing a heavy business. Now, the requirement that all trains concerned in the execution of a specific movement should receive the order in the same words, is widely recognized as an axiom, and rules based on this principle are fast coming into general use.
The first part of the book treats of general principles, while the latter part takes up the rules which embody those principles and give them effect, the Standard Code being taken as the basis of the discussion. It might at first seem unnecessary, in view of the wide acceptance of the Standard Code, to enter into a discussion of its rules, and some of this discussion may appear to be needless repetition of matter presented in earlier pages; but as there are still those who have not taken the most advanced position, and probably many who, having adopted good practice, are not thoroughly familiar with the reasons for it, the author has done well to retain this feature of his earlier work, in connection with the statement of principles. These comments serve to point out to those not thoroughly acquainted with the subject the relations of the rules to the reasons for them, and this must be useful to beginners in the science and to men on new roads. For officers of experience, whose positions remove them from personal contact with the telegraph work and yet require that they have particular knowledge of it, a book of this kind should be both elementary and full; and all readers will find in examining the rules for practice that there is an advantage in having attention directed to the conformity of the rules with the principles before enunciated.
One of the most interesting and original paragraphs in the first edition of The Train Wire was that describing the scheme for numbering switches and using those numbers in train orders, to facilitate the movement of trains at meeting-points. This plan has since been put in use to some extent and has given great satisfaction; and in connection with "lap-sidings" it has been found of marked benefit in handling a heavy traffic on a single-track road.[A]
[A] A description of the use of lap-sidings and numbered switches on the Cleveland & Pittsburgh Railroad was published in the Railroad Gazette of December 26, 1890.
The author of The Train Wire is no longer connected with the Operating Department,[B] and has undertaken this revision reluctantly, but his interest in his former work is still lively, and this is an enlargement as well as a revision; so that both reader and author are to be congratulated. The superintendents and dispatchers, the operators young and old, among the million railroaders of the United States, have a better handbook than ever before, while the author can justly take pride in the fact that the individual views expressed by him in 1883 are now generally accepted truth. The introduction of the Standard Code on 70,000 miles of American railroads is one of the important steps of recent years in railroad operation, resulting in greater security to life and property; and The Train Wire should be credited with a liberal share of the honor of the reform.