Under this order No. 2 becomes temporarily superior to No. 1, and obtains the right to run to A on its own time without regard to the time or rights of No. 1. On the arrival of the latter at A it may be found to have made up so much time that it can proceed toward B and reach that or some intermediate point before No. 2 can, on its own schedule time, reach such point. May it do so? There is clearly nothing in the order or in the rules to prevent. No. 1 is, for the time being, the inferior train. It is in the position of a train having no rights against No. 2, and must be governed by that fact. But any train inferior to No. 2 may go from A to B or to any point if it can clear No. 2 in accordance with the rules. It should be held as a cardinal principle in train dispatching that an order is not to be taken as having greater effect than is actually expressed. In the order in question one train is directed to run to a point without respect to the rights of another. This annuls the rights of the one as respects the regular time of the other for the portion of the track designated. The rights are simply reversed. No. 1 is now required to keep clear of the time of No. 2 as laid down in the time-table, with as much clearance as the train rules required of No. 2 as respects the time of No. 1 before the order was given. It cannot be supposed that No. 2 may possibly run ahead of time from B. This could only be done on an order to do so duplicated to No. 1 and to any other train affected by it.
If B is the point given in the order, no such question can arise as to either train, as each is due at the same time. If, however, C is the given point, it is upon the assumption that No. 2 is too late to get farther than C without interference with No. 1. If No. 2 makes up time, so that on reaching C it is found that it has time to go farther and still keep clear of No. 1, as required by the rules, its schedule rights will admit of this, and the order does not in any way interfere with them excepting in adding to them what is supposed to be required to enable the train to reach C.
It would appear then that when an order gives a train of inferior right the right of track to a given point against a superior train, the train arriving first at the designated point may go beyond it, before the other arrives, to any point where it can clear the regular time of the opposing train the number of minutes required. The train thus passing the given point must run as the inferior of the two until the other is met, and should be required, as in the rule, to clear the other by as much as the train rules prescribe for clearance of similar trains.
As a further illustration of this question, suppose that a general order were issued giving to a regular train the right of track against all other trains. It is not to be supposed that this would prevent other trains from running, excepting as they might fall into the time of the train to which this right was given. Or the order under Form D giving all trains the right of track against a given train, does not prevent the designated train from running freely where it does not get in the way of other regular trains.
It is evident that this form of order differs from the "meeting" order in this important respect, that under certain circumstances trains may meet at some other point than that named in the order, and that it may be said that "when either train has reached the point designated in this order, it may proceed, if it can do so without trespassing on the schedule time of the other." The point is further illustrated under the operation of [Form D.]
It is evident that, if the inferior train is an extra, it has no schedule time by which the superior train can be guided, and hence the latter, as provided by the rule, cannot go beyond the designated point until the extra has arrived.
The careful discussion of the question here involved is justified by the fact that practical men hold different views respecting it, and many rules determine it differently or leave it wholly or partly unsettled. The fact that there is a considerable diversity of opinion upon so important a point, indicates that the course to be pursued under the circumstances should be clearly set forth in the rules. A rule should not, however, be made to add to the effect of an order. It is usually only needed by way of explanation or to authoritatively determine that upon which a doubt may exist. It may occur to some that the trains meeting at an unexpected point may not recognize each other as the trains designated in the order. It must be presumed that conductors will observe all trains met, and knowing what regular trains are due will know when they have met them, and not wait elsewhere for them; and that extras are distinguished from regular trains by proper signals.
To avoid delays, however, a provision is made that a train of superior right reaching a point beyond that designated in the order before meeting the other train, must notify the latter when it is met. As in that case the train of superior right has not the right of track, it must take the siding where it meets the train which has been given the right of track against it. When the train of inferior right arrives at the point designated in the order before meeting the other, the order is fulfilled; and having no longer the right of track it must take the siding at that point or at such other point as it may reach under the operation of the rules in time to clear the train of superior right.
An order in Form C with time limit is objectionable, as there is danger of overlooking the time limit. It is better to use a distinct form for time orders.