EXAMPLES.
(1.) No. 1 will run 20 min. late from Joppa to Mainz.
(2.) No. 1 will wait at Muscat until 10 A. M. for No. 2.
Form (1) makes the schedule time of the train named, between the points mentioned, as much later as the time stated in the order, and any other train receiving the order is required to run, with respect to this later time, the same as before required to run, with respect to the regular schedule time. The time in the order should be such as can be easily added to the schedule time.
Under Form (2) the train of superior right must not pass the designated point before the time given, unless the other train has arrived. The train of inferior right is required to run with respect to the time specified, the same as before required to run with respect to the regular schedule time of the train of superior right.
The character and effect of these two forms of Time Orders are sufficiently clear from the explanatory rules. The first simply sets back a schedule and the second is positive as to the time to which the superior train must wait. There might have been added a form authorizing an inferior train to use a given number of minutes of the time of a superior train. This would have applied to any point. The effect would have been, for the particular inferior train, the same as under Example 1 for all trains. It was probably concluded that, if a train was to run late, all others should have the benefit, and that there would be no particular advantage in a form for but one train. The time-limit feature appears also in Forms G and H.
Many object to time-orders. They are certainly not as definite as a positive meeting-order, and for this reason, and because there is a chance of error in the calculations required, they are not to be preferred. A time-table, however, is a "time order," and it is not always possible to avoid directing trains to run with reference to time. A judicious Dispatcher will discriminate as to the cases in which he should do this. In all cases such even number of minutes or hours should be given as will reduce to a minimum the risk of making the necessary addition or subtraction. The risk of a time order and of all running on time, arises largely from the possibility of trainmen not having the correct time. The allowance of five minutes for difference in watches does not appear to answer the purpose for which it is designed, as men will trespass on this. The objections made to time orders appear to be overcome as far as possible by the forms presented, and now generally adopted, with the present excellence of time-keepers and the precautions insisted on for preserving them in good condition.
[Form F.]—For Sections of Regular Trains.
---- will carry signals —— to —— for ——.
EXAMPLES.