Democratic Sentinel, Volume 15, Number 16, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 May 1891 — THE BRAKEMAN'S YELL [ARTICLE]

THE BRAKEMAN'S YELL

To B« ward No J*or» on Grand Trunk Trains. The Grand Trunk Kailway Company has jnst introduced an innovation on its system that cannot but commend itself to the traveling public as an improvement long in lequest—one that will be a great convenience to passengers and make traveling decidedly more comfortable for those who do not know the various places through which their trains run, and who are unable to interpret the often unintelligible announcements of the brakeman. It is a railroad station indicator, an apparatus that recoids the names of the different stations, and which has just been introduced at the headquarters in Montreal. Seemingly, the machine is a very simple contrivance. A nicely finished frame of polished wood, placed in prominent view at both ends of the car, contains a number of thin iron or tin plates, each plate painted with the name of the station in characters legible in any part of the car. The names of the stations are placed in the order in which the train passes through them. As each station is passed the conductor pushes a lever on the indicator, a gong sounds and the previous plate drops, expressing the words, ‘’The next station is —whatever the coming pla?e may be. This is repeated after every station, so that a passenger has only to look at the indicator to discover at any time the name of a town or city which the train is approaching. The convenience and advantages of such an invention are too obvious to need enu nle.ation.

The continual cry from the traveling public for some method of making known the names of the stations, other than by the admittedly unsuccessful wav of having the brakeman call them out, has led 1o many attempts to invent such an apparatus, but none has given satisfaction up to the present time. The railway station indicator of the Allison Company, however, apparently meets all requirements, aud it had no sooner been brought before the notice of the Grand Trunk officials than they considered it necessary to their road, with tho result that Mr. Allison has received a contract to fit up every passenger car on the Grand Trunk system, both in Cauada and the United States, with these instruments. Besides being used to denote the name of the stations, the company is also ingeniously using it as an advertising medium, for on the back of each plate is painted the name and business of a promii:ont firm. Then as the plate falls this advertisement is displayed, remaining until another card falls, when a different name comes in view, aud so on. This indicator is the most prominent furnishing in the car, catching the eye immediately on one’s entrance, and the sounding of the goDg ns each card is changed hat the invariable effect of attracting the attention of those in the car. —Hamilton Spectator.